From merope@Radix.Net Tue Jan 4 11:52:23 2000 Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 11:52:22 -0500 (EST) From: merope Reply-To: merope To: Daily Board Show Subject: Daily Board Show Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Another day older and deeper in debt...its Your Daily Board Show! *warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk! Sunday 2 January 2000 Joy Fisher posts a recommendation that the Board begin thinking about the elections upcoming in the summer, specifically "where to hold the election -- rootsweb or an independent site." She also wonders what constitutes an "independent site", noting "I can probably arrange to host the election on a server at a Catholic University, run by a Bangla Deshi with no American genealogy. But since I make the arrangements, does that make it suspect??" She states that "The only way to truly take the suspicions out of the election would be to hire an outside accounting firm, such as Price-Waterhouse to conduct the elections", but this option would cost money that USGW doesn't have. She says she is open to suggestions from Board members and CCS but urges that the discussion soon "so that elections can take place on schedule according to the By-Laws." Tomorrow's News Today: Tim calls the children back in from recess; at the request of some Board members, the vote on Motion 99-34 [opening BOARD-L] is delayed for further discussion. Odds and Ends Corner: During the holiday break Debi Remer became the new Coordinator for the District of Columbia and Derick Hartshorn became the new ASC for North Carolina. Congrats to both! Bank On It Corner: Over on the SC list, Susan Tortorelli [SC if ILGW] has asked "would it be a bylaw or name copyright violation if ILGenWeb obtained Not For Profit status on its own?" As it turns out, one of her volunteers was offered several donations [totalling over $1000] for USGW over the holidays, but since USGW does not accept cash donations the money was instead donated to a tax-exempt state genealogical organization. As Susan notes, "Before anyone fires off nasty mail, keep in mind that I am asking...and not doing, but I have a feeling that if the CC's said it was ok, we could probably do this and the worst that would happen is we would end up there in the ranks of the "Rebel States" who have obtained their own URL." [Two state projects have already incorporated. One, TNGenNet, buckled under pressure from then NC Megan Zurawicz and did not use "TNGenWeb" as its corporate name. The other, KSGenWeb Internet Genealogical Society, was told they had no right to use the name and a firestorm erupted over its incorporation. Both TNGenNet and KSGenWeb are incorporated as not-for-profits, although neither has tax-exempt status. TNGenNet has obtained its own url, but KSGenWeb has not.] Know Your Rights Corner: There's also been some minor banter over on the SC list regarding codifying in some way various CC rights, including the right to house county pages on whatever server they choose. One Board member has volunteered to start the process to amend the bylaws, but one SC has pointed out that a policy statement passed by the Board would be much quicker. They've also been discussing whether there can be more than one site for the same county under the USGW umbrella, an idea which seems pretty innocuous, but which some SCs fear might confuse people. An updated version of the history of the recent Census Project merger talks has been posted at: http://www.radix.net/~merope/history/chaptr5a.htm The updated version includes more information from the Census II side of the fence and is most illustrative. As it turns out, the merger talks stalled over whether or not the Census Project would remain as a stand-alone Special Project or be subsumed into the Archives. A salient difference between these two options: Linda Lewis appoints the heads of the Archives subprojects, and if the Census Project stays separate, they'd elect their new Coordinator. Interesting, isn't it? "More history is made by secret handshakes than by battles, bills and proclamations." ---John Barth This has been your Daily Board Show. -Teresa Lindquist merope@radix.net --------- Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved. From merope@Radix.Net Wed Jan 5 14:47:17 2000 Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2000 14:47:15 -0500 (EST) From: merope Reply-To: merope To: Daily Board Show Subject: Daily Board Show Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: O X-Status: The walrus was Paul...its Your Daily Board Show! *warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk! Monday 3 January 2000: Tim Stowell declares the Board recess to be over and says "Now back to the grindstone!" Tuesday 4 January 2000: Tim posts that he has been asked by a couple of Board members in IRC to delay the vote on Motion 99-34 in order for further discussion to proceed. [IRC is apparently yet another location they conduct Board business.] Holly Fee-Timm requests that in the future Board members put the number of the motion under discussion in the subject line of the post, as she had some trouble finding the Board-L motion. She asks to hear more about the technical aspects of opening the Board-L list to read-only subscription, specfically, "Am I correct in my understanding of the mail list software that board members only would be on the Accept List and that this function is realtively [sic] easy to maintain? If this is technically not a difficulty, I am all for it as it would also enable subscribers to reply dircetoly [sic] to a board member's email, thus facilitating hearing from our constituency." Joy Fisher replies that "It would mean that Tim would get a lot of "not a subscriber" mail from folks who can't resist hitting the reply button," that would be his problem and that CCs would need to be careful when they reply to Board-L mail. Wednesday 5 January 2000: Tim posts that Board members would be added to the accept list so that only they could post to the list. He notes, "CCs would not be able to post to Board-L but could...receive all posts to the list directly without receiving a daily recap with a twist from elsewhere. [Some things are better with a twist *wink*] Tim also notes that "Board members who felt that they had to send list mail immediately to other lists would lose some of their punch as interested CCs could get the information directly..." He indicates that he would receive all the bounce messages and other sorts of list administration messages. Ginger Hayes asks if having non-Board members sub to the digest version would make this burden any easier by cutting down on the number of bounces. [Guess the Board is finally giving up on its long-held hopes of producing its own daily report. Really, guys, its not that hard.] If Its Not One Thing Its Another Corner: Actually, its beginning to seem more like "if its not MIGW, its TNGW" . Over on the TNGW state list an argument [or several] has erupted among the membership. On the substantive side, some TNGW members have started a discussion over who "owns" transcribed files submitted to TNGW. This is interesting because TNGW has its own archives and they are not kept on Root$Web. When TNGenNet incorporated over a year ago, it set up its own archives, which used to be on USIT and now are on USGenNet [since TNGW has moved there]. Its likely that most donated files go to TNGW's own archives rather than the Archives and the argument now is over why files donated to "TNGenWeb" are being given/taken by "TNGenNet" [and they are not the same thing]. The real issue boils down to which server these things sit on: Root$web.com, Inc. [a for-profit company] vs USGenNet, Inc. [a not-for-profit company] and who is perceived to have control over them. For all practical purposes, TNGenNet and TNGenWeb are equivalent at this time, but the spectre of TNGenNet removing itself from the project has been raised. In the case that happens, who would get the archives? Some argue the files were donated to TNGenNet; others say they were given to TNGenWeb, and should be put into the Archives on Root$web rather than the ones on USGenNet. [Methinks this is the real reason Brian "Gimme" Leverich was so opposed to the states individually incorporating; it might give them the impression they had some control over their projects. As it turns out, both the states that incorporated have started their own non-Root$web archives.] On the unsubstantive side, the current SC is arguing with the former SC about who is more responsible for getting the original SC fired. The Dills have been brought into the archives discussion since apparently no argument is complete without calling someone a "Dill supporter". And our esteemed National Coordinator is publicly slamming the Census Project volunteers [although he was until recently a "neutral" facilitator in the merger negotiations.] Today's quote is from a reader: "The Board would have no trouble fielding another KSGenWeb. With as many users as USGenWeb has, it could raise a $20k defense fund in a week if need be. Folks don't seem to clearly understand just how much potential power the Board has but chooses not to use -- this is sort of a Godzilla meets Bambi thing." ---Brian Leverich, on how to handle states that incorporate This has been your Daily Board Show. -Teresa Lindquist merope@radix.net ----------- Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved. From merope@Radix.Net Thu Jan 6 16:00:31 2000 Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2000 16:00:29 -0500 (EST) From: merope Reply-To: merope To: Daily Board Show Subject: Daily Board Show Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: O X-Status: Don't knock it 'til you've tried it...its Your Daily Board Show! *warning* may contain large amounts of editorial content. Read at your own risk! Thursday 6 January 2000: National Coordinator Tim Stowell forwards to the Board a copy of a letter he sent to the webmaster of the new Migrations project. The message notes that the Migration project is not a part of the USGenWeb Project and Tim tell the webmaster "Please remove the USGenWeb logo from http://www.Migrations.Org/. This is our official copyrighted logo to be used only on officially approved USGenWeb sites." He invites the Migrations project to use one of the logos at: http://www.usgenweb.org/friends/friendslogo.html instead. [We understand that Tim sent a similarly worded letter to the folks over at USGenNet, Inc. although he apparently didn't bother to share that one with the Board.] URL Of The Day: http://moneymaker.rootsweb.com/ [this is actually the website of someone who pays Root$web enough money to have their own address; but really, could it be more perfect?] New Zoo Review Corner: The latest issue of the New Zoo Review notes that Root$web has met their goal of 12 million names uploaded to WorldConnect by the end of 1999. Bob Tilman, who spent a considerable amount of ink in last weeks's issue telling us why sites that advertise lots and lots of names aren't so great, has announced a new goal for WorldConnect: 100 million names by the end of 2000. Also in this week's Review, we all get a brief lesson in how to search RW's multiple email list search engines. Turns out that email you need to fill that blank in your ancestry may or may not be in the threaded archives, and if its not, well then, to find it in the Isearch archives, you have to know what list it might be on. Good luck! Of course, if you pay RW money, you can use the Personalized Mailing List tool, which may or may not make your life easier [unless you are named Smith]. "Formerly no one was allowed to think freely; now it is permitted, but no one is capable of it any more. Now people want to think only what they are supposed to want to think, and this they consider freedom." Oswald Spengler This has been your Daily Board Show. -Teresa Lindquist merope@radix.net -------- Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved. From merope@Radix.Net Sat Jan 8 08:25:51 2000 Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2000 08:25:50 -0500 (EST) From: merope Reply-To: merope To: Daily Board Show Subject: Daily Board Show Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Game over, man...its Your Daily Board Show! *warning* contains editorial content and may frighten the horses. Read at your own risk! Thursday 6 January 2000 There was no Board-L traffic on this date. Friday 7 January 2000 The NC calls for a vote on Motion 99-34, to open the Board-L list for read-only subscription. By the end of the day 14 members had voted "aye', meaning this motion has passed. [I'm sorry, but this just cracks me up.] Feathering The Nest Corner: Megan Zurawicz, former NC and current paid Root$web employee, has recently sent a message to her colleagues in the MOGW suggesting that they pony up the funds necessary to acquire the mogenweb.rootsweb.com domain at RW. Now, it costs $35/year to register a domain at Network Solutions, and one could have it hosted at USGenNet, Inc. for $25/yr, thus it would cost $60/yr for them to buy the mogenweb.com [or .net, or .org, whichever]. Cost at Root$web? $250/year. What a clever way to make sure you still get a paycheck. Professional Behavior Corner: Someone has forwarded me a copy of Tim Stowell's letter asking the folks at USGenNet, Inc., to stop using the official logo. According to the header, it was copied to Board-Exec, so I stand corrected. The Board was informed of this, but for whatever reason, they were informed on the secret list. *shrug* "Politics, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds." ---Henry Brooks Adams This has been your Daily Board Show. -Teresa Lindquist merope@radix.net ----------- Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved. From merope@Radix.Net Sun Jan 9 08:38:03 2000 Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 08:38:02 -0500 (EST) From: merope To: Daily Board Show Subject: How to subscribe to Board-L Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Its a banner day today, folks, the Board has voted to allow members to actually attend their meeting! Here's Ken Short's announcement to "all CCs": ================ Below are the results of the Boards vote on Motion 99-34 along with Tim's comments on how to sub to the list. Please pass on to all CC's as soon as possible. Ken "Pecos" Short Board Secretary ------------------------------------------------------------- In almost record time - the Board vote on Motion 99-34 passes with 15 - yes, 0 - no, 0 - abstain, 1 not voting. I've added all Board members to the accept list. I've changed the permissions on the list to start accepting subscriptions. I've put a bounce limit of 4 in list form and 3 in digest form the list so I won't have to see so many bounce messages - which means that if a person has email problems they'll bounce off quickly. They can sub at their own leisure by sending a message to: List mode: BOARD-L-request@rootsweb.com - with the word subscribe in the body OR Digest: BOARD-D-request@rootsweb.com - with the word subscribe in the body Tim =================== -Teresa merope@radix.net From merope@Radix.Net Sun Jan 9 09:37:59 2000 Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 09:37:58 -0500 (EST) From: merope Reply-To: merope To: Daily Board Show Subject: Daily Board Show Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Pigs CAN fly...its Your Daily Board Show! *warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk! Saturday 8 January 2000: One more Board member votes yes on Motion 99-34. The NC posts the results of the vote: 15 yes, 1 not voting, and provides instructions for subscribing. [forwarded in another post] Just Making Sure Corner: Over on the SC list, one of the SCs has asked, "Are we allowed to forward Board-L messages we think the cc's may be interested in or directly affected by?" Our esteemed NC replies that "One would think that if they are interested in knowing what goes on on the Board then they would sub to the list or visit the website." He recommends asking the CCs if "they want to be subject to that or not." [Interesting turn of phrase. I would caution members of the project though about forwarding Board mail to constituents. There are still a few members on the Board who have threatened to sue members who pass their mail to others, including Betsy "Free Speech" Mills. Be warned.] Over on one of the state mailing lists, where someone has noted that several members of the project who are banned by Root$web will not be able to sub to Board-L or any other list, Tim has responded "Not to worry, I'm sure that the info will leak freely to lists far and wide for those who have been banned from using Rootsweb's services. One can though still look at the Board's list archives." [How nice to know he's looking out for us.] Alternatives Corner: Someone has reminded me of another online genealogy project still in its early days: GenRoots [http://www.genroots.com According to its website, it offers free webspace and boards, and features a site-wide search engine. Its organized in the now familiar state-county structure, and is run by USGW's own Dee Pavey [she runs the Kidz special project.] GenRoots is still quite new, and it seems to be organized and run in such a way as to avoid some of the more obvious problems USGW has. Check it out! "The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness." ---Niels Bohr This has been your Daily Board Show. -Teresa Lindquist merope@radix.net ------------- Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.