The R-Files, Tales of Rootsweb, the Listowner's Tale

-The Listowner's Tale-

In May 1997, the MAISER surname mailing lists run through the Indiana University's server were hit with a massive spam attack and were closed. Although the former MAISER lists dealing with states and localities remained on the Indiana University system after the crash, some 1000 surname lists were offered a new home on Rootsweb.
Clare, a former MAISER listowner, initially welcomed the move to Rootsweb. After all, the service was free. She had initially started her list on a smaller system, then when it got very large, moved it to MAISER. Following the MAISER crash, she says, "Rootsweb came out of nowhere and took us on". After a few months at Rootsweb, some subscribers on her list began disrupting the list and she asked for someone else to take it over. When no new listowner volunteered, she decided to take the list elsewhere. She says: "I wrote Rootsweb and asked them to remove the list from their server. I took the list privately, minus a few people. After about three months, some guy took over my list, which it turns out had NOT been deleted at all. He kept all the names on the list that I had gathered on it. I wrote to rootsweb and said, hey, I didn't give the list to this guy! They apologized, and reset the password for me. I deleted my subscribers, and all other material I had put on it. Within a week, rootsweb retracted MY ownership. They said since I abandoned the list, this guy had the right to take it over.... I was referred to as a vandal and was placed on the list of people to ban from the very list I created! Rootsweb did not care, and did nothing about it."
Clare now happily runs her lists off of Rootsweb.

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"The R-files" and "Tales of Rootsweb", © 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved. Graphics provided by Anonymous Graphics, © 1999. All contents of this website are the property of Teresa Lindquist and may not be reproduced in any form without express written permission of the owner.

	-The Listowner's Tale-

In May 1997, the MAISER surname mailing lists run through the Indiana University's server were hit with a massive spam attack and were closed. Although the former MAISER lists dealing with states and localities remained on the Indiana University system after the crash, some 1000 surname lists were offered a new home on Rootsweb. Clare, a former MAISER listowner, initially welcomed the move to Rootsweb. After all, the service was free. She had initially started her list on a smaller system, then when it got very large, moved it to MAISER. Following the MAISER crash, she says, "Rootsweb came out of nowhere and took us on". After a few months at Rootsweb, some subscribers on her list began disrupting the list and she asked for someone else to take it over. When no new listowner volunteered, she decided to take the list elsewhere. She says: "I wrote Rootsweb and asked them to remove the list from their server. I took the list privately, minus a few people. After about three months, some guy took over my list, which it turns out had NOT been deleted at all. He kept all the names on the list that I had gathered on it. I wrote to rootsweb and said, hey, I didn't give the list to this guy! They apologized, and reset the password for me. I deleted my subscribers, and all other material I had put on it. Within a week, rootsweb retracted MY ownership. They said since I abandoned the list, this guy had the right to take it over.... I was referred to as a vandal and was placed on the list of people to ban from the very list I created! Rootsweb did not care, and did nothing about it." Clare now happily runs her lists off of Rootsweb.
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