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

-The Specialist's Tale-

Mark has his own tale to tell about Rootsweb. The founder of a very active surname mailing list and a recognized authority on that surname, he moved his list to Rootsweb in May of 1998, following the recommendation of a list member. According to Mark, "things started to go bad right from the begining. The list was activated and low and behold! Approximately 2,000 posts were now available via a Web page based search engine! We just activated the list, where did the posts come from? It seems when the Maiser Server closed about a year before, all the archives were transfered to ROOTSWEB. When our list was activated for our Surname, this archive was placed online without the group's knowledge or consent." He requested that the MAISER archives be removed from Rootsweb, but "Discussions did not go well. Immediately it became apparent that my desires were not in concert with Rootsweb. However, steps were taken to remove the old archives."
Mark's troubles with Rootsweb were compounded when the listowner, which he describes as the "designated liaison to Rootsweb" [in other words, he was no longer owner of his own list!] and a Rootsweb "patron" [meaning he gave money to Rootsweb] began to impose his/her own standards on the mailing list. According to Mark, "We were not use to being told what can or can not be posted. List Policy was no longer suitable to be posted. Communication starts to break down. Confusion arises from the question on whether or not ROOTSWEB mail lists have to be archived and made available to the public." A great deal of dissension broke out on the list over the archiving issue, and this discussion was passed on to the management of Rootsweb by the listowner. Then Mark was banned from his own list. "Despite the fact that I had not had any conversations with the senior individual of Rootsweb, it was decreed that steps were taken to ensure that my posts were never again be archived on ROOTSWEB. I was confused by this statement. My email account was locked out of the ROOTSWEB Server. I could not subscribe to a Rootsweb list. I could never again post to a Rootsweb List and interact. My only concern was having posts archived without my permission. I sent message after message stating that if I post to a list that it is declared to be archived then I would be giving my permission for it to be archived. Nope, the policy was stated and I was tried and sentenced." Mark was banned.
More recently, Mark "...spoke out to the practices of a listowner (same as above) who established a GenConnect Surname board for of course my subject area. Bad information was disseminated, mixed policy signals were sent. No Clarification of the policy. I voiced my concerns (loudly). It is my understanding that the same Rootsweb High Official has directed that more steps be implemented to deny me access to Rootsweb resources."
Today, Mark feels that his banning was caused by his questioning of Rootsweb's policy of archiving mail lists, a policy that results in a great deal of personal emails remaining on Rootsweb's servers and being available to anyone who searches the archives. He "had denied a persons vision to compiled the data of other people's hard work and to make it available via ROOTSWEB resources. The lost of that old Maiser Archive had agrivated a senior ROOTSWEB official to the point that I was banned." The controversy split what had previously been a happy and productive list into two warring camps, one supporting Mark, the other pro-Rootsweb. Mark and his supporters eventually started a new list elsewhere, and the pro-Rootsweb members remained on Rootsweb. In October 1998, Mark appealed his banning to Rootsweb and was told "that ROOTSWEB would prefer I don't use their resources". As Mark says, "You don't believe someone would banned you for a belief, try challenging the policies of ROOTSWEB."
Mark now runs his family list on another server. It has grown extensively since its days on Rootsweb and is now its vibrant old pre-Rootsweb self. His old list on Rootsweb is no longer active, and a post was made to that affect by its listowner in October 1998.

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	-The Specialist's Tale-

Mark has his own tale to tell about Rootsweb. The founder of a very active surname mailing list and a recognized authority on that surname, he moved his list to Rootsweb in May of 1998, following the recommendation of a list member. According to Mark, "things started to go bad right from the begining. The list was activated and low and behold! Approximately 2,000 posts were now available via a Web page based search engine! We just activated the list, where did the posts come from? It seems when the Maiser Server closed about a year before, all the archives were transfered to ROOTSWEB. When our list was activated for our Surname, this archive was placed online without the group's knowledge or consent." He requested that the MAISER archives be removed from Rootsweb, but "Discussions did not go well. Immediately it became apparent that my desires were not in concert with Rootsweb. However, steps were taken to remove the old archives." Mark's troubles with Rootsweb were compounded when the listowner, which he describes as the "designated liaison to Rootsweb" [in other words, he was no longer owner of his own list!] and a Rootsweb "patron" [meaning he gave money to Rootsweb] began to impose his/her own standards on the mailing list. According to Mark, "We were not use to being told what can or can not be posted. List Policy was no longer suitable to be posted. Communication starts to break down. Confusion arises from the question on whether or not ROOTSWEB mail lists have to be archived and made available to the public." A great deal of dissension broke out on the list over the archiving issue, and this discussion was passed on to the management of Rootsweb by the listowner. Then Mark was banned from his own list. "Despite the fact that I had not had any conversations with the senior individual of Rootsweb, it was decreed that steps were taken to ensure that my posts were never again be archived on ROOTSWEB. I was confused by this statement. My email account was locked out of the ROOTSWEB Server. I could not subscribe to a Rootsweb list. I could never again post to a Rootsweb List and interact. My only concern was having posts archived without my permission. I sent message after message stating that if I post to a list that it is declared to be archived then I would be giving my permission for it to be archived. Nope, the policy was stated and I was tried and sentenced." Mark was banned. More recently, Mark "...spoke out to the practices of a listowner (same as above) who established a GenConnect Surname board for of course my subject area. Bad information was disseminated, mixed policy signals were sent. No Clarification of the policy. I voiced my concerns (loudly). It is my understanding that the same Rootsweb High Official has directed that more steps be implemented to deny me access to Rootsweb resources." Today, Mark feels that his banning was caused by his questioning of Rootsweb's policy of archiving mail lists, a policy that results in a great deal of personal emails remaining on Rootsweb's servers and being available to anyone who searches the archives. He "had denied a persons vision to compiled the data of other people's hard work and to make it available via ROOTSWEB resources. The lost of that old Maiser Archive had agrivated a senior ROOTSWEB official to the point that I was banned." The controversy split what had previously been a happy and productive list into two warring camps, one supporting Mark, the other pro-Rootsweb. Mark and his supporters eventually started a new list elsewhere, and the pro-Rootsweb members remained on Rootsweb. In October 1998, Mark appealed his banning to Rootsweb and was told "that ROOTSWEB would prefer I don't use their resources". As Mark says, "You don't believe someone would banned you for a belief, try challenging the policies of ROOTSWEB." Mark now runs his family list on another server. It has grown extensively since its days on Rootsweb and is now its vibrant old pre-Rootsweb self. His old list on Rootsweb is no longer active, and a post was made to that affect by its listowner in October 1998.
FORWARD to The Listowner's Tale
BACK to the R-Files