Apr 12-18 1999

From merope@Radix.Net Mon Apr 12 18:26:31 1999

Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 18:26:30 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990412175732.14491A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Status: O

X-Status:

Just another manic Monday...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Saturday 10 April 1999:

There is, surprisingly enough, no Board-L traffic on this date.

News Elsewhere: Joe Zsedeny has been appointed to be the new Archives

representative on the Board. Congrats!

Clarification Corner: Yesterday it was reported that the NC declared

Motion 99-8 failed for lack of a quorum. It has been pointed out to me

that this is not entirely correct. A Board member requested that the

motion be declared failed for lack of a quorum, but the NC actually

declared the motion failed for lack of Board support for the nominee.

This is very different from lack of a quorum, and I apologize for the

misstatement.

But While We're On That Topic Corner: Lets revisit those bylaws, shall

we? In her upbraiding message to the NC on Friday, Beth "I'm Out of Here"

Wills pointed out, "I also think that it is time for all of us to take a

good long look at the bylaws." [what a novel concept] Fair enough. The

USGW bylaws state (Article VIII, section 1 and 2) that nine voting members

of the Board constitute a quorum and issues shall be decided by a 2/3

majority of those voting. Four people voted on the motion, and five

others discussed it during the comment period. That would be, yep, nine

people, and thus a quorum. The four who voted all voted "aye", easily

meeting the 2/3 majority requirement. Thus, Motion 99-8 technically

passed, despite Beth "No, Wait, I'm Back Again" Wills' declaration

otherwise. Its unfortunate that the NC did not heed the call for a

roll call, as this would have definitively established a quorum. [but

then, the clever ones would have just not responded.] Oh well, water

under the bridge! Since the personnel issues seem to have been resolved,

I'm sure we can look forward to a similarly professionally handled

resolution of the census issue.

"People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then

repent."

--- Bob Dylan

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Linduist

merope@radix.net

---------------------

From merope@Radix.Net Tue Apr 13 21:47:07 1999

Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 21:47:05 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990413211151.23468A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Status: O

X-Status:

There is no spoon...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* editorial content, you know you want it. Read at your own risk!

Saturday 10 April 1999:

[Although it was reported here yesterday that there was no Board-L

traffic on Saturday, today messages from Saturday have made it to the

archives.]

An interesting discussion ensues over Motion 99-8, with one Board member

asking "Either it failed as a result of no quorum (which it did), or it

passed by the 2/3 majority vote. You can't have it both ways. If you say

and can prove that 4 aye votes constitute a quorum, then you can't just

say well it should be passed, but I'll say its defeated. This leaves things

way too open for misinterpretation." Another Board member points out that

the NC is right, "All board members are technically present at all times,

therefore a quorum has been established. However, Tim went one step

further by assuring that at least 9 members of the board were present as

they had been posting messages during the voting. Quorum has nothing to do

with the number who cast votes, therefore, the motion carried." She goes

on to bemoan the fact that their mistakes are "very public and open to

(mis)interpretation by the whole membership."

In response to Beth "Hide 'N Seek" Wills' first post-resignation

message to her colleagues, the NC posts a rather long chat log of a

conversation he had with a parliamentarian unassociated with the project.

It essentially supports his position [and that of the Board member quoted

above]; as he says "So based on this conversation about the Bylaws and

since the Board being in continual session would always have a quorum - I

said what I said. BUT because of my sense that it would be unpopular with

the Board I did declare the motion as defeated. [see, he WAS trying to

make nice with you guys after all!] He goes on to say: "For those who

wish to think that they are being compared to fools and/or idiots, please

do not demean those of greater and/or different intelligence than your

own. [ya, quit insulting two year olds <g>]

The NC posts a snippet from another Board member's previous post

recommending that Motion 99-7 [to appoint Joe Zsedeny as Archives rep] be

untalbed, and calles for a vote on both untabling Motion 99-7 and

appointing Joe.

A Board member makes a point of order: "There has been no Motion made to

untable this and no second provided. This call for votes is improper!"

[looks like someone bought herself a copy of RRoR.]

The motion is made and seconded; by the end of the day, 10 Board members

had voted "aye" to both untabling Motion 99-7 and appointing Joe Zsedeny

as Archives rep.

Sunday 11 April 1999:

Three more Board members vote "aye" on untabling Motion 99-7 and

appointing Joe.

The NC declares the motion passed, with 13 ayes and 1 member not voting.

He lets the group know he has informed Joe of his appointment and will sub

him to the lists.

[I suppose now they'll be moving on to the census crisis...]

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the

comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service, when it is

violating all His laws."

--- John Adams

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

------------------

From merope@Radix.Net Wed Apr 14 21:50:07 1999

Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 21:50:06 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: USGW_ALL@LISTBOT.COM

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990414210319.9810A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Status: RO

X-Status:

All work and no play...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* chock full o' editorial content. Read at your risk!

Monday 12 April 1999:

There is [apparently] no Board traffic on this date [I'll check again

tomorrow]

He'd Do Anything For Genealogy Corner: Rootsweb has a "new" sponsor,

genealogy.com, aka The Learning Company. Large banner ads, which take one

directly to the newly redesigned Genealogy.com home page, appeared this

evening. Genealogy.com is registered to Broderbund, which is the maker of

Family Treemaker, now owned by the Learning Company [which also owns

Palladium, RW's former sponsor. Most of the site consists of links to

places users will be familiar with if they use familytreemaker.com: the

internet family finder, GenForum (a direct "competitor" to GenConnect),

message boards and user home pages. [What the heck, I guess Family

Treemaker's money is as green as anyone else's. While it is a bit

surprising to see RW pimping so openly for a _very_ for profit company, I

imagine they made Brain an offer he couldn't refuse. I also imagine we

won't be treated to any more of Brain's dismissive comments about

'pay-per-view' websites--except, of course, for Familytreemaker's rival,

Ancestry.com.]

In the News Corner: As reported by the NC to some of the USGW mailing

lists, two major news outlets have published pieces on online genealogy

which mention USGW to varying degrees. The first, in Time magazine, is

available online at

http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,22974,00.html, and

its Tim's cover story this week. Its pretty general and the only mention

of USGW is a link in an accompanying article. Rootsweb is prominently

metioned, as is Cyndi's List.

The other article, published April 13 in the LA Times, prominently

features the USGW's own Tombstone Project, highlighting in particular one

of its volunteers, Penny Dodd, and giving a good overview of the history

of the project. USGW is mentioned only in passing. Its an interesting

and informative article and its available at:

http://www.latimes.com/CNS_DAYS/990413/t000032990.html

"The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support

the rights of people you don't agree with."

---Eleanor Holmes Norton

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

---------------

From merope@Radix.Net Thu Apr 15 21:17:13 1999

Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 21:17:08 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990415202308.17302A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Status: O

X-Status:

From the dark side of the moon...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Tuesday 13 April 1999

A Board member posts the url of the LA Times article about the Tombstone

project [posted here yesterday]. If you haven't had a chance to read it

yet, the url is :http://www.latimes.com/CNS_DAYS/990413/t000032990.html

Tomorrow's news today: Celia Snyder resigns as Webmaster for the USGenWeb

Project

The Way We Were Corner: From Brian Leverich, 13 Nov 1998: "If the admins

at RootsWeb wanted that, we'd be investing in Broderbund or Ancestry or

GeoCities or one of the other commercial outfits who are cheerfully

screwing the genealogical community for whatever the market will bear."

[but, he _will_ take their money, it seems]

"A cock has great influence on his own dunghill."

---Publilius Syrus

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

-----------------

From merope@Radix.Net Fri Apr 16 20:15:41 1999

Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 20:15:40 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990416191810.17523D-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Status: RO

X-Status:

Just a miner for a heart of gold...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Wednesday 14 April 1999:

Celia Snyder, webmaster for the national page, resigns, saying, "I really

feel like it would be best for me to resign as Webmaster of The USGenWeb

Project national website as soon as is convenient. I have discovered that

events in my personal life no longer allow me the time required by the

position." [What?! The USGW Project has a webmaster?! Could've fooled

me. I hear we have a Board Secretary too.] Celia goes on to say she's

enjoyed her tenure as "webmaster" and is looking forward to less active

participation [not gonna say it...] and devoting more time to her county

pages.

The Way We Were Corner: From Brian Leverich, 27 Sept 1998: "We may at

some future time allow Webmasters to include their material in RootsWeb's

search engines. That's going to be kinda messy from a human engineering

standpoint, though, because either Webmasters are going to need to be as

careful as the Archives file managers or we're going to wind up with a

search engine as yucky as Broderbund's IFF." [which he now advertises;

guess their money isn't yucky!]

"Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any

kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can

willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their

power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief."

---Edmund Burke

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

--------------

From merope@Radix.Net Sat Apr 17 19:28:35 1999

Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 19:28:33 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990417190803.29247A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Status: RO

X-Status:

Go ahead, make my day...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* the Surgeon General has determined that this contains editorial

content. Read at your own risk!

Thursday 15 April 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Tomorrow's News Today: The Board votes on Celia's resignation [Ta ta, C!]

The Shameless Rumor Mill Corner: Rumor Has It that the Board is going to

solicit the project membership for a new national webmaster. So all you

wannabe designers out there should dust off the old resumes, and start

thinking of some new ideas for the national page!

New Toys Corner: For those of you who either don't get the RW Review or

who don't read it, the new threaded archives have been formally

announced. From the most recent RWR: "Now you can read 122,813 messages

from 877 mailing lists using your Web browser by visiting

<http://archiver.rootsweb.com/>. All those messages are from just three

months of beta tests -- watch this archives grow with its public debut."

According to the announcement, for security reasons, "To use the Archiver

you will need to pick a user name and password and you will need to accept

a cookie." We've heard that RW is "strongly encouraging" _all_ RW

listowners to switch to the new system, although some are balking.

"In every generation, there are those who want to rule well--but they mean

to rule. They promise to be good masters--but they mean to be masters."

---Daniel Webster

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

----------------

From merope@Radix.Net Sun Apr 18 11:17:45 1999

Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 11:17:44 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990418104056.17345A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Status: O

X-Status:

Meddling in the affairs of dragons...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Friday 16 April 1999:

The NC posts the following: "Now that the discussion period for Motion

99-9 has passed (5 PM) and that hour total is now at 32.5 hours, please

vote whether or not to accept Celia Snyder's resignation as Webmaster."

[perhaps not surprisingly, the original motion, its second, and any

discussion appear to have taken place safely out of the project's view on

the secret list.]

By the end of the day, 13 Board members had voted "aye" to Motion 99-9.

Tomorrow's News Today: The NC declares Motion 99-9 passed.

The Way We Were Corner: From Brian Leverich, 1 Jan 1999, TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L:

"Now that Palladium is just another name for Mattel / TLC / Broderbund /

Banner Blue, we obviously aren't promoting competition by advertising

their products. It's not at all clear why RootsWeb would want to

publicize what essentially amounts to a monopoly with virtually unlimited

powers to fix prices." [Because their money is green?]

"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence."

---Charles De Gaulle

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

----------------