Jul 19-25 1999

From merope@Radix.Net Mon Jul 19 21:27:14 1999

Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 21:27:12 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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Subject: Daily Board Show

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Stranger than fiction...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Saturday July 17 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Election Update: The Election Committee has posted a webpage at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~mogenweb/election/state.htm, wherein is included

an interesting description of how votes are handled and counted by

Root$web staff member Tim Pierce. It also contains copies of the

ballots for each race, and a list of regions and their EC reps. We

thank the Election Committee for making this information available.

Interesting Question o' the Day Corner: A poster to the GenConnect list

has asked: "If admins, we for whatever reason, don't get a post removed

that proves to be a legal problem for Rootsweb, are we, then, as Board

Admins legally responsible for any legal ramifications that RW may

encounter because of the post, either in part, or whole?" So far the

only response from RW staff has been "We cannot give official RootsWeb

policy here."

Expanding Assets Corner: We hear that Joan Young, who occasionally

presents the Root$web view of the world on USGenWeb project lists, has

finally been offered a paying job as a spokesperson for Root$web.

Congrats to Joan!

"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more

justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would

be justified in silencing mankind."

---John Stuart Mill

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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

From merope@Radix.Net Tue Jul 20 20:35:48 1999

Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 20:35:47 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Living a life of danger for the FBI...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Sunday 18 July 1999:

Election Committee Chair Jim Powell posts the URL for "for information on

the Voting Software, etc." The site includes "a rundown of the way the

software works and the human interaction with it." The URL is

http://www.rootsweb.com/~mogenweb/election/state.htm

Good News Corner: Except for random sightings of the Page Police, its

been a quiet day!

"The censure of those who are opposed to us, is the highest commendation

that can be given us."

---Seigneur de Saint-Evremond

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Wed Jul 21 22:33:43 1999

Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 22:33:42 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Manna from heaven...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Monday 19 July 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Out of the Mouths of Politicians Corner: Holly Timm, candidate for

At-Large representative has written to request a clarification about a

news item from a few days ago. You will recall that a guest correspondent

wrote about a chat log posted at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohmahoni/chat/990713.txt

which contained a discussion of someone who requested that their

copyrighted files be removed from the archives. In this discussion, new

Board member Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman states, "Linda said to pull them and

have someone else proof the material and resubmit." Holly wishes it to be

made clear that she was not present in this chat during this conversation.

[As a voter, I asked Holly what she thought of this discussion; her

response was "I find insufficient information in the lines quoted to make

any sort of determination about what is or is not occurring. If I had

been present, I perhaps would have asked some questions seeking

clarification and explanation of what precisely was meant." Again, as a

voter, I urge Holly to pursue this clarification and explanation with her

friends and share her findings with the rest of us.]

Now You See It, Now You Don't Corner: We've been informed by a little

bird that the aforementioned chat log, which is still posted at the above

URL, has been edited since last we wrote about it. The _entire_

discussion of copyrighted files has been removed. Apparently, some people

believe that will make it like it never happened.

Missing In Action Corner: Census representative Kay Mason has not been

present for a Board vote since early June. Is another resignation in the

works? [If so, it provokes an interesting question: which Census project

will get to forward names for the position?]

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral

crisis, do nothing."

---Dante

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Fri Jul 23 09:38:14 1999

Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 09:38:13 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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This gun for hire....its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Tuesday 20 July 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Wednesday 21 July 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Shell Game Corner: As reported in this week's RootsWeb Review (vol 2, no

29), the owners/operators of the for-profit RootsWeb.com, Inc. have

incorporated a _new_ company, called GenSoc.org, Inc., that is

not-for-profit. The genealogical community is once again told that the

501(c)(3) status is in the works. According to the article, by

Rootsweb.com, Inc. CEO Robert Tillman, they "expect to file this

application with the Internal Revenue Service by the end of July 1999."

Also according to the article, they "plan to run the day-to-day activities

of RootsWeb under RootsWeb.com, Inc. and to use GenSoc.org to help fund

volunteer projects on RootsWeb, such as the USGenWeb Archives, FreeBMD,

the Immigrant Ship Transcribers Guild, various census transcription

projects, and others." Funding sources for Root$web will continue to be

"user contributions, advertising/sponsorships, and electronic commerce

(including auctions of genealogy related items on RootsWeb and

participation in third-party affiliate programs)" [auctions?]

[It will be interesting to see how Root$web uses its new not-for-profit

company. Perhaps it will be similar to the foundations formed by many

large companies to channel their charitable giving; although its my

understanding that those foundations usually have separate boards and

officers. In any case, Root$web will still need to generate the revenue

to fund its new company, so its not likely, IMO, that banners ads will be

disappearing from USGW-affiliated resources any time soon.]

Wrench In The Works Corner: We've been informed privately that an

extensively documented complaint alleging violations of copyright law

and possible discrimination towards users by the RootsWeb Genealogical

Data Cooperative has been filed with the California Attorney General's

Office and the Federal Communications Commission. The complainant is a

former Root$web supporter who has been unable to reach agreement with

Root$web regarding the removal of their copyrighted posts from Root$web's

server.

Blast From The Past Corner: From a post by Brian Leverich to USGENWEB-ALL

27 Sept 1998: "The USGenWeb Archives have amazing value to researchers.

They have no commercial value at all in and of themselves. You could

never publish or sell them because ownership is wildly dispersed. They do

have some value from an advertising standpoint and, if some sleazeball

were hosting them, they could make a lot of money putting banner

advertisements on them." [how true it is.]

"... The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the

government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can

effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the

responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the

government from deceiving the people...."

--Justice Hugo Black, New York Times v. Unites States (Pentagon Papers)

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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

From merope@Radix.Net Sat Jul 24 20:32:08 1999

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1999 20:32:07 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Where the deer and the antelope play...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Thursday 22 July 1999:

There is no Board-L activity on this date.

Election Update: The polls close one week from today. Don't forget to

vote! Remember, candidates are listed at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnroane/nominate.htm and you can visit their

webpages from links available on that page.

Malicious Mischief Corner: We've received the following from a reader

[with minor editorial changes]: "There are three different malicious

events that have occurred recently: 1. The posting of anti "Rootsweb.com,

Inc" messages to GenConnect Boards; 2. Bogus queries being submitted with

the forged names and e-mail addresses of our volunteers; 3. Bogus

subscriptions being submitted to Twisted Humor (online joke mailing

service) with the forged e-mail addresses of our volunteers. Even RW lists

were subscribed, but the jokes bounced."

My correspondent suspects that #2 and possibly #3 as well were done by

someone who apparently has a running fight with the USGW Archives, over a

file removal problem. According to the writer, the disagreement does not

involve Linda Lewis, other than bogus queries have appeared in her name.

[I have heard privately that RW staff member Tim Pierce is pursuing the

identity of the person or persons who submitted bogus subscriptions to the

joke lists with the owner of that service. The identity of the person

posting bogus Genconnect queries using the names of USGW volunteers is

believed to be known, but will not be printed here, since I don't know how

good the evidence is. The person(s) posting "anti-Rootsweb" messages used

an anonymous proxy service; his, her or their identity is also being

sought by RW.]

Get Out The Popcorn Corner: An interesting slideshow prepared by Audience

Profiler [which ran that little survey for RW a couple of months ago] has

been posted at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ftpstaff/finalreport/index.htm

It purports to describe RW's user base in terms of their wealth, hobbies,

internet usage, and RW usage, among other things. This is the info RW

uses to attract the ad sponsors whose banners now gracefully decorate

RW's pages. [OK, 'fess up out there, how many of you took this survey

more than once, and as a different person each time?]

"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government

working for you."

---Will Rogers

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Sun Jul 25 21:00:26 1999

Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 21:00:25 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Where seldom is heard a discouraging word...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Friday 23 July 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Strange Goings On Corner: A researcher writes that while trying to do

research earlier today he found a couple of interesting anomalies in

ILGenWeb. The first one is that the Peoria county page has disappeared

and has been replaced with a RW cluster page. The second one is that the

Tazewell county page has disappeared entirely; the only thing the URL

leads to is a blank directory page. See for yourself at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~iltazewe/

Big Enough To Drive A Truck through Corner: In a message posted

last night to STATE-COORD-L, Brian "Slack" Leverich admits that Root$web's

security precautions are nothing to write home about. According to Mr.

Leverich "By deliberate decision, security on WWW.ROOTSWEB.COM has always

been fairly lax." Apparently, Root$web's security is so lax that they

have been keeping PASSWORDS to new accounts in places where anyone with

ftp access to their servers can view them. This has happened at least

once, and several CC accounts have been compromised, according to Mr.

Leverich. Mr. Leverich indicates that they've now closed the gaping holes

in their security and are trying to identify the person who has been

merrily traipsing through Root$web's staff, draft, and personal files,

as well as the password files. I'm sure these CCs [and others] who's

accounts were allegedly compromised by Root$web's poor security will sleep

easier knowing that Roots$web has closed the barn door _after_ the cows

have escaped and eaten the neighbor's roses.

"Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship."

---Benjamin Franklin

This has been your Daily Board Show.

--Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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