Mar 29-31 1999

From merope@Radix.Net Mon Mar 29 19:35:36 1999

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 19:35:35 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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In a hurry...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* really boring today, no editorial content. Read at your own

risk!

Saturday 27 mar 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date

This has been your Daily Board Show. [hey, I said it would be boring!]

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Tue Mar 30 18:24:30 1999

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 18:24:29 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Its better to burn out than it is to rust...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* another boring report. Read at your own risk!

Sunday 28 March 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

"Since when do you have to agree with people to defend them from

injustice?"

--- Lillian Hellman

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Wed Mar 31 15:00:34 1999

Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 15:00:33 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: News Flash!

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This is from our NC, via another list. It appears that this decision has

been made over his objections.

No disrespect intended to the NC or to any individual Board member, but

have you all lost your minds?

-Teresa

merope@radix.net

> >On Wednesday, March 31, 1999 6:09 AM, Tim Stowell

> >[SMTP:tstowell@mccallie.org] wrote:

> >> In an effort to inform you as to the progress being made by the

> >> Board on a

> >> Tombstone Rep replacement, I feel it my duty to let you know that

> >> the Board

> >> has decided to settle the census issue first before appointing a

> >> replacement from the Tombstone or Archives projects.

> >>

> >> Timothy S Stowell email - tstowell@chattanooga.net

> >> Chattanooga, TN

> >>

> >> National Coordinator USGenWeb Project - http://www.usgenweb.org

From merope@Radix.Net Wed Mar 31 19:12:58 1999

Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 19:12:54 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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

To: usgw_all@listbot.com

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Once in a blue moon...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Monday 29 March 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

But Looks Are Deceiving Corner: Although the Board appears to be

inactive, apparently they've been quite busy "behind the scenes". A

message was posted earlier today to the Tombstone Project's mailing list

from the NC, and reads as follows:

"In an effort to inform you as to the progress being made by the

Board on a Tombstone Rep replacement, I feel it my duty to let you know

that the Board has decided to settle the census issue first before

appointing a replacement from the Tombstone or Archives projects."

In a letter following up to a TP file manager's concerns about the

propriety of making decisions that will affect the Special Projects with

neither a Tombstone nor an Archives represetative seated, the NC makes it

quite clear that this decision was made over his objections:

"I've written the Board this AM saying in effect that on such an important

issue, the Board needs to be at full membership. To do otherwise leaves

large numbers of volunteers without representation. That's not fair or

ethical in my book."

[You go, guy!]

I will admit that this decision by the Board stuns even this jaded and

cynical reporter. Either this is an example of ruthlessly self-serving

disenfranchisement of hundreds of USGW project volunteers or incredible

naivete on the part of the Board members who think this is a good idea.

Or maybe its the full moon.

Let's see...there's been no activity on Board-L for what, three or four

days now? In the time they've taken to decide to "settle" the census

issue first, they could have had both Linda and Joe properly appointed.

And even now, what's the rush? The status quo should hold for a few more

days while the Board seats can be filled.

Don't forget, whatever "resolution" of the census issues the Board members

come up with, this is an important matter of interest to the entire

project, and a 48 hour comment period --at minimum-- is required.

[I'd like to thank the NC for his honesty and forthrightness with the

Tombstone folks. Posting that info to their list probably made him no

friends on the Board.]

Can You Say the Magic Word? Corner: There's been some sort of weird

occurrence on Rootsweb's "mail list complaints" page. We've heard

scattered stories of derogatory posts by disgruntled listmembers and/or

owners, _and_ replies by RW staffers that also included derogatory

comments about listowners, all posted in a publicly accessible place.

Following some complaints by the affected listowners, someone uttered the

Magic Word ("attorney") and the page was taken down. For a brief time the

URL returned an error message and a note to contact Brian "Bright

Idea" Leverich; that has been replaced with a form and the assurance that

"Anything you post here will be held in strictest confidence ... no-one

will see it except yourself and RootsWeb Staff - who will try to help

you." [it'd be smarter to have an attorney vet these ideas for public

gripe pages _before_ you insult someone in a public forum. And you might

want to encourage your employees to have better manners.]

Well, Heck Corner: Rootsweb staffer "D" [I think this is Donna] is

telling folks that Rootsweb has applied for but has not yet received

non-profit status. Now this is good news, indeed! [and since 501 3(c)

apps are public records, looks like I need to send yet another FOIA

request.]

Update Corner: Its now been two months or so [I lose count] since the

Rootsweb Four were banned from using Rootsweb's servers. Although

attempts have been made to contact Brian "Don't Touch My Stuff" Leverich

in order to find out the conditions for reinstatement, he has not

responded thus far. Apparently, he is also not responding to email from

one of the Banned's SC and we hear that a letter has been sent to the NC

asking him to see if maybe Brian will deign to answer _his_ email and

indicate how this situation may be resolved. [I sent Brain a dollar;

think he'll forgive me?]

On a sad note: A CNN story reported today that "The Yugoslav forces, so

we are learning, are destroying the archives of the Kosovar people:

property deeds, marriage licenses, birth certificates, financial and other

records."

Better news: The long-awaited LDS test site is finally up. I've been

there and done that and it has real potential. Source searched include

the Ancestral File, the Library's catalog, the IGI, web sites and the

FamilySearch Pedigree Resource File, although not all parts of these

resources are available at this time. You can search by surname or by

keyword, or do a custom search. The surname search appears to search and

return soundex equivalents. The site's a little choppy and slow, but it is

still in test phase. Check it out!

http://32.96.111.11/default.asp

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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