About Your Webmaster

Hello,

My name is Charles Barnum. I joined NMGenWeb shortly after 1996. It was a dream come true for me as I had been doing genealogy research since I was about sixteen. It was around 1998 when the organization started to get overly political. People begin to fall into power groups and cliques. The State Coordinators used their power to create shells around them by selecting loyal CCs. Those SCs continued to remain in power for years by switching from SC to ASC and back.

I was like the 90% of CCs who did not care about politics. I only wanted to do genealogy. One thing lead to another, and I began to fight back. Let there be no mistake, I have loved USGenWeb since it was created. I dislike the way it has been changed over the years with fighting between feuding groups. Those groups are roughly as follows:

1--SCs who believe the Advisory Board is nearly useless and should have no power over them.

2--CCs who believe the SCs have too much power.

3--The Rootsweb.com fans.

4--The U$GenNet fans.

5--The Archive folks who believe they are the center of the organization.

6--A small group that thinks the AB should have all of the power.

and

7--A large group of LCs and CCs and a few SCs who do not care for any of it, but their non-participation in the political process has allowed the other groups to take over the direction of USGenWeb to their own determent.

This in-fighting has allowed other projects to gain a foothold in the online genealogy community.

they are:

AHGP, ALHN, Genealogy Trails, Find-A-Grave, and newcomer FamilySearch.org --all free organizations.

Some of the members of the groups overlap into other groups, of course. I personally think each group has its place but the fighting is hurting USGenWeb. Anyone who voices concern is tagged or labeled "bad" by one group or another. This week a AB member said I was negative. I countered: I was not negative, only vocal. Today, June 26th, I received a threatening email from a person in group 6. The email stated that I could not count on distance for safety. It caused me great concern for the safety of my family, for my grandchildren that live with me, and for my own safety. That email was forwarded to the FBI today. (See receipt below)

Let me state clearly that I do not belong to any group, nor am I subbed to the CC Alternative list where some of the most radical members are. Some of the members of that list use slander and name calling to try to control others. The threat I received today came from a member on that list.

Frankly, my zeal has diminished over the past few years. I feel a general decline of devotion to USGenWeb by many members, but not in all states.

I will continue to publish this website as long as I believe I can make a difference and bring change for the better.