Dec 18-24 2000

From merope@Radix.Net Mon Dec 18 13:17:58 2000

Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 13:17:57 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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Here we go again...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Sunday 17 December 2000:

Pam Reid confirms that she also knew nothing about the GenTech 2001

conference and notes "It makes sense that the Board would have been

informed about plans to hold a national USGW meeting, but that is not the

case." She wonders exactly what constitutes a "national meeting", since

no one seems to know anything about it [more on GT 2001 below].

Tim Stowell notes that he has currently received 18 volunteers for the

Election Committee [the deadline for volunteering is Dec 22; write to

Holly Timm and Tim Stowell if intereted].

Tim informs the Board that there are 144 subscribers to Board-L, but he is

uncertain how many are unique subscibers. He notes "I suppose we are all

unique in our own way."

Holly Timm notes that the GT 2001 meeting seems "to have been meant more

as a get-together meeting rather than a *meeting* meeting." She believes

that it is possible to "make the most of" this situation and "turn it into

a real get-together for all who can manage to be there.... emphasizing a

*meet your fellow volunteers* et cetera type get together where we can

discuss common issues --- relationships with alternative and specialized

projects..." She intends to attend, along with some other USGenWeb

members and asks anyone who intends to go to contact her. She also offers

to hand out USGenWeb and/or XXGenWeb brochures.

Ken Short says he "hasn't a clue" how the GT 2001 meeting "got to be such

a big deal." He says "I have always considered it as nothing more than a

get together to meet one another, unless someone knows something I don't.

I was never contacted about having a formal "meeting." I know that The TX

SC and several TX CC's have been planning to attend for a while now,

mainly to get together and shake hands." He also intends to attend the

meeting and hopes to other members there as well.

Monday 18 December 2000:

Tim notes that he has now received 21 applications to volunteer for the

EC.

===

Plans and Schemes Corner: Several days after writing to him [but only a

few hours after I wrote to the GenTech Board], Beau Sharbrough of GenTech

has responded to my inquiries regarding the "first ever national USGenWeb

meeting". This meeting, to be held Feb 3 in Mesquite, TX during GenTech's

annual conference, is advertised in the conference brochure. Mr.

Sharbrough says "Back on 29 June, Leslie [Collier, conference chair] wrote

the following to me: 'I got word from USGenWeb. I've been trying the

national director, but never could get a reply, so I finally contacted

Betsy Mills, the AR state coordinator (someone I know); she took the bull

by the horns and has offered that she and Trey Holt, the TX coordinator

(who's sent me a message confirming that he's in), would organize the

USGenWeb participation.' The nature of these meetings is something to be

determined by the participants. GENTECH is pleased to provide a place for

the meeting at no charge to the volunteer organization, but I want to

state clearly that we have no involvement in the content of the actual

meeting."

So, according to Mr. Sharbrough, this meeting has been "in the works"

since June and is being organized by TXGenWeb SC Trey Holt and Board

member Betsy Mills [mostly because they couldn't get our Esteemed National

Coordinator to respond to their emails--nothing out of the ordinary

there]. Although they are advertising it as a national USGenWeb meeting

attended by "movers and shakers", GenTech apparently has no idea who from

USGenWeb is attending.

Apparently few on the USGenWeb Board knew anything about it; I have now

heard from 8 members who deny any knowledge of it whatsoever prior to

hearing about it from me. Ken Short is the only Board member so far who

has acknowledged that he has known about it for some time. Mr. Sharbrough

suggests that further questions about the meeting be directed to Trey or

Betsy as the organizers. [He specifically requests that people do not

direct questions to the GenTech Board of Directors, of which he is

president. Apparently it "alarms" them.]

Fond Farewells Corner: It appears that the ineptness of the national

leadership of the USGenWeb project has cost us another valued member. We

received word last night that Linda Mason, State Coordinator and long time

member of MSGenWeb, is resigning all her USGW counties and positions.

Although she has stated that her new job and a desire to spend more time

on her own genealogy are reasons for her departure, we hear from sources

that unhappiness with the national level project and an unwillingness to

waste any more time on a project that seems destined to tear itself apart

also played a large part in her decision to resign. Apparently a number

of other MSGW CCs may soon follow her out the door. We did not know Linda

very well, but always heard good things about her, and this will be a

profound loss to both MSGW and USGW.

Early Christmas Corner: Those of you who get Dick Eastman's newsletter

already know this, but for those of you that don't, the Millenia

Corporation has announced that it will be giving away its popular Legacy

3.0 genealogy program. I've never used this program [I'm a TMG'er myself]

but have never heard anything but praise for it. Millenia will also be

selling a slightly fancier version of the program for $19.95 [yes, a

measly 20 bucks]. To download the free program and get more info on both

versions of Legacy, go to http://www.legacyfamilytree.com. Many thanks to

the folks at Millenia for such a nice Christmas present!

A Lump of Coal Corner: Christmas may not be so nice over at MyFamily.com

this year. We've heard that there has recently been another major purge

over there, this time including Curt Allen [who I think is the brother of

Ancestry.com co-founder Paul Allen]. Word on the street is that

MyFamily.com is in need of cash [which may explain their recent purchase

of ThirdAge and its cash reserves] and they can't turn to CMGI these days.

Those of you who follow the markets may know that CMGI's stock is hovering

around $8 these days, down from a high of $163 or so, and they just

released a most depressing financial report. So MyFamily.com probably

can't raise more capital from them. There's no word whether or not the

recent layoffs affected Root$web. [Maybe someone can ask at their

"first-ever national meeting", also being held at the GenTech 2001

conference.]

===

"All truth is safe and nothing else is safe, but he who keeps back truth,

or withholds it from men, from motives of expediency, is either a coward

or a criminal."

---Max Fuller

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Tue Dec 19 09:30:07 2000

Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 09:30:05 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

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Making a sow's ear out of a silk purse...its Your Daily Board Show!

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

Monday 18 December 2000:

Betsy Mills says that it now appears if she is getting blamed for setting

up the USGenWeb meeting advertised by GenTech. She explains that Leslie

Collier [conference chair for GenTech 2001] notified her that GT would

make space available at the meeting for any USGW groups that wanted to use

it and Betsy said that TXGenWeb would be interested. Trey Holt [TXGW SC]

agreed and Ken Short knew about the meeting because TXGW has discussed

attending it. She states "it seems that my name was mentioned to the

GenTech board as taking on the coordination of this meeting. Nothing

could be farther from the truth. I do not have the time nor the

inclination to take this on." She assures the group that "no sinister

plots are being plotted. No secret meetings are being held. No evil plot

for Betsy Mills to take over USGenWeb is in the works. RootsWeb folks

don't know any more about this meeting than any of you do -- maybe less.

And at this point, I'm not sure I want to even be there."

Holly Timm says she has "established communications" with GenTech and

notes that "some assumptions were made, communications slipped, et

cetera." However, things are "on track now for a great get together!"

Apparently she was able to guilt GT into providing us with a booth at the

conference, so she is soliciting for volunteers to man the table Friday,

since she will be there only on Saturday. She threatens to lynch Betsy

Mills if she does not attend.

Richard Harrison moves "that the Advisory Board of USGenWeb commend Betsy

Mills for making the initial coantact and Holly Timm for coordinating

USGenWeb's participation in GenTech 2001." [ROFL. Commending themselves

for something they backed into by accident, that's good. Maybe they

should also commend Tim for not answering Leslie's email in the first.

Heck, maybe they should commend me for bringing it to their attention <g>]

===

Don't Look At Me Corner: Betsy Mills has had one of her colleagues

forward the following message to the CC mailing list:

"I didn't start anything and neither did Trey! The offer was made that if

any of the state or national groups wanted to get together, space would be

made available. I talked to Leslie Collier at FGS and told her I felt

sure that TXGenWeb would want to have a meeting. Trey agreed. That was

the last communication that I had about this "meeting." I HAVE been

in contact with the folks at GenTech and there was some miscommunication

as someone thought I was coordinating this but I am not...I did not agree

to coordinate a meeting of the USGenWeb Project...Please do not contact me

for information about the GenTech meeting as I know no more than anyone

else."

[someone is sounding a little defensive...]

Saving GenTech's Bacon Corner: Holly Timm has forwarded the following

invitation to the membership of the USGenWeb:

"GenTech is having their annual convention in Mesquite Texas in February 2

and 3rd...There has been some discussion about this on some of the lists

and perhaps some uncertainties about how this all developed due to the

semantics of the word meeting. First, as a Board member I would like to

assure everyone that there has been no plan made to have an official

meeting implying decision making and that sort of activity. In fact, most

of the Board was totally unaware of the event. It does seem that what was

intended was a meeting in the sense of a get-together...I would like to

extend an invitation to all who can manage to be there on Saturday evening

about 5 PM...to come and meet your fellow volunteers. Registration details

and other information are available at the GenTech site...but as this does

not include any special registration or signing up for the USGenWeb get

together on Saturday evening, I would love to hear from those who plan to

attend so we can start a list of who will be there...I've started the list

at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nygenweb/gentech.html..Please feel free to

forward this wherever you think some volunteers might see it. Let's make

it a party!!!!"

[Thus far, the only USGW members mentioned on the list are Holly Tim and

Rich Howland. But that should change shortly. <g>]

===

"The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable

fools."

---Larry Niven

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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From merope@Radix.Net Thu Dec 21 13:55:09 2000

Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 13:55:08 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

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Tuesday 19 - Wednesday 20 December 2000:

There was no Board-L activity on these dates [and non so far today]

===

Another One Bites The Dust Corner: We have recently received word that

the MSGenWeb ASC, Belinda Houston, has resigned. Her resignation follows

closely after that of the SC, Linda Mason, and leaves a vacuum in

leadership in the MSGW project. Apparently no else has expressed interest

in either position; this has led some MSGW members to express fear that

our Esteemed National Coordinator may be in a position to appoint someone

of his choosing.

Bah Humbug Corner: MyFamily.com, which was recently reported to have

fired employees right before Christmas, has announced that it has bought

itself a new toy, something called ah-ha.com. In the press release,

ah-ha is described as "a family friendly search service" wherein "the

search results contain an online marketplace where advertisers can

determine their search placement by bidding on keywords for premiere

placement." [ie, this is a marketing tool.] Greg Ballard, CEO of

MyFamily.com has this to say: "The ah-ha.com acquisition marks the end of

an amazing year of acquisitions for MyFamily.com and the beginning of the

next critical phase that will involve expanding our successful

subscription-based business to include several other money-making

components that further strengthen our drive to profitability

...Specifically, ah-ha.com adds a new dimension of search that will

enhance our sales efforts -- leading potential customers to the most

relevant information on the Web and providing new channels for

monetization." [We are sure this is very comforting to those MyFamily.com

employees who recently became unemployed.] An ah-ha.com style search

box has already been added to the MyFamily home page. When one searches

for a surname using this facility, the first series of hits are ranked by

sponsors [Britannica, IQSeek.com, Earthlake.com, Ancestry.com, etc.], with

little blurbs for each sponsor; with the exception of the Ancestry and

FamilyHistory.com links, few of them are at all relevant to the surname.

Real web hits with pertinent info are listed after the sponsor's links.

===

"There is not a crime, there is not a dodge, there is not a trick, there

is not a swindle, there is not a vice which does not live by secrecy."

---Joseph Pulitzer

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

-------

From merope@Radix.Net Sat Dec 23 09:34:34 2000

Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2000 09:34:32 -0500 (EST)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

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To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

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You better not cry...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content and words of good cheer. Read at your

own risk!

Friday 22 December 2000:

No Board-L traffic on this date, and none today so far.

===

Checking It Twice Corner: We've received word that GenTech has amended the

information on its conference web pages regarding the "first ever

nationwide USGenWeb meeting." That wording has been removed and the blurb

now reads: "GENTECH has provided meeting space for a "Meet and Greet"

gathering of the volunteers at USGenWeb. Please mark your calendar for 5pm

on Saturday to put a face with a name for some of your USGenWeb friends.

For more information, contact Holly Timm at hollyft@bright.net. Holly

says that she "would love to hear from those who plan to attend so we can

start a list of who will be there (and maybe start making some dinner

plans <grin>)." The signup list for Holly is at

www.rootsweb.com/~nygenweb/gentech.html."

They have also changed the listing in the daily event calendar located at:

http://www.gentech.org/2001brochure/saturday.htm. Interestingly enough,

there is not longer any mention of a Root$web meeting on either of these

pages; guess that one fell through.

Naughty and Nice Corner: The DBS would like to wish all of our readers a

very Merry Christmas!

===

"At Christmas play and make good cheer,

For Christmas comes but once a year."

---Thomas Tusser

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

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