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>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.1001217201800.17332A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status:
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
-------
Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
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
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.1001219060716.16424A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status:
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
-------
Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
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>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.1001221111513.24872A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status:
You better watch out!...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
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
-------
Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
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>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.1001223091819.23301A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status:
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
-------
Daily Board Show, (c) 2000 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.