Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 19:36:27 -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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The USGenWeb ALL list, v2.0
The few, the proud, the BANNED FROM ROOTSWEB...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* put on your safety glasses, there's lots of editorial content
today. Read at your own risk!
We'll be catching up the last few days, since I was away:
Wednesday 13 January 1999:
There was no Board-L traffic on this date.
Thursday 14 January 1999:
There was no Board-L traffic on this date.
Friday 15 January 1999:
There was no Board-L Traffic on this date.
Saturday 16 January 1999:
There was no Board-L traffic on this date.
Sunday 17 January 1999:
Kay Mason posts to Board-L that the special election will begin on this
date. She notes that all members will receive a ballot for NC, and
members of the regions that are voting will receive appropriate ballots
for those regions. Also, one state is voting for a state coordinator and
the CCs will receive a ballot for that. She instructs members on what
to do if they don't receive ballots and thanks RW staffer Tim Pierce for
taking over when the former election volunteer quit abruptly.
Old News, Get It While Its Lukewarm Corner: The election is starting two
days late because of a tragic hard drive crash [hey, these things happen,
but why was there no backup?] followed by the abrupt resignation of the
volunteer [hey, these things happen too. Why does this project
rely on nonmembers to conduct our business?] The election has begun but
is not running entirely smoothly; there is a problem in one set of
ballot which need to be resent. The election runs until Jan 30; vote
early and vote often!
Current Events Corner: Today after realizing that I cannot post to ANY
Rootsweb list, I contacted numerous people about it, all of whom professed
to know nothing of it. Finally, after concerns started showing up on the
lists (-ALL among them) Brian Leverich posted a little note informing me
that myself and three others have been banned from using any of Rootsweb's
resources. He also threatens any others who help us by posting messages
with "whatever action seems appropriate". So there you have it.
They've threatened us, attacked us, attacked our friends, belittled
us, tried to kill the lists we post to, and pressured our SCs to
fire us. Support the Rootsweb Four!
Truth-Challenged or Just Confused, You be the Judge Corner: On 24 Sep
1998, Brian Leverich posted this: [begin fair use abstract] "RootsWeb
hasn't and won't ever unsubscribe someone from an official list because
they misbehaved, unlike some states with lists hosted elsewhere have
done." [end fair use abstract][incidentally he posted this about three
weeks before he banned me the first time.]
On 19 Jan 1999, he posted this: [begin fair use extract] "This is not the
start of some great witchhunt by RootsWeb. In the last three years, we
have suspended the privileges of only a handful of individuals. We don't
expect that to change in the future." [end fair use extract]
So which is it: we haven't and never will, or we will but only those
people we don't like? You Be The Judge!
"Inspector Dim, you are too clever for us naughty people".
---Monty Python
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
Proud Member of the RootsWeb Four!
-----------------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
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From merope@Radix.Net Wed Jan 20 14:19:09 1999
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 14:19:06 -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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Down but not out...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* as usual, contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Monday 18 January 1999:
One of the Board members posts a message forwarded from a SC regarding the
death of Bacon county, GA County Coordinator Michael Dean Bennett. [The
Daily Board Show joins with the rest of the USGenWeb Project in extending
our condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Bennett, and to the
Georgia CCs for the loss of their colleague and friend.]
"When they came for the trade unionists, I was not a trade unionist so I
said nothing. When they came for the communists, I was not a communist so
I said nothing. When they came for the Jews, I was not a Jew so I said
nothing. Then, when they came for me, there was no one left to say
anything."
---Pastor Martin Niemoeller
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
Banned for the second time by Rootsweb! Read all about it at
http://www.radix.net/~merope
Subscribe to the USGW_ALL list at http://usgw_all.listbot.com
--------------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Thu Jan 21 17:08:24 1999
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 17:08:22 -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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Been there, done that...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* wear your biohazard suit, this contains editorial content. Read
at your own risk!
Tuesday 19 January 1999:
Two formal protests are received by the Board regarding the banning of
The Rootsweb Four by Brian Leverich. One is from one of The Four and the
other is from a concerned project member. The only reply to the protests
is from Karen Isaacson [not a Board member] to say that their 'colleague'
CAN vote since when the RW staffer who is running the election "took
action against the four addresses, he made an explicit exception to the
filter so that they CAN vote". [how nice to have the explicit permission
of RW to vote in the USGW election]
Keep Your Nose Clean Corner: Over on the State Coordinator's list, the
SCs are falling all over themselves to justify Brian "The Enforcer"
Leverich's actions in banning four USGW volunteers from using the USGW
resources held on his servers. The best line of argument runs like this:
"If USGW had a mechanism in place to control unruly members Rootsweb might
not feel compelled to take such actions." Or perhaps another expressed it
more eloquently: "If we, as an organization, better-addressed the problems
presented by troublemakers like Teresa, Carol, et al, we wouldn't be
putting Brian in this type of a situation in the first place". But Brian
"Honorary SC" Leverich said it best: "If USGW was capable of better
translating its own members' desires into action, RootsWeb would be
extremely pleased to stay focussed on what we need to be doing: tending
and expanding the servers and tools available to the USGW participants who
wish to use them." [after affirmatively agreeing to the above post]. This
author fails to understand why a man who is, as he reminds us frequently,
very very busy with very very important things and who is apparently quite
sickly as a consequence of his heavy workload, bothers to read a littl old
mail list like -ALL or cares what is posted there. Furthermore, no one
but himself got him into "this type of situation". No CC, SC or Board
member has publicly asked him to take this burden from them, and if
they've been asking privately that would be very interesting indeed.
Incidentally Brian claims to have conducted some sort of poll to determine
that "an overwhelming majority of USGW participants" wanted action to be
taken to fix the lists. Anyone take part in that?
To give the SCs credit, several have posted eloquent defenses of The
Rootsweb Four. And one Sc posted what has to be my favorite analogy of
all time; the project is likened unto a "bunch of parasites living on a
swallow tail butterfly caterpillar, they sort of go along wherever the
caterpillar happens to crawl." Bless you, whoever you are!
Pontius Pilate Wannabes Corner: The Board, doing what it does best, has
officially washed its hands of The Rootsweb Four, banned for the
following:
Carol said: a. RW is at least a day late and a Dollar short
b. The CC's are being treated like mushrooms, covered in dung and
kept in the dark
Susan said: a. oops
b. I agree
Pam said: a. I have a string around my finger but can't remember what it
is for.
Teresa said: Absolutely nothing. Her power was out and she was off line.
In a post dated January 21 1999, the Board claims no prior knowledge of
the banning, says its not their business, no action will be taken on their
part on behalf of their constituents, and Rootsweb says we can vote, so
all is well. [and then they rolled over and Brian scratched their tummies
and gave them a Snausage.]
"I plan to take over the world!"
---Brain, Pinky and The Brain
This has been your Daily Board Show, just another parasite on a worm's
behind...
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
-----------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Fri Jan 22 18:45:27 1999
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 18:45:26 -0500 (EST)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: usgw_all@listbot.com
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990122173115.23113P-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* full of piss and vinegar, and editorial content. Read at your
own risk!
Wednesday 20 January 1999:
The board posts its "Statement Regarding Recent Protest". [yummy
Snausages!] One enthusiastic Board member offers to post it to all four
regionals, if no one else is doing it.
Like Rats From a Sinking Ship Corner: At least one state has left RW and
moved its pages and mail lists to another server. Unfortunately, that
state is not accessible from the National page, even though they have
acknowledged the move.
The Election Blues Corner: Problems with this year's elections have
ranged from the ridiculous [misspelled candidate's name] to the annoying
[incorrect positions listed on ballots] to the truly sublime [an entire
state not receiving its ballots and one state that apparently wasn't even
informed there _was_ an election]. Next we will hear that nonproject
members have been voting. But not to worry, by the next election these
problems will be solved. Over on the State Coordinator list, the current
Election Committee Chair is swearing she will never run another election
again.
Oh, and incidentally, I voted, using two brand spanking new ballots
delivered to my PC by a cheery scrub-faced RW employee, for the seventh
time about this time last night. Have I received confirmation yet? What
do you think?
Pot, Kettle, Black Corner: The USGW Advisory Board, angling for more
Snausages, has proposed some sort of Ethics and Standards Committee to
control the behavior of its members. They have apparently come back into
session as of today to propose this major change to USGW policy, and are
going to vote on it and push it through prior to the election [because,
you know, people that don't think like they do might get elected], even
though the Board is short two members and some project participants are
not being fully represented. Such a major change in the requirements for
participation in the project should obviously go before the entire project
membership for a vote [mustn't have that, could backfire], but apparently
a small group (n=12) of people will be sitting in judgement of us all.
[One of the first orders of business for the new Standards and Ethics
Committee will be to get rid of those "Free the Rootsweb Four!" buttons
that have been showig up on webpages all over the place. If you want one,
contact me. Get -em while they're still legal!]
In other news...Brian Leverich has been shopping his version of reality
over on other lists. I hear that his story has gone from "an overwhelming
majority of USGW participants" begging for something be done, to "at
least 80% of the _informed_ Project participants" [emphasis added]
participated in his nose count. We've now gone from several thousand
people clamoring for relief, to a handful. And still, I can find no
evidence that anyone affiliated with the USGW Project publically requested
that the sysadmin step in and Deal With It. [Eventually he'll get down to
"I called Linda and Ellen and Barbara and they asked me to."]
Sepia-toned Nostalia Corner: Sometimes, when the going gets rough, you
just have to look back to simpler, happier times. Thus, a new feature of
the DBS, a look back at some of our regular posters in bygone
times...feel free to contribute any of your own special memories!
Our first is dedicated, of course, to our own Dr. Brian Leverich, because
there are just so many _good_ quotes to choose from. Here's some of the
DBS staff's favorites:
Then (24 sept 1998): "RootsWeb hasn't and won't ever unsubscribe someone
from an official list because they misbehaved, unlike some states with
lists hosted elsewhere have done."
Now (19 January 1999): "Consequently, we have temporarily suspended the
privileges of the following four users:
Suzan Cook
Pam Cresswell
Carol Dean
Teresa Lindquist"
Then (11 Oct 1998): "On the other hand, RootsWeb would like to avoid even
the appearance of influencing the internal affairs of USGenWeb, even when
the issue at hand is irresponsible personal behavior rather than USGenWeb
policy. Consequently, after reflection and discussions it appears
that the best policy would be for RootsWeb to tolerate virtually any
behavior on USGenWeb lists..."
Now (20 Jan 1999): "If USGW was capable of better translating its own
members' desires into action, RootsWeb would be extremely pleased to stay
focussed on what we need to be doing..."
[and whadaya know, two days later, the Board proposed its Standards and
Ethics Committee...]
This has been your Daily Board Show. Snausages for everyone!
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
From merope@Radix.Net Sat Jan 23 19:26:25 1999
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 19:26:23 -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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Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* explosives in use, contains editorial content. Read at your
own risk!
Thursday 21 January 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date
Tomorrow's news today: The Board comes back into session, proposes its
'Standard and Ethics' Committee, and starts more state list activity than
I've seen in a long time. [They should have stayed with their original
idea of not coming back into session until after the election. Seems they
thought the project was in too fragile a state to risk having a Board
meeting. But ramming through a kangaroo court for 'ethics' is more
important.]
Rats and Sinking Ships Corner: Rumor has it that another state is pulling
its pages and counties off of Rootsweb. It might be one of the more
southerly states <*wink*>.
A Very Liberal 80% Corner: John Schunk and Don Tharp have announced the
results of their very informal poll of the project membership for the
banning of the Rootsweb Four. 21 respondents supported the banning, 18
opposed it, and one had no opinion. So, basically we have 1) only 40
(31%) people out of the 130 or so that belong to the -ALL list even had an
opinion; 2) nowhere near Brian's stated 80% of "informed project
particpants" [and who would be more informed than -ALL readers?] support
the banning.
Incidentally, three of the RW Four didn't vote (I didn't think I could),
so if its not too late, you can add one [and probably three] votes to the
oppose column. Free the Rootsweb Four!
Its Like A Miracle Corner: My vote confirmations came back finally. The
really interesting thing is that the new ballots are space for space
identical to the old ones. So why'd they go through this time and not
before? It must be Magic!
Ethical Is As Ethical Does Corner: So lets discuss ethics. We have a USGW
Board member discussing culling member information from RW mailing lists
(including USGW lists) to lure advertisers to place the banner ads that
Brian "Send Me Money" Leverich says aren't going to be forced on the free
pages, but which are going to go on the top and may be either flashing or
static. We have the USGW Advisory "Kangaroo" Board suddenly coming back
into session one week before elections that may replace one third of them
in order to ram through a 'Standard and Ethics' policy that will
drastically alter the requirements for the CCs [including requiring them
to verify the accuracy of every piece of data submitted to them; wonder if
this requirement will include the Archives?] without putting this to a
vote of the entire project membership. We have Board members piously
voting for open meeting archives and then moving their entire meeting to a
secret unarchived list where among other things they discussed 'divorcing
their constituents', how to kill the CCs' mail list without appearing to
do so, what a horrible person the first elected NC was to work with,
how their 'true intent' was always to close the meetings back up, and
how to appoint a replacement CC of their choosing when the CCs in the
region wanted someone else, among many other things. Yes, these are most
certainly the people I want to decide the ethical standards for several
thousand of their peers.
This author has yet to see one post fully in favor of the "Standards and
Ethics" policy they have proposed. Even if the Board is receiving scads
of private replies and ALL of them postive, there have been enough
concerns raised on -ALL and on the state lists to warrant giving the
entire project a vote on this one. After all, if Brian's 80% are out
there, certainly the proposed policy would win.
Nostalia Corner: Back when Betsy Mills would speak to me, we had some
enjoyable convesations on IRC. In one of them she said this:
28 Nov 1998: <Betsy> WE ARE NOT MEETING IN SECRET~!!!!
[BOARD-EXEC opened for business 28 November 1998. Of course, prior to
that the Board met secretly on Campaign98]
"We do what we're told, told to do."
---Peter Gabriel, "Milgram's 37"
This has been your Daily Board Show. Free the Rootsweb Four!
-Teresa Lindquist
mero@radix.net
--------------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Sun Jan 24 13:17:58 1999
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 13:17:57 -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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Not a moment too soon...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* this is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill. this contains
editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Friday 22 January 1999
The meeting of the Advisory Board is called to order by Current Acting
Interim National Coordinator Beth Wills. [11:38] One member notes she is
present. [19:20]
A member moves that a Standard and Ethics Policy be drafted and put into
the USGW policy [12:21]
The motion is seconded [9:17] [prob PST]
The motion is seconded a second time [12:22]
CAINC Beth Wills post a notice that the motion [which is not yet numbered]
is made and seconded and posts the Standard 'N Ethics statement posted to
-ALL two days ago and posted to the web page to give the required 48 hours
notice to the project. The call for votes will be after 1:30pm EST [13:40]
CAINC Beth Wills also posts another notice indicating that the Board will
receive input from the project membership on the proposed Standards 'N
Ethics policy for 48 hours as per the bylaws and will vote Sunday
afternoon. [14:06]
[Well, THAT was certainly quick! Two whole hours to reconvene, propose a
motion, second twice, WRITE THE POLICY, and open it for discussion. And
all without any discussion. None whatsoever. How very....efficient. But
it would be nice if they'd have taken the time to put some thought into
it.]
[Curiously enough, I'm receiving reports that several states either did
not receive notice of this policy change from their SCs, or that when CCs
forwarded it to the state lists, they were chastised for it by their SCs.
Certainly all SCs would want their CCs to have an opportunity to discuss
this extensive change in the membership requirements? Wouldn't they?]
Which Way is Up Corner? An error in yesterday's DBS indicated that a
"southern state" would be shortly transferring its pages and mail lists
off of Root$web in response to the banning of the Rootsweb Four, and
placing them elsewhere. That state would be Alaska and as we know its
actually one of the more northern states. My map was upside down <g>.
Its new url is www.USGenNet.org/~usgwakus.
Good Old Days Corner: Today's quote comes from our own Barbara Yancey
Dore (aka Rootslady). Man, she is a pistol! Just search the archives...
whew!
29 July 1998: "As long as ALL rules do not apply to EVERYBODY and are not
applied to each and every poster or message, I feel no obligation to
comply either. I'm just stating my opinion!!" [Amen, sister!]
"Cynic (n.) - a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are,
not as they ought to be."
---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merpe@radix.net
------------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.