From merope@Radix.Net Thu Jul 1 07:28:32 1999
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 07:28:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: usgw_all@listbot.com
Subject: Daily Board Show
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Yabba Dabba Doo...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Tuesday 29 June 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date.
Election Update: Ballots have gone out, as well as a letter notifying
members who _should_ have gotten ballots but who did not who to contact to
get the situation rectified. Please everyone, check your ballots
carefully. Make sure you got the right ones and that you get all the
ballots you should. _Every_ project member should get a ballot for NC, a
ballot for At-Large, and a ballot for your region(s) and/or special
project(s). For some of you busier members, you may need several ballots.
Campaign URLs have been posted at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnroane/nominate.htm
Please go and take a look at them. Please note however, that an incorrect
URL has been posted for at least one candidate--me. I don't know how this
happened, since this is not the URL I sent them, but there you have it.
The correct campaign URL is:
http://www.horsethieves.com/election/
Will Wonders Never Cease Corner: Guess who Root$web.com, Inc.'s new sugar
daddy is? None other than Ancestry.com. No, really. I wouldn't kid you
about this. Even worse is that they are advertising Ancestry's
MyFamily.com, a direct competitor to RW's partner FamilyPoint.com. I
guess everyone has their price, even aging hippies.
The Golden Age of Commerce Corner: Genconnect at Root$web.com, Inc. has
added new "classified ads" boards to the cluster pages. Visitors can use
these wondrous new devices to conduct business, such as the buying and
selling of books, on RW. [The restriction on commercial activity of any
type does not appear on these new boards.] These were supposed to have
been announced in today's RWR, but appear not to have made it into this
issue. Now if memory serves correctly, RW used to have a "guideline" that
they got a 5% cut of any commerce conducted using RW's resources; wonder
if that's still true?
"The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking
down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men
because they are different from other men."
---Lyndon B. Johnson
This has been your Daily Board Show. Now, really, I'm outta here!
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
--------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Wed Jul 7 18:54:17 1999
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 18:54:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: usgw_all@listbot.com
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990707173857.26108A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Tanned, rested and ready...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
[we'll do a little catchup so this will be a little long, but read all the
way to the end, there's lots of good stuff]
Wednesday 30 June 1999:
Board member David Young posts a message in which he points out: "Because
some states elect and re-elect they leaders every year, we will find in
the future that some SC Representatives that will serve out there term as
long as 15 or 24 months without hold a State office. Most likely in the
case of the 15 or 24 months the person holding the office on the Board,
according to the By-laws, would not meet the qualifications for reelection
to the office of SC Rep of their region." He also points out that he
"now understand[s] the rules and can support the opinions of those that
have been so kind to give them." [this message was formerly posted to
several lists and some discussion ensued. I'm not entirely sure, but it
seemed the point that Mr. Young was trying to make is the bylaws give us
only requirements for _nominating_ people to positions, and not actually
for their sitting on the Board. So, basically, once you get elected, you
are qualified to sit on the Board regardless of whether you still hold the
county or state coordinator positions that qualified you in the first
place.]
The NC calls for a vote on Motion 99-19 ["That the board accept the eagle
logo, created by Ginger, as an alternative official logo for the use of
the Project."] By the end of the day 10 members had voted "aye" and one
had voted "nay". The member who voted "nay" felt the logo should be
approved as a "special logo" similar to the holiday graphics but should be
used in place of the official logo.
The WebMeister asks the NC whihc of his email addresses he prefers on the
webpage; she posts again apologizing for what she meant to send privately.
The election committee posts a message requesting the Board to post their
following message to the project at large and notifying them that ballots
should go out at midnight. The "following message" contained instructions
on obtaining ballots if you did not receive one and told folks who to
contact in their region for information on the election.
Lynn Waterman posts that she has "no problems with Jim's guidelines."
[regarding the elections]
Thursday 1 July 1999:
The NC posts his preferred email address.
The webmeister asks the Election Committee chair why there are no sample
ballots for the NW/P or SE/MA CC races.
Friday 2 July 1999:
The NC asks the following question of the Election Committee chair: "In
last year's elections a person could vote as often as they wished, with
each subsequent ballot overwriting any previous vote thereby giving voters
a chance to change their mind on a particular vote. Is this possible this
year also?" The EC chair responds "I believe that is still the case, but
I am double checking. I will post something on it as soon as I know for
sure."
Saturday 3 July 1999:
Board member David Young posts a longish post from one of his CCs who
checked out Root$web's new cluster pages for his county and wasn't too
impressed. Among other things, the CC notes " The viewer is left with the
distinct impression that something is missing. The site has a place to
put all the things that a USGenWeb site has, and leaves the impression
that it's just waiting for someone to take over. It also solicits queries
and resources. Essentially, all it needs is time and the sanctioned
USGenWeb site will be superfluous." [this message was posted to several
USGW lists; it is recommended reading.]
Sunday 4 July 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date.
Monday 5 July 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date.
Election Update: Nate Zipfel has dropped out of the race for NE/NC SC
rep.
Banned CCs are unable to write for replacement ballots due to the
usgenweb.org defaulting to rootsweb.com addresses. Also, at least one of
the banned four has voted and received no confirmation of their vote [will
RW make us stew for a week again, like last time?]
Many more campaign pages have been posted at:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnroane/nominate.htm Please check 'em out!
One in a Million Corner: There is a _most_ interesting web page at:
http://www.combs-families.org/~combs/index.htm Be sure and read all the
way down to the "Why We Left Rootsweb" section. When you're done with
that, read this page: http://www.combs-families.org/~combs/ccrg.htm and be
sure you read down to the section on "notices and agreements". Read this
section fully, and you'll learn some interesting things. Such as someone
once offered to pay in full all of Root$web's costs for filing for 501c3
status and the offer was rejected. [also, Brain has banned someone else,
apparently because they talked to his wife once too many times.]
Show Me The Money Corner: Items of note in Root$web's ever-expanding
program of Internet Genealogy Domination:
When you use the search engine for USGenWeb Archives at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm, search returns include the
RootsWeb Banner. Just below that banner is a hot link that states: I
Support Free Genealogy, Show Me Commercial Banners. Follow this link and
you can see Ancestry.com and microsoft and Broderbund ads.
This same little notice appears on GenConnect Boards being used for USGW
queries. [see this is how they put ads on your USGW-affiliated pages
without actually putting ads on your USGW-affiliated pages.]
RW has moved links to the "Classified Ads" board up to the top of its home
page, right under the commercial ad banner and the links to the
revenue-generating cluster page links. [The real data and other
interesting stuff is now pushed entirely off the screen, even on a big
monitor] Interesting thing about those Classified Ads boards; they are
now in "beta" but Root$web may be charging for posts after October 1 1999.
Anticipation Corner: Those of you who requested surname and/or county
cluster boards should be notified today if you got your wish.
Today's quote is from a reader:
"I am neither an idiot, nor entertained"
---Carole Hammett, Listowner, Combs Mailing List, who has just been
Banned By Root$web
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
---------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindqusit, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Thu Jul 8 21:42:15 1999
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 21:42:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: usgw_all@listbot.com
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990708061024.2032A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Status: O
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Sauce for the goose...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains material of an editorial nature. Read at your own
risk!
Tuesday 6 July 1999:
Board Member David Young posts a lengthy discussion of the "Classified
Ads" now offered by RW on the cluster pages for all US counties. [this
message has been posted to other project lists]. He notes in particular
the stated potential for the RW Ads boards to charge fees and wonders if
the USGW project should be linking to something like that.
A board member chastises him for posting his concerns, stating "You have
been told before that this is NOT a list for campaigning." She requests
that he take his discussions [of items that he apparently feels are of
concern to the project] elsewhere as they are not Board business.
Another Board member notes that she fails to see anything political in his
message and also that she "can't figure out that anyone on the board is
eligible to vote for David."
Correction Corner: In reading over yesterday's DBS, I notice a typo that
vastly changes the meaning of something I wrote. In an item on the voting
on Motion 99-19, the sentence about the board member who voted nay should
read "The member who voted "nay" felt the logo should be approved as a
"special logo" similar to the holiday graphics but should not be used in
place of the official logo." I apologize for any confusion.
Election Update: We are receiving scattered reports that the email
address for requesting new ballots [elections@usgenweb.org] doesn't work.
Since this is the email address people were supposed to use to obtain
ballots if they did not receive them originally, it is hoped that any
problems will be fixed and the deadline [which was yesterday] for applying
for ballots will be extended.
There have also been some questions as to why no ballots were received for
the NW/P and SE/MA CC rep races. Candidates are running unopposed in
those races and it was the decision of the Election Committee not to send
ballots for those races to the volunteers. This decision by the EC is
being questioned extensively, but apparently it will not be changed. So
it appears that congratulations are due to Terri Pettit, new CC rep for
the SE/MA region, Maggie Stewart-Zimmerman, the new NW/P CC rep, and to
Joe Zsedeny, the returning Archives rep.
This Just In: Motion 99-20, which if passed would request that Tim Pierce
forward ballots to all eligible voters in the races where there are single
candidates, has been forwarded to various project lists for discussion.
Over on the State Coordinator's list, an At-Large candidate has requested
to be subbed, "in the interest of fairness", since he is apparently the
_only_ national level candidate who is not subscribed to that list. Most
of the few SCs who have voiced an opinion are opposed to subbing him [he's
not an SC and the list is not for campaigning] but at least one SC has
pointed out that non-SCs, such as RW staff members and Board members are
subbed to the list, and other candidates are posting apparently political
material to the list.
In Other News: A SC has pleaded with Brian "Himself" Leverich to address
concerns raised by article 3 of Root$web's new Acceptable Use Policy. She
says she's losing CCs who are concerned by the fact that anything they
upload to RW may become RW's property. No answer so far from Mr.
Leverich.
All mention of "RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative" has disappeared
from Root$web's home pages. The pages are now copyrighted by
Rootsweb.com, Inc.
"Our elections are free -- it's in the results where eventually we pay."
---Bill Stern
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Fri Jul 9 13:10:11 1999
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 13:10:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: usgw_all@listbot.com
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990709103540.653C-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Status: RO
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Like sand through the hourglass...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Wednesday 7 July 1999:
NW/P Board rep Bill Oliver presents to the board a "draft" motion
concerning the failure to send ballots for races which have only a
single nominee:
"I move that the Advisory Board ask Tim Pierce to send out the
necessary ballots for all single candidate nominees for
positions to the USGWP Advisory Board in order that they be
properly elected to the positions they have been nominated.
I, further, move that since this issue has been opened to
the STATE-COORD-L list and not to all other avenues to reach
the CCs of this organization, this message as a post be sent
to the Distribution List set up by this board before a vote
is called for on the above motion."
[The Board has a "distribution list"??] This motion is again forwarded to
the board by Bill and is seconded. [it was forwarded to the project
membership yesterday for comment as Motion 99-20]
Tomorrow's News Today: Motion 99-19 [adoption of alternative national
logo] is declared passed; more talk about Motion 99-20.
Election Update: Some voters are still unable to reach the
elections@usgenweb.org mailing address, which is the published mechanism
for obtaining replacement ballots, and are also unable to receive
confirmation that their votes have been received and counted. Also, I've
received rather an interesting question by a volunteer: "is there any
mechanism for a candidate to ask for a recount by an "uninterested" party,
meaning not USGW and not Rootsweb, after the election is concluded? From
my perspective, Rootsweb has a vested interest in seeing to it that
certain candidates, especially in the national level races, are not
elected to USGW office. Information about who are the "pro-Rootsweb"
candidates is already being disseminated across project mailing lists and
privately. Because it handles the vote software, Rootsweb can easily
control the outcome of the election to its benefit and satisfaction." [the
foregoring is paraphrased. I've recommend the writer contact the Election
Committee, but they don't wish the Board or RW to know who they are. Big
surprise.]
Masked Avenger Corner: Someone signing themselves B&K at
helpdesk@rootsweb.com has posted the following message to at least one
GC/RW query board:
"I am surpised that people in XXXXX County, XX are as dumb as
sheep? I mean, does it not occur to you that you now do not own your
very own query? You have no control over it, and it may be sold by the
FOR PROFIT company, Rootsweb.com, Inc. as per their Acceptable Usage
Policy. Why on EARTH would you even use this board? While Rootsweb has
claimed to file Non Profit Paperwork repeatedly, the truth is, they
haven't. People have even offered to PAY for the filing fees et al, but
Rootsweb won't do it. Why? Because every time you click on one of these
pages, they get paid. Every bit of data you enter on this page is now
owned by Rootsweb, anything you put on a Rootsweb server, email list, web
page, ANYTHING. Free? Donation? I think not. Please go use one of the
more reputable resources out there, like www.genforum.com and do yourself
an enormous favor!."
This "public service announcement" was removed post-haste, apparently by a
GC/RW staffer, since the board manager wasn't involved and is now
wondering how it got removed. Methinks this mystery poster is the same
one that got the help desk at Root&web shut down by helpfully pretending
to be RW staff; maybe they'll try to do the same thing to GC/RW?
This Just In: From an anonymous correspondent: "It appears that numerous
of the GenConnect Query Boards are getting hit, and that RW staff is
racing along behind them killing the hits, but others read them first, and
then reply (those get killed, too) and then contact the board admin re
"Where'd it go? Is it true?"" [Where will the Masked Avenger strike
next!?]
Wanna Cookie, Little Girl? Corner; I'm reliably told that if you click on
the "I support free genealogy, show me commercial banners" link that is
now showing up on previously commercial ad-free USGW-associated pages,
Root$web tries to set a cookie or two. Presumably this is so they can
continue to feed you banners on return visits without you having to click
the link every time. Unfortunately, you can't view the ads without
letting them set a cookie.
"In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary, "patriotism" is defined as the last
resort of the scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but
inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first."
---Ambrose Bierce
This has been Your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Sat Jul 10 20:51:37 1999
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 20:51:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: usgw_all@listbot.com
Subject: Daily Board Show
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MIME-Version: 1.0
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Blame Canada...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Thursday 8 July 1999:
The NC declares Motion 99-19 (adoption of alternative national logo)
passed with 11 yes - 1 no - 4 not voting
The NC opens the floor for discussion of Motion 99-20 and instructs the
Board Secretary to send it to the appropriate lists for discussion.
BS Bill informs the NC he has done so.
Board member Bonnie McVicar-Briggs states "I agree that the ballots should
be sent. I also think we need to get the discussion and vote on this issue
concluded as quickly as possible." David Young indicates that he is ready
to support sending out the ballots but he is not sure how to proceed.
Bonnie tells him they need to wait for the NC to call a vote on this
motion and says "The people in the regions affected by not receiving a
ballot, want a chance to vote. We need to give them that chance." David
responds that he'll likely vote yes on the motion.
Tomorrow's News Today: Everton disses USGW, voting begins on Motion
99-20 with 5 ayes and 2 nays so far.
More On the Masked Avenger: According to Tim "Maxwell Smart" Pierce, our
intrepid board poster, who masquerades as "B&K" at
"helpdesk@rootsweb.com", "was using an anonymous proxy server at
proxy2.infonie.fr... We are trying to get the administrators of
infonie.fr to cooperate." [Hope someone at Rootsweb speaks French,
Infonie's website has not a word of English on it]. Of course, if Infonie
is really running an anonymous proxy server, they won't give Root$web the
time of day, in French OR English.
Miscellany Corner: We hear that RW has been getting a lot of questions
about taglines on new lists created for the cluster boards. According to
Roots$web staffer Ellen Seebacher "the new cluster lists are funded by
commercial sponsorships, so RootsWeb has reserved taglines on these lists
for our own use. That's also why banners are not optional on cluster
pages." Understandably, this policy is not filling the loyal troops with
happiness, especially the ones who just adopted new lists.
News on the grapevine is that some GC/RW board clerks are putting notices
on their query/whatever boards indicating the boards are no longer
affiliated with the USGW pages for that county and giving information how
to post queries to the county pages. Root$web's response to this is to
put the boards up for adoption.
New ad sponsor seen on Root$web: The River Belle Online Casino [yes,
there's _gambling_ my friends, right here in River City].
And last but not least, RW has finally announced its new non-genealogy
lists, in the latest RWR. These include:
CATS-L, COOKING-L, CRAFTS-L, DOGS-L, GARDENING-L, MILITARY-HISTORY-L
MOVIES-L, PARENTING-L, SOAPS-L and TRAVEL-L
[like there aren't enough places out there to discuss cats already.
Rootsweb promises even more lists as soon as it figures which ones will
generate the most ad revenue.]
"Money does not change men, it only unmasks them."
---Mme. Riccoboni
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
--------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Sun Jul 11 22:46:21 1999
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 22:46:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
To: usgw_all@listbot.com
Subject: Daily Board Show
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.990711215116.27153C-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: RO
X-Status:
Take a walk on the wild side...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Friday 9 July 1999:
Pat Hamp's message [which has made the rounds of several lists] concerning
Everton's failure to properly credit the USGW Project in both an online
and print articles about MIGenWeb's Great Lakes Shipping Downward Bound is
forwarded to the Board by a Board member.
Bill Oliver posts a message he wrote to the Everton's Webmaster concerning
the article above. He writes "I must presume that the author of the
NetSight Reviews, on one of your pages, did not know the difference
between an ISP and the site owners that s/he used for the article review.
Quote: "This site is a part of the USGenWeb project and our home port is
the Michigan USGenWeb project, although it will encompass "all" Great
Lakes shipping areas." The Rootsweb.com ISP does host the pages, but it
is NOT the USGenWeb Project, nor the MIGenWeb Project. I'm
sure that whomever wrote the article would like to be accurate." [Its not
clear that he wrote this as a USGW Board member.]
The NC calls for a vote on Motion 99-20; by the end of the day 5 members
had voted "aye" and 2 had voted "nay".
Tomorrow's News Today: The NC declares Motion 99-20 passed; Tim Pierce,
of RW, has apparently informed the Board that, regardless of its vote on
Motion 99-20, ballots will NOT be going out to the two regions with single
candidate races; Motion 99-20 and its second is withdrawn; the Board
decides it will come up with some other way to handle the election.
Rebel Yell Corner: We've heard from a little bird that a USGW Board
member has joined the American Local History Network. And another is
thinking of joining up as well.
We've also heard that an increasing number of CCs are posting messages to
their GenConnect/R$W boards stating the boards are no longer affiliated
with the USGW and to visit the county pages directly if they want to post
queries or donate transcribed data.
Letting Off Steam Corner: Brian "Himself" Leverich has come down from the
mountain top and delivered unto some beseeching State Coordinators an
answer to questions they have been asking for days. And it turns out the
answer is "shove off". To a SC's observation that nearly all the current
unrest in USGW concerns RW's recent change in direction, he replies that
"It is *NOT* my fault or RootsWeb's fault that after three years USGenWeb
has not evolved to the point where it can at least enforce civility among
its participants." [misses the point]. To a request that each county
cluster page include a link to the USGW page whether or not its on RW, he
says "I personally think this is an *extremely* bad idea, and I believe
RootsWeb will be horribly flamed by USGenWebbers if we do this." [no
mention of the _many_ CCs who have begged to be able to add the link]. To
the plaintive observation that they are loyal supporters of RW and want to
continue to be so, but they feel that RW is treating them like they are
dispensable, Brain replies, "I don't believe you're dispensable, but I do
believe through self-inflicted wounds you may fall apart or simply fail
to progress and keep up with changes on The Net. As one of the custodians
of RootsWeb, it is my responsibility to make sure that failures at USGW do
not become failures at RootsWeb." And then he wishes us luck. [oh, and he
calls some of us "noisy bastards".]
Money, Its A Gas Corner: New ad sponsor at Root$web: Gateway Computers
Today's quote is from a reader:
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more
violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in
the opposite direction."
---E. F. Schumacher
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
-----------------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.