From merope@Radix.Net Mon Nov 22 16:56:25 1999
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 16:56:22 -0500 (EST)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
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Ignorance of the law is no excuse...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Saturday 20 November 1999:
The NC posts a notice that Motion 99-27, adopting "alternate logos" has
passed [yes, you read that right], with 8 yes votes, 5 no votes, 1
abstention, and one member not voting. [according to my note, that should
be 6 no votes]
Say What?! Corner: Here's the relevant section of the bylaws covering the
passage of motions:
Article VIII, section 2: "Issues shall require a 2/3 majority, of those
board members voting, to pass."
15 board members voted, thus 10 yes votes were needed to pass Motion
99-27. Only 8 Board members voted yes. Even if only 14 members voted
[by the NC's count], 9 yes votes would be neeed to pass the motion. What
is wrong with this picture?
Well, as it turns out, our NC appears to be unfamiliar with this
particular section of the bylaws. But not to worry; Board member Rich
Howland has posted that the "mistake" was caught on Saturday and a public
announcement was supposedly made Sunday night. I can't find anyone who
has actually seen the "public announcement" but I'm sure they'll let us
in on it eventually.
The Warm Glow of Capitalism Corner: Some readers have pointed out an
another example of capitalism lurking in the USGW. You can see it for
yourself at: http://www.tlc-gen.com/richmondco/. This page, which
contains little other than a list of books for sale by its host, manages
not to link to the extensive information available for the county in Linda
Lewis' Archives, mentions USGW once in a secondary page, and fails to
display the USGW logo. Apparently enquiries to the CC and the SC about
this odd state of affairs results in evasive and dismissive replies that
imply that questions about this particular website are not an uncommon
occurence.
"The best things in life are free
But you can tell me 'bout the birds and bees.
Now gimme money, that's what I want."
--The Beatles, "Money" [Radford/Cordy]
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
-------
Daily Board Show, (c) by 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Tue Nov 23 14:15:45 1999
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 14:15:40 -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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He who laughs last thinks slowest...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Sunday 21 November 1999:
The NC posts a retraction of his message from yesterday declaring Motion
99-27 passed, saying instead that the motion has failed with 8 yes votes,
6 no votes, 1 abstention, and 1 member not voting. He apologizes for the
error.
Teri Pettit posts a follow up message concerning the alternate logos,
saying "Since there was clearly a sizable body of opinion in favor of a
new logo, we should put the issue before the membership." She suggests a
multiple choice ballot so that most members could find some position they
could support; the choices she suggests are as follows:
A. Keep the current logo choices with no additional variations
B. Keep the current logo design with a variation that adds Hawaii and
Alaska
C. Allow the new proposed logo designs as variations in addition to the
current logo design
D. Replace the current logo with the new design, with a grace period
for transitioning out the old one
She is careful to note that she is not suggesting a bylaws amendment and
that she is not making a formal motion because she wants to work out the
wording beforehand so as to avoid the necessity of formal amendments.
She also suggests that the Board work on setting up a mechanism whereby
issues might be put before the membership. She notes that such a mechanism
"should be easy to participate in, secure, and easy to ignore if you don't
want to be bothered by politics, as some CC's don't." She points out that
since "multiple choice ballots can easily lead to a failure of any choice
to get a majority, and we don't want to put people through multiple
run-off votes, it would make things easier if the ballot involved ranking
your choices."
News From Other Places Corner: Familysearch.com, the website of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has added a significant amount of
information to its website, as of Monday Nov 22. The new information
includes 240 million names from Western Europe, Scandinavia, and Mexico
[It appears that the complete IGI is now online]. They've also announced
that early next year they will place the index to the Pedigree Resource
File, which contains family tree information uploaded by users, online.
According to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune, FamilySearch averages
7.5-10 million hits a week, and has had more than 1.5 billion hits since
it went online 6 months ago.
For those of who would like to order census CDs for just about the
cheapest price going, you might want to check out Heritage Quest. They
have CDs containing scanned images availabe for $19.95 for 1790, 1800,
1810, 1820,1830, 1870, and 1900, and intend to have them available for
all census years in a few months. Each CD has a complete NARA microfilm
on it, not just one county [cities or counties that span more than film
will appear on separate CDs]. If you are interested, please visit
http://www.heritagequest.com, and view their information on "Digital
Microfilm". [disclaimer: I'm not a member, stockholder, of relative of
HeritageQuest, just a happy consumer!]
"We're all proud of making little mistakes. It gives us the feeling we
don't make any big ones."
---Andy Rooney
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 Wed Nov 24 11:11:55 1999
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 11:11:50 -0500 (EST)
From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>
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To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>
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NOW how much would you pay?...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Monday 22 November 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date.
New Name, Same Face Corner: The MOGW has recently held an election to
replace its long-time SC, Megan "The Pagan" Zurawicz. The new SC is Larry
Flesher, and the new ASCs are Yvonne James-Henderson and Jerry Holland.
Megan posted her goodbye to the SC list last night. And in over in MIGW,
long-time Archives file manager Denny Zank has just been elected to
replace Joan Brausch as State Coordinator of that project. He ran
unopposed. MIGW was also attempting to pass an amendment to its state
guidelines that prevent any one CC from having more than three counties in
the state; last we heard the vote on that amendment was too close to call.
Sour Grapes Corner: News reached us last night of an interesting
development in the new Migrations project. It seems that someone placed a
javascript in the code for the VAGenWeb migrations page [located at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~vagenweb/migrtion.htm], which is not affiliated
with the Migrations project. This code has the effect of bypassing the
Virginia Migrations page entirely if you try to use your back button to
return to it from the VAGW migrations page; some people reported that they
got stuck in VAGW and could not back out without typing in a new URL. The
VAGenWeb migrations page does not appear to have a host, but we've heard
through the grapevine the rumor that La Linda herself tried to adopt the
VA Migrations page and was turned down because someone else had already
adopted the state. Not to worry, though; the fine folks at the Migrations
project have fixed the problem and this petty little deceit should not
trouble their visitors.
"Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains
enough to be honest."
---Benjamin Franklin
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 Thu Nov 25 09:00:58 1999
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 09:00:57 -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
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Gobble 'til you wobble...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Tuesday 23 November 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date.
New Zoo Review Corner: Root$web has announced new features for its
pay-only Personalized Mailing Lists. Now the PML will work "with ANY of
RootsWeb's almost 140,000 message boards AND with the RootsWeb Surname
List". It is still available only to RW's paying customers.
"We kept a daye of thanksgivinge in all the plantations."
---Governor John Winthrop, Massachusetts Bay Colony, July 8, 1630, on
the occasion of the Colony's first Thanksgiving
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 Nov 26 07:32:40 1999
Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 07:32:39 -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.SV4.3.96.991126071609.20020C-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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58 million dead turkeys later...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Wednesday 24 November 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date.
"It is in the extremes that our philosophies are tested, and those of us
who are serious do not set aside our ethics merely because in some cases
they have become inconvenient or distasteful.
---Piers Anthony
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 Nov 27 07:31:35 1999
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 07:31:34 -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.SV4.3.96.991127071729.29321A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Gone to the dogs...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Thursday 25 November 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date [for which we _all_ give
thanks!<g>]
"Forcing the issue is always worth it."
---Jello Biafra
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
-----------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Terea Lindquist, all rights reserved.
From merope@Radix.Net Sun Nov 28 08:51:03 1999
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 08:51:02 -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.SV4.3.96.991128072937.21828A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>
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I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints...its Your
Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Friday 26 November 1999:
Zoe Zsedeny makes the following motion: "I make a motion that Megan be
accorded full membership priveleges on the State Coordinator List for as
long as she desires to remain there." In support of this motion he cites
Megan's "unselfish actions allow us today to even consider such a motion."
He "shudders to think" of the "fate of this project had other hands been
at the helm", and notes "Megan was under no compulsion nor pressure to
turn this from a more or less autocratic to a democratic organization
other than her desire to do the right thing. Her comments and experience
are of real value to us so that the favorable passage of this motion
benefits us and honors her." [Why not just canonize her?]
Betsy Mills seconds the motion.
Holly Fee-Timm sweetens the pot by adding "I'd like to broaden that just a
tad... I think it appropriate that any and all past NC's be accorded that
privilege." [Although, I _do_ look forward to seeing them invite Jeff
Murphy back to the SC list.]
Ginger Hayes asks if it might not be appropriate to ask the SCs if they
would like all the old NCs to be subbed to the list [most are already,
anyways], since it is their required list.
Tim Stowell notes that although the gesture is nice, "it would be helpful
to know if any of the past NCs want to be on the SC list."
Can You Say Oligarchy Corner? Let's focus for a moment on the many
wondrous things St. Megan the Good has done for the project. 1) She
and her board maneuvered in secret to remove a State Coordinator from her
position, apparently based on the complaint of one person, and inserted a
more "Root$web friendly" SC in her place; 2) She presided over the Dill
fiasco and apparently fully supported the smear campaign conducted against
them, despite the fact that Lucy was a personal friend of hers and
vacationed with her; her actions during this time are at least partially
responsible for the current fractured nature of the project and the deep
animosity and mistrust the factions hold for each other; 3) She allowed
and apparently fully supported [since she signed it] the incorrect and
misleading "Announcement" published project-wide on April 4, 1998
concerning USGenweb, Inc., in which the ownership of usgenweb.org and
usgenweb.net are misrepresented, and in which the smear campaign against
the Dills apparently became USGW policy; 4) She also presided over the
whole-sale handing over of the project to Root$web; perhaps by
coincidence, she now has a paying job there; 5) She had the records of her
hand-picked board destroyed when people began to ask her questions about
the Board's deliberations over the Dill episode and other incidents; 6)
She was a member of the Black Helicopters, a small secret group that ran
the project nearly from the end of Jeff Murphy's tenure as NC to around
the time of the USGenWeb, Inc. epidose; she herself was chosen as NC by
this small and insular group in a secret meeting, and last but not least,
7) she left us the "democratically" elected NC and Advisory Board.
Following her sterling example, this Board continues to meet in secret and
maintains an unarchived list for this purpose. Although Megan did manage
to lay a thin veneer of "democracy" over business-as-usual, she did
relatively little to change the culture of hidden control and
group-oriented power politics, leaving a crippled and bitter USGW for her
_numerous_ successors [we've had more NCs since she left office a year ago
than we had in the two preceeding years.]
And now some Board members want to honor her "democratic" accomplishments
by autocratically telling the State Coordinators who may and who may not
subscribe to their list. It is indeed a fitting tribute.
"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms [of government]
those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations,
perverted it into tyranny."
---Thomas Jefferson, 1778
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 Mon Nov 29 11:04:20 1999
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 11:04:19 -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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Drop the chalupa...its Your Daily Board Show!
*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!
Saturday 27 November 1999:
There is no Board-L traffic on this date.
Working For the Clampdown Corner: National Coordinator Tim Stowell has
reminded the State Coordinators that bylaws do exist and its their
responsibility to enforce them [interesting coming from a SC who doesn't
enforce them himself, but there you go]. In a message to the SCs
yesterday, Tim cites relevant sections of the bylaws and says "Please
remind your CCs that the National logo or the alternative logo of the
soaring eagle is not an option but that it must be included prominently on
the initial page of their site....Also please remind them that no
commercial activity should take place on the initial page as described
above in Section 2 and that their sites need to conform to the other
provisions described above." He lets the SCs know that his reminder comes
"after numerous complaints from visitors and other CCs regarding sites
across the Project."
What Lineages Project? Corner: Also on the State Coordinator list, SC
emeritus Megan "Not Gone Yet" Zurawicz is trying desperately to find a new
coordinator for the Lineages Project, one of the least well-known of the
Special Projects. According to St. Megan, "We're about to lose a project
here thru lack of staff if anybody cares...." It is her suggestion that if
the general consensus is that its not worth the trouble, "then let's shut
it down gracefully and not leave Sam hanging out there." The current
coordinatory of Lineages, Sam Sneed, has not accepted new entries for nine
months and has been advertising for someone willing to do a "non-hostile
takeover" [whatever that means] of the project and reactivate the pages.
So far, he's had no takers.
The Results Are In Corner: Dick Eastman has announced the results of his
annual "Best Genealogy Website" vote, and the results this year are
interesting. Root$web still didn't win, but they did make second place
[which, according to one of my more competitive friends, is just the first
loser <g>], and two-time former winner Cyndi's List dropped to fifth place
after newcomers The Genealogy Registry and Surname Exchange and
FamilySearch.org [the LDS' new website]. Number one was the Hessen Web
site at: http://users.rootsweb.com/~deuhes/Hessen/index.htm. As Dick
Eastman pointed out, the top four vote-getters this year are all sites
that offer lots of free data to the visitor. Congrats to all the winners!
Today's quote is from a reader:
"I am grateful for all my problems. After each one was overcome, I became
stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in
all my difficulties."
---J.C. Penney
This has been your Daily Board Show.
-Teresa Lindquist
merope@radix.net
-------
Daily Board Show, (c) 1999 by Teresa Lindquist, all rights reserved.