Just passing along some information from Rootsweb. Now might be a good
time for you to consider becoming a Rootsweb sponsor or sending them a
donation. They provide an incredible service to the genealogy world.
Remember....all donations should be sent to Rootsweb directly - - NOT to
listowners. Also, remember there is no pressure to donate.....the services
and surname lists are free.
Resent-Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 22:37:17 -0800 (PST)
To: listowners-announce(a)rootsweb.com
cc: "Dr. Brian Leverich" <leverich(a)rootsweb.com>
Reply-to: "Dr. Brian Leverich" <leverich(a)rootsweb.com>
Subject: Policy: RootsWeb Lists Are Free!
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 22:21:52 -0800
From: Brian Leverich <leverich(a)rootsweb.com>
Resent-From: listowners-announce(a)rootsweb.com
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Hi all -
Hundreds of listowners and users have now given us input on the
issues of whether listowners should be able to charge money or
request personal information as a prerequisite for participating in
a list, and Karen and I are now convinced that extreme behavior by
some listowners could affect the whole listowner and user community
by discouraging users from participating in any of our lists.
Hence we'd like to formally announce policy that:
RootsWeb Lists Are Free!
Users should be able to subscribe to lists without being required to
pay money and without being required to provide personal information.
While we are willing to let bygones be bygones, future violations
may result in a listowner being asked to relocate their lists to
another server.
IMPORTANT NOTES
The foregoing policy does not apply to the few lists, for example
the HCPD-L list for the Hacker's Creek Pioneer Descendants
organization, that exist specifically for the members of an
established organization. Explicit permission must be obtained from
Karen or Brian for lists that want to operate in this paying-
members-only fashion.
The foregoing policy does not prevent listowners from being able to
ask list subscribers to voluntarily provide contact information and
such. The point is that subscribers may not be *required* to
provide that information: explain why you need the information and
that providing the information is VOLUNTARY, then be tolerant of the
folks who choose not to provide it.
The foregoing policy does not prevent listowners or subscribers from
soliciting voluntary contributions for family associations or other
causes, so long as the purpose of the fund-raising is specified and
the subscribers are told that participation is completely voluntary.
With regards to purpose of the fund-raising, listowners must *never*
give the impression they are fund-raising for RootsWeb or for the
physical support of the list unless the funds are intended for
RootsWeb.
A PLEA FOR SENSIBILITY
Please do not ask me or Karen to provide a detailed exegesis of this
policy: just use your common sense and, if a particular situation
seems unclear, bring it to the "listowners" list and ask our peers
for their thoughts.
Let's keep our subscribers happy and participation in our lists
growing. Cheers, B.
--
Dr. Brian Leverich Co-moderator, soc.genealogy.methods/GENMTD-L
RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative
http://www.rootsweb.com/
P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 leverich(a)rootsweb.com