We keep arriving at this crossroad, don't we? I don't that this is any more
serious than
previous turns in the road, but it's one more road sign. Does anyone watch the CBS
show,
"Jericho"?
We've all lived the history. In the beginning USGenWeb and RootsWeb were buddies
with
mutual non-profit goals. In 1999 I enthusiastically embraced free RW web hosting,
started the CTNEWLON mailing list, and encouraged all those USGenWeb volunteers to use the
"convenience" of posting their contributions to the New London County message
board at RW.
I created the board as a companion to the county site, and I honestly thought it was just
a great tool at my disposal. What a shock that was when the boards were confiscated and
we were told that we could *apply* to host the boards we'd created (never mind all the
information we solicited and then gave away).
Even today, in some states the county coordinators are encouraged to offer the county page
simply as a gateway to the USGenWeb Archives instead of including *real* information on
the county site, and, of course, the USGenWeb Archives is permanently housed at RW. Our
Project mailing lists are on RW. I think we've been losing our brand identity for
years,
and the general public never has made much of a distinction.
I know that an offer has been made by USGenNet, but, although the motives are honorable,
we may run into identity issues there, too. I created a new domain when I adopted
Gwinnett Co GAGenWeb, and have moved a couple of other counties to it. I'd rather add
data than move pages, but maybe it's time to start preparing.
Pat Sabin
New London County CTGenWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ctnewlon/
----- Original Message -----
From: <MMeadPond(a)aol.com>
To: <CTGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 8:15 PM
Subject: Re: [CTGEN] Comments on banner
Hello,
This announcement is concerning me, on many levels. It's not just the
banner. It's the potentially diminished identity that is USGW.
How about protecting OUR brand identity? We have customers, too! They may not
pay, but we attract not only researchers, but folks who want to give up a
portion of their free time to selflessly donate data and creative talent. What
about our *customer base?
Currently, we see this same angst with the pioneer content creators of
YouTube.com, who lived by the slogan, "Broadcast yourself."
Along came Google, purchasing YT from its Founders, for billions, and turning
what WAS a well of amateur entertainment, into a monster New Media arm of OLD
MEDIA, thus usurping the ones that "brung them to the dance."
For YT, entertainment is the carrot drawing users to the site (only recently
made possible by the cheap bandwidth, around the world).
For TGN and its marketing consortium--it's family history.
YT has begun to share revenue with carefully groomed content providers, whom
they call "Partners," but that's small potatoes compared to the real bucks
in
it for google on YT: Harvested clicks and user data to be sold to marketing
wonks and their clients.
Is that what this is for TGN? For the clicks?
CNet wrote an article about the topic of data collection, almost three years
ago:
http://www.news.com/Google-balances-privacy,-reach/2100-1032_3-5787483.html
Here's Spectrum consortium brands--each with the synergy to serve one
another. TGN is a valued part of that hub.
http://www.spectrumequity.com/investments/index.html
Clearly, I don't blame Ancestry or Spectrum for this. They're doing their
jobs and doing it well. Yes--for some volunteers, staying on RW is the best
choice. Thanks, Rootsweb for your gift of 12 years of free space!
But relationships are conditional and this recent move is BIG, IMO. Is it
time to rethink alliances, before there is nothing left to offer our
contributors and future volunteers?
I'll look forward, as we move down the process, to the ADVISORY part of the
AB.
Thanks for listening.
Maureen Mead
USGenWeb Project ASC:
rootsweb.com/~ctgenweb
USGenWeb Project CC Fairfield County, CT:
rootsweb.com/~ctfairfi
----------------------------------
*********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE ***********
On 3/4/2008 at 9:02 PM Tina S. Vickery <tsvickery(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Please forward to all USGenWeb Project lists.
---
To All USGenWeb Project members who host sites on TGN/RW ("RootsWeb"):
TGN/RW ("RootsWeb") has implemented a policy change in
which banners are to be placed on all TGN/RW hosted
websites. The USGenWeb Advisory Board contacted RootsWeb
in regard to their plan to install banners on their
webspace and have negotiated a banner specific to The
USGenWeb Project that will be placed on the national pages
of The USGenWeb Project. While these negotiations were
ongoing, TGN/RW postponed applying the banners to sites of
the USGenWeb Project to work on the concept of USGenWeb
having a custom banner.
The banner that we have negotiated identifies the USGenWeb
Project as being hosted by RootsWeb and RootsWeb as a
community of The Generation Network.
The banners are viewable here:
http://www.usgenweb.com/images/rootswebbanner/default1.jpg [default one]
http://www.usgenweb.com/images/rootswebbanner/default2.jpg [default two]
http://www.usgenweb.com/images/rootswebbanner/default3.jpg [default three]
http://www.usgenweb.com/images/rootswebbanner/custom.jpg [custom to
USGenWeb Project]
<snip>
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