I have about 25 GenConnect boards setup at the moment.
These boards make query maintenance a piece of cake.
However this email is rather lengthy and is intended to give you my
one month of experience and frustrations in condensed format.
I sure I may have missed a few items. It should make the process easier for
you.
I can help you get started but first I want to discuss the benefits.
Benefits of GenConnect Boards (from top of screen to bottom)
0) I forgot the best one. Queries are posted immediately to the board!
No more nagging emails from people wanting to know when their query
will appear.
1) At the top center there is a link to a global search engine where
you/users can enter a surname and specify a location if needed and it
will
search all the boards you specified (surname and body fields).
2) Link to your county home page in the top left corner.
3) Link to the world boards in the top right corner.
4) Links to Post a Message and a notification list where
users can subscribe to see every single message ever posted to your
board.
NO NEED for you to subscribe since every single query is mailed to you
as an administrator of the board (details on these editing/deleting
responsibilities below).
5) Users can include their URL/TITLE with their query.
6) Users can click a box if they want to be notified that someone posted
a reply to their board.
7) Users can click a box where the next time they go to a GenConnect board
their name and email is automatically filled in. Technical name is
COOKIE.
Anyone needing help setting them up for your counties?
I can make the request for your new board.
I can activate the board for you.
I will need to know the following for each county:
1) The URL and TITLE for your county page (no typos please)
Your GenConnect board will have a link to your URL and the TITLE
in the board's upper right corner.
2) The email address that you want listed on your GenConnect board.
3) You want queries achived monthly? 3 months? 6 months? yearly? never?
I will then put in the request for your board. It is a little tricky with
all of their
upper/lower case rules but after making 25 requests and seven needed to be
redone I am used to all of their little rules.
Then I wait for a confirmation email that they created a directory for your
board.
I will then activate your board with your URL/TITLE and your email address
and assign it a password (boards without passwords get two warning emails
before their directory is deleted). I will give you instructions on how easy
it is to
change your admin password.
If you had Goodhue County then the URL for your home page is
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Mn/Goodhue
If you needed to make changes to the board then the URL is
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Mn/Goodhue?admin
DO NOT PUT THE ?admin path on your webpage!!
This ?admin path is for you eyes only.
On the ?admin path you can
1) completely edit/delete anything that someone else posted
You click on the box next to the query and enter your ?admin password
then click on one of the buttons below it.
Examples of administrative responsibilities:
a) Someone used first name in the SURNAME field so I went in
and deleted the first name out of the Surname field and placed
it into the body of the message.
b) Someone used a location in the SURNAME field and did the same
thing.
c) Someone entered their email address in the SURNAME field....
d) SURNAMEs should only be separated by commas so I edited
queries that used /&*{}[]\? because these characters mess up
search
engine.
e) Someone posted a query that was a page from a book so
I asked the person to redo the query and leave off the
non-genealogy information and now I need to delete the old query.
f) Someone used an invalid email address so I had to delete the query.
g) You can delete multiple queries but editing is one at a time.
All will need your ?admin password so write it down.
h) One misc. duty: Someone kept emailing me stating that they
wanted to reply to a query but it gave no email address.
After checking two dozen queries and seeing an email address
on every single one I then deduced that the person was only
staring at the list of surnames instead of clicking on the surname
to see the whole query with their email address.
(The person felt a little foolish) You got to see the emails:
Newbie: interested in a query but no email address
Me running about 25 boards email back: Can you specify which query
you were looking at? surname?
Newbie: Minnesota
Me: I have seven boards in Minnesota. Which query? surname?
Newbie: Goodhue County
Me: There are twelve queries and all have email addresses. surname
please
Newbie: Oops, I meant the Sweden board.
Me: Which query? surname?
Newbie: Anderson or anything close to it
Me after two glasses of wine: There are 13 such queries and all
have email
addresses. Are you clicking on the surname to see the whole
query?
That page should display the email address.
Newbie: Oops.
Newbie: I sent an email to <email address> but it came back to me.
Me: Take off the < > characters
Newbie: Why would <> matter?
Me: Would you write your name John Anderson or <John Anderson>?
Newbie: Oops, sorry I am new to the internet.
Me thinking maybe I should help him subscribe to a newbie
newsgroup...
NOT!
On the ?admin path you can
2) Create a surname page. You go to the ?admin path and enter your admin
password under the queries and click on Make Surname Page.
Update: Not sure if this has now become an automated feature.
You might have to do the initial creation of the surname page.
Check out the following for more info (something I need to do as well)
If you'd like to try a Surname Helper search, see:
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/surhelp/srchall.html
To learn more about participating, see:
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/surhelp/mgrhome.html
On the ?admin path you can
3) See a list of email addresses subscribe to your board's mailing list.
4) Print queries (never used it myself)
5) Change your ?admin password which you need to do after I activate your
board.
I will not follow up on this since I will trash the piece of paper after
I give it to you.
From the following URL there are rules for password as well
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/AdminCenter/activate.html
Follow these directions when setting your password...
� Password must be at least 8 characters long
� Include both upper and lower case letters
� Include at least one number and at least one symbol, such as a ! or
^.
DO NOT use an '&'... it won't work.
That is about it. If you want me to get your board up and running I need:
1) your URL and TITLE of your county page
2) your email address at the bottom. This email address will get each new
query so you can review it as discussed above. Genealogy queries only.
Spam/bad email links/ etc need your ?admin duties.
3) How long before queries are archived? two weeks? one month? three
months?
six months? one year? never?
The GenConnect mailing list is at
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/AdminCenter/mail-list.html
You should subscribe to it now for GenConnect questions.
The create your board on your own
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/AdminCenter/activate.html
For my eight county pages (updating them this weekend),
I decided to return all old queries and gave them the GenConnect URL
to repost their guery on a form email letter with rules on the SURNAME box,
subscribe to the entire board mailing list or only be notified if someone
posts
a reply to their query. This way they are part of the GenConnect search
engine
and the Surname Helper. I got one complaint and about two dozen thank yous.
I think I will also include a link to my state GenConnect page that way
users can quickly surf from county to county. An Example is:
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/indx/Mn.html
Running for County Coordinator Rep for Northwest/Plains Region:
Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming
Michael Andrews (smoking with my new 56K modem as of this morning, yahoo!)
SwiftMN(a)aol.com
Hopkins, Minnesota
Hometown: Milan, MN >>