I've had a couple of queries about the new system and have had a chance
to play with it briefly to see how it works.
One corresponsdent asked for an explanation of "boards" and "lists".
Boards are message boards to which people post queries or data (e.g.,
biographies, obituaries) and which appeared until recent developments to
have a degree of permanent accessibility. Anyone can read the messages,
post others and reply to them.
Lists are e-mail discussion groups to which members may subscribe and
unsubscribe at will. They too contain queries and data as well as
announcements and discussion, and their archived messages may be searched
by anyone by web. Boards have similar complementary functions and just
by using them you become aware of the nuances of tone and etiquette and
utility.
I have looked at the new Rootsweb message boards at
http://boards.ancestry.com. They offer two entry points forsearch:
"find a board" and "search" (the latter with the option of searching
all
boards or this board). The former GenConnect boards were of two types:
surname or area-based. If you enter a surname in "fina a board" the
resulting format is not perceptibly different from the GenConnect
boards. If you enter an area, however, your are given a range of
tangentially related boards to choose from, and the display appears
heavily truncated. Once you have opened a surname or area board,
however, it is possible to search for words such as "obituary" or
"biography' and recover at least some of the previous GenConnect boards.
The purported advantages of the new system seem to me heavily outweighed
by the losses in familiar routine and, more seriously, in access to
content. There will no doubt be further changes, perhaps for the good.
Meanwhile, as I suggested, various alternative options are being
foreshadowed and I'll try to keep you abreast while travelling.
John
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