Team:
I really appreciate all your hard work! Things are going well. We are going to hit our
300,000th record in the next few months! Looking back to 2003 when I was trying to get
this project off the ground, that number seems incomprehensible!! Many of you were working
by my side at that time as we tried, adjusted, tried something else, and then kept moving
forward. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to everyone for their hard work,
dedication, loyalty, and willingness to work peaceably. I think we have the least conflict
I have ever seen in a GenWeb Project. You make the difference!!
I do have a few things that are coming up routinely that I want to address:
1) If you have an image that is too faint to read, just go with what was prefilled. We
start each record with the information from the Kentucky Death Index. There is nothing I
can do at this point to fix those images. Please don't report faint images to me. I
just can't handle any more workload at this point. If we get better images later, we
will deal with this issue.
2) If you keep a pencil and paper next to your computer and write down the certificate
number as you work, you can reset any image that has a problem. If a server goes down when
you hit submit, or you accidentally hit the back button, or you accidentally hit submit
before you were finished, you can fix these yourself. You need the Death Volume (which is
currently 1920) and the Certificate Number. There is a link from your staff home page to
allow you to reset a record. It will then appear in your folder again.
3) Please make sure to go down the FORM field by field as you transcribe. We're seeing
quite a number of missed fields by volunteers who are going down the certificate instead
of the form.
4) The project is based upon everyone trying to finish new work in 30 days. That amount is
extended to 60 days for Jefferson and Fayette counties that get hit by large numbers of
images at once. If you are not going to be able to complete your work in 30 days, please
ask for help! Last year, we instituted a policy to replace any volunteer who lets their
folders get 90 days behind without contacting project administration for help. That
process is being automated so that you will be automatically locked out from your login.
So, PLEASE let me know if you are having problems. We don't want to lose good
volunteers, but there are people waiting in line to work on the project. They and the site
visitors deserve for us to be diligent in our work.
Thank you again for all you do!
Sheryl