This is an announcement regarding Rootsweb hosting and an Update follows.
I have no comments on this issue at this time. There are still questions
and comments being raised on this issue on the STATE-COORD list that I am
following.
You can view what has been discussed at:
Forwarding as Requested:
START:
Sent on behalf of Tina Vickery:
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]
RootsWeb intends to begin the placement of the banners
beginning on or about March 15, 2008. The
generic/freepages banner will be included on the server
side [TGN/RW], and will not require any involvement from
the webmasters. Any USGenWeb Project site that wishes to
have the USGenWeb Project specific banner instead of the
generic/freepages banner will be supplied with code to
insert on their pages in order to cause that banner to
show up when their pages are viewed. The line of code
they will provide us is not a replacement banner. It will
simply include a parameter on the page that the server can
read when rendering the banner that will tell it to render
the customized USGenWeb [Project] banner instead of the
default one.
The Board has made it very clear to TGN/RW that they
should be the ones to implement the custom banner on
Project pages. TGN/RW understands how editing each
individual page could be a concern for account holders
with a large number of pages. Most solutions they have
looked at for doing this involve significant initial or
ongoing development or operations work, but they are still
brainstorming to try and find a good solution. They will
get back to the Advisory Board this week after they have
been able to investigate further.
The Advisory Board has strived to maintain a balance of
TGN/RW business needs as our host, while being mindful of
the Project's paramount mission and goal to provide free
genealogical data to our visitors and the USGenWeb Project
community as stated in our bylaws.
As National Coordinator, I want to thank all involved for
their patience and input as we have worked to achieve this
balance.
In tandem with this, and perhaps more importantly, the
Advisory Board is discussing a hosting agreement with
TGN/RW. While that hosting agreement is confidential in
nature, due to business concerns of our host, the Board is
working to insure that the work of our many volunteers and
contributors is protected.
We welcome any of your questions/concerns as we all work
together to finalize this negotiation process.
Tina Vickery
National Coordinator
USGenWeb Project
END
And an Update:
START:
Please forward to USGenWeb Project lists.
Forwarded with the permission of David Graham, Sr. Product
Manager
RootsWeb.com. Further questions and concerns from
USGenWeb Project members who host sites on TGN/RW are
being gathered and will be communicated to David to
address. Thank you all for continuing to share your
questions and concerns with the Advisory Board.
Tina Vickery
National Coordinator
USGenWeb Project
---
"In terms of specific timeframes, we are still finalizing
plans but I expect the masthead inclusion to happen later
than the March 15th date we initially discussed. We want
to make sure that there is appropriate time to clearly
communicate with everyone and answer questions. We are
also working to find a solution to allow web masters to
change their masthead preference on multiple pages without
having to edit each one. This is a convenience we'd
really like to add before implementing the mastheads if we
can. So again, based on this I expect the date to be
later than March 15th. I hope to finalize plans in the
next couple days so that we can communicate a more
realistic date to you."
Thanks,
David Graham
END