Tim Stowell, our National Coordinator, posted this which he though might be of
interest:
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 03:23:57 -0400
To: STATE-COORD-L
Subject: [STATE-COORD-L] A couple of notes that may be of interest
From: merope
To: mleonard(a)myfamilyinc.com
Sent: 6/22/00 6:02 PM
Subject: Recent acquisition of
RootsWeb.com, Inc.
Dear Mr. Leonard,
I am a member of the USGenWeb Project, and have read with interest of the
recent acquisition of
RootsWeb.com, Inc, by
MyFamily.com, Inc.
As I am sure you know, the national pages the USGenWeb Project is hosted
by
RootsWeb, as is our Archives Project, most of our state pages, and
some two
thirds of our county pages. Many of us have been with RootsWeb for years,
and as you can imagine, the prospect of RootsWeb changing ownership has us
a
little anxious.
I have read both your press release on this topic and RootsWeb's
announcement, and I have several questions regarding how this merger will
affect the USGenWeb Project. I am hoping that you can answer them and that
you will allow me to forward your answers to my fellow project members. If
you cannot answer them, would you be so kind as to forward them to a person
who can, or provide me with contact information?
The first thing we would like to know is the status of our primary domain,
www.usgenweb.org, which is registered to "RootsWeb Genealogical Data
Cooperative"; this was RootsWeb's name before it incorporated in June 1999.
Will this domain become the property of MyFamily.com? Will either of the
other two USGenWeb domains (
www.usgenweb.com,
www.usgenweb.net) become the
property of MyFamily.com?
The USGenWeb Project has a long-standing but very informal agreement with
RootsWeb regarding the provision of free webspace, mailing lists,
GenConnect
boards, search engines, and other services to all members of USGenWeb.
These services, unlike most other services on RootsWeb, are provided to us
without banner advertisements or required links [with the exception of the
search engines, which display banner ads]. Will the USGenWeb Project be
able to continue with this arrangement essentially unchanged? Of
particular
concern to many of us is the potential for advertisement; USGenWeb has
always prided itself on its noncommercial nature and any sort of solicition
for funds has been a source of concern previously.
Our Archives Project also has a long standing but informal agreement with
RootsWeb for free storage of all files. This arrangement was a private
agreement between Dr. Brian Leverich and Ms. Linda Lewis, who heads the
Archives. It provides for free storage of and free access to the archived
transcriptions. Of particular concern to many of us is a clause in their
agreement that says the Archives will be hosted by RootsWeb and by no other
server. Will
MyFamily.com recognize that agreement and continue to
provide
unlimited free space for our Archives? as well as free access? Should
the
USGenWeb find the relationship with
MyFamily.com to be unsuitable, will the
Archives be allowed to move to another server?
Also, in regards to these agreements, will
MyFamily.com be pursuing more
formal arrangements with the various hosted projects on RootsWeb, or will
RootsWeb basically be left to run itself as it always has? In other words,
will our interface as USGenWeb Project members be with
MyFamily.com
personnel or with RootsWeb personnel?
Thank you very much for your time in answering these questions. I don't
mean to imply in any way that USGenWeb's relationship with
MyFamily.com will
be negative, but I'm sure you can understand our surprise at this
announcement and our need to have these issues addressed formally so that
we
can plan for our future. Also, I am not writing to you in any official
capacity, just as a project member. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
* Teresa Lindquist
Anderson, Shawnee, and Johnson counties, KSGenWeb/USGenWeb
merope(a)radix.net
Teresa:
My name is Charles Merrin, and I am the Vice President of Marketing for
RootsWeb. After the merger, I will remain as the General Manager of the
RootsWeb group.
Thank you for your questions. Here are some answers.
Regarding the
USGenWeb.org domain, we have offered to do whatever the
USGenWeb Board wants with it. I have been working with Tim Stowell to
determine the appropriate strategy. Regarding the .com and .net domains,
they are both in the hands of individuals and thus are not "owned" by
RootsWeb.
After the merger, we will continue to honor all agreements between RootsWeb
and the USGenWeb organization. Neither RootsWeb nor MyFamily will charge
for access to the USGenWeb data, nor will we use it in any way other than
its current use without the express permission of the contributor.
Further,
as I have said publicly, we will continue to offer free, unlimited,
banner-free and link-free server space for all USGenWeb pages. Also, we
will continue to provide unlimited server space for the Archives. And as
always, in the unfortunate event that anyone decides to leave RootsWeb, we
will do our best to ensure a smooth transition.
Regarding more formal agreements between MyFamily, RootsWeb, and / or the
USGenWeb organization, we will do whatever seems most appropriate for each
situation. At this point, we don't envision the need for any changes.
Teresa, I suspect you won't notice any changes from the perspective of a
USGenWeb project manager, user, or coordinator. The RootsWeb team is
staying intact, and you will continue to work with the same people as you
have in the past.
Thank you for your questions and concerns.
CSM
Charles S. Merrin
Vice President, Marketing
RootsWeb.com
Corky Knebel
MtGenWeb Project State Coordinator
http://www.imt.net/~corkykn/montana.html