Copy of latest reply to Suzanne Horner FYI:
Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for the reply. Actually I had not heard about GenExchange
previously and did not know it had been around for awhile. Thanks for
updating me.
Perhaps we're not communicating well regarding GenConnect boards.... I
maintain the boards for my counties and the rules from GenConnect are very
strict..... bios on bio boards, query on query boards, etc. Yes, data is
placed on some of the boards - bios, deeds, obits for instance, but they
have to be posted separately by surname and on the appropriate board. I
think that is what you're referring to and I agree there.
We do apparently disagree with regard to the lists. I look at them as only
one part of a vast array of genealogical tools. Rootsweb lists the
particular lists our CC's mainatin as "county lists", i.e. pertaining only
to genealogy in a particular county. The descriptions of the county
lists all state that they're for people with a "genealogical interest in
XXcounty", so postings do need to be county specific.
When initially created, the idea conveyed to us by Rootsweb was that these
lists were designed as a "discussion" arena re: a particular county - where
questions could be asked and answered, sources of information concerning
the county relayed, etc. Since the inception of these lists, I have
seen queries, answers to queries, and helpful resources such as locations
for new online data or URL's for new XXcounty resources/data posted on the
lists. I simply prefer that the actual data indexes or material itself not
be posted. I do encourage posting new URL's and the location of newly
archived data regarding a specific county and think that the posting of
good directions to link to the data is well within the spirit of helping
others in genealogy.
On Rootsweb's mailing list site, they now state, "The List Administrator
decides the character of the list, including what topics are allowed or not
allowed. Some are very strict about this and others are very relaxed." I
seldom interfere with any postings, so lean toward the "relaxed".
Again, Suzanne, I sincerely want to be cooperative with your efforts to
assist those doing genealogical research. We certainly don't have to see
eye to eye on every detail to work together for the good of the
genealogical community! <G> I'm glad to see that you share this vision.
Corky
At 01:39 PM 6/25/2000 -0700, you wrote:
Hello Corky,
Yes I did get your message and I know of the buy out but I don't think you
know that GenExchange has been here just as long as Rootsweb if not longer.
Also GC boards ARE for posting DATA. I've never seen any list ADMIN object
to a handful of DATA
being posted to the list. But if this is the case I think that you need to
reevaluate the term Genealogy to look for information. As for what I sent
out it was a list of some of the W.W.I. records for all of Montana not just
one county. I posted these to let the people know that they are there if
they want to look through them. However, I will not post them again if it
makes you happy because I know it is you making these rules. I did not mean
to offend you at all.
However, I do believe you need to take a look at USGW history when they
started out a group of sites with information on/about states
and counties, with NO DATA. GenExchange has always had data. It won't
happen again and as far as my signature line everyone has them.
Thanks for your time and I will say you are doing a great job I have visited
your site many times also looking for my ancestors. We here at GenExchange
have quite a few people that also have Rootsweb pages and they work at both.
Matter of fact the National Coordinator here has two counties herself for
Rootsweb.
Thanks!
Suzanne Horner State Coordinator
Need Volunteers for County Coordinators
http://www.genexchange.org/counties.cfm?state=mt
Montana GenExchange
http://www.genexchange.org/mt/index.cfm
Lorain County Ohio Coordinator
http://www.genexchange.org/oh/lorain/index.cfm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Corky K" <corkykn(a)imt.net>
To: "Suzanne Horner" <shorner(a)mediaone.net>
Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2000 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: GenExchange
> Hi Suzanne,
>
> I take it you've not received my email yet. <G> I am also puzzled as to
> why you would send me the email below, but perhaps you are not fully aware
> of our project.
>
> So, I likewise will introduce myself to you. In 1995, I put up the web
> site "Montana Genealogy Research" with the goal in mind to provide free
> genealogical resources and data online to those researching their Montana
> ancestry.
>
> In 1996, I chose to affiliate with the USGenWeb Project, whose national
> goals were in line with my state goals. Since that time, we have put
> resources and data online to assist Montana researchers, and have over 35
> state volunteers who host counties, provide copyrighted transcriptions for
> our data archives and provide other free services such as the nationally
> acclaimed MTGenWeb Photo site. The USGenWeb Tombstone project and the
> USGenWeb census project are adding both digital pages from the census and
> census transcriptions daily, all of which are included in the
international
> search engine. We are very please with the work of our volunteers and
> have received many letters expressing gratitude for assisting people with
> their ancestral search.
>
> Since Rootsweb and it's new partner
Ancestry.com have guaranteed that all
> data in our Rootsweb archives will remain free to researchers, we are
> confident that this is the ideal central location for researchers to come
> looking for material in their research.
>
> As I stated in the previous email, this is why we were surprised that yet
> another group had set up a separate data archives. Of course there is
> room for hundreds of such sites, but it does make the effort for
> researchers more tedious to have to check a number of sites to accumulate
> their data. Since the material transcribed and placed on our county
sites
> and in our national archives is all transcribed (with written permission
if
> necessary) for posting in the USGenWeb Archives, and since most material
> posted there is copyright, none of it can legally be taken and placed in
> other databases. There is still a great amount of fresh data for Montana
> that does need to be transcribed, however, so neither of our groups will
> have any problem finding things to be done!
>
> Again, my hope is that you and your group with work with us in seeing that
> the material placed in our respective archives is not unnecessarily
> duplicated and that ours can be a cooperative effort to provide free
online
> data for researchers.
>
> Thanks, Suzanne.
>
> Corky
>
> At 12:49 PM 6/25/2000 -0700, you wrote:
> >Subject: GenExchange Invitation
> >
> >Hi.... I'd like to introduce myself to you. I am the State Coordinator
for
> >the MTGenExchange located at
http://www.genexchange.org/mt/index.cfm
> >
> >I am seeking volunteers to adopt counties in Montana and wanted to see if
> >you would have any interest in joining our group of dedicated volunteers
> >interested in providing free access to genealogy on the web.
> >
> >I invite you to take a look at our site and would be glad to answer any
> >questions you might have about being a County Coordinator for the
> >GenExchange. Thanks very much for your time, and I look forwarding to
> >possibly chatting with you about this.
> >Suzanne Horner State Coordinator
> >Need Volunteers for County Coordinators
> >http://www.genexchange.org/counties.cfm?state=mt
> >Montana GenExchange
> >http://www.genexchange.org/mt/index.cfm
> >Lorain County Ohio Coordinator
> >http://www.genexchange.org/oh/lorain/index.cfm
> >
> >
> >
>
> Corky Knebel
> MtGenWeb Project State Coordinator
>
http://www.imt.net/~corkykn/montana.html
>
>
>
>
Corky Knebel
MtGenWeb Project State Coordinator
http://www.imt.net/~corkykn/montana.html