I think y'all are on the right track--there must be a way of protecting the
Project. Check existing laws on our mother's laws (which follow, below):
[I am only sharing what the ByLaws state from the "upper level." Since we
haven't taken any action on NC state By-Laws, choosing, instead, to ignore
special conditions that make North Carolina unique and failing to support
the goals that, in short, espouse FREE GENEALOGY. I know what Sharon is
saying. We have already been through one episode of "kill the messenger."
Nobody that I know is in this thing for the glory. If they are, they need
to be reminded of the point in time when they were dependant on the
knowledge of others.
I'm not for a "black list"--too scary--if you're old enough, it reminds
you
of McCarthey. I think common sense solutions can be applied here. The
Project, and each of its XXGenWeb links, are part of a larger picture. If
people can't be trusted to reject anarchy, then timely back-up should be
exercised. What communications people choose to exchange privately, as far
as revealing the identities of "problem children" (define that term any way
you choose), is First Amendment material.
Lets move on and stop worrying about semantics. We're all adults here and I
think we can recognize what's best for the Project, as a whole, and what
isn't worth squat.
Derick S. Hartshorn
ASC NCGenWeb
Catawba/ Burke L/P
USGenWeb
ARTICLE XII. STATE PROJECTS
Section 1. Each state shall have a State Coordinator who manages the state
website and oversees the
state project. In addition, each state shall have an Assistant State
Coordinator or other support team in
place that can take charge in case the State Coordinator becomes
unavailable for a period of 30 days,
unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Section 2. The state website shall include direct links to the county
pages, The USGenWeb Project
national website, The USGenWeb Project Archives (Digital Library) at both
their own state and the
national levels, The USGenWeb Project's Guidelines/Standards for county
websites (which includes a
link to the Official Project Name/Logo page), The USGenWeb Project
Copyright Information page, and
the WorldGenWeb Project.
Section 3. It shall be the responsibility of each state organization to
ensure that the state project is in
compliance with the stated bylaws of The USGenWeb Project.
Section 4. State Coordinators shall remain subscribed to the State
Coordinators mailing list and
maintain a current mailing list of all local-level coordinators. State
Coordinators shall provide their name,
postal address, and phone number to the National Coordinator to be held
in strictest confidence and
only used in the case of an emergency.
Section 5. State projects are empowered to develop/adopt any additional
rules/bylaws and guidelines,
as appropriate, for their state so long as they do not conflict with
these bylaws. State projects shall be
highly encouraged to develop and adopt rules/bylaws that cover grievance
procedures within the state
Section 6. It shall be the responsibility of each state project to
periodically review local-level project
websites to ensure compliance with The USGenWeb Project/XXGenWeb Project
established
guidelines/standards.
Section 7. The state project shall have the responsibility to remove any
links to websites which fail to
meet The USGenWeb Project/XXGenWeb Project established guidelines/standards.
Section 8. State Coordinators shall be elected to those positions by the
local-level coordinators within
the state. Those State Coordinators and Assistant State Coordinators in
place at the time these bylaws
are adopted shall be exempt from election procedures, unless he/she/they
are removed, resign, or are
unable to perform their duties.
Section 9. State Coordinators and Assistant State Coordinators are
subject to possible removal by a
2/3 vote of the Advisory Board and a 2/3 vote of the Local Coordinators
within the state. A quorum of
75% of the Local Coordinators shall participate in order for the vote to
be binding.
Section 10. If a State Coordinator is unable to perform his/her duties,
the Assistant State Coordinator,
or other support team, shall serve until an election can take place
within the state. In the case of state
projects with more than one Assistant State Coordinator, they shall
choose one among themselves to
serve in the interim.
At 02:57 PM 5/16/01, Diana wrote:
> Rockingham county had changed hands a couple of times, and there
were
> some communication problems in spring 2000 regarding who was going to
> take it. CC X had agreed to take it, but her predecessor then went
> incommunicado for a while, leaving CC X not knowing whether she had
> it or not. I still don't even know for sure which of them removed
> the files
CC X's predecesor had Rockingham County from Nov. 1, 1998 to April 15, 2000.
She is still a cc in NCGenWeb so you could ask her whether she removed the
files. CC X had Rockingham County from 1 July 2000 until 31 August 2000. I
don't know who was maintaining it between April 15 and July 1; it was my
impression and understanding at the time that nobody was.
CC X got quite nasty on the list in August then up and quit over something
she did not like. That much I know.
> ... I don't know [how]
> best to advise SCs of other states of this information. I don't
> think a blacklist is the answer, since it lends itself to potential
> abuse as a mechanism for personal vendettas. Perhaps the burden
> should be on the SC who is evaluating a potential new CC, to check to
> see if this person has had counties in other states, and to inquire
> about how good a job they've done, in much the same way as a
> prospective employer checks for recommendations from previous
> employers.
The problem with this is that it puts the whole matter of picking cc's into
the hands of one person. If the state coordinator at the time happens to
have some bias about some kind of background, then he or she can stack the
deck accordingly. Again, we don't have any by-laws so we are winging it.
I had always considered it my responsibility to find somebody to take over
my county for me if I needed to do that -- not the state coordinator's
responsibility or anybody else's responsibility. If I had an absolute
emergency and was all-of-a-sudden taken out of the picture, then, yes, it
would fall to the state coordinator to find somebody for my county.
Still, implicit in what you say requires that the state coordinator keep
some kind of history of the cc's that come and go through that state. What
if the state coordinator of neighboring Virginia, for example, asked Sharon
if CC X has had counties in North Carolina and, if so, how good a job she
did. What is Sharon going to do, rely on her memory?
I still say we need to find an objective-as-possible way to keep a history
of cc's.
Diana H. F.