Linda, that is not what rule 5 at Rootsweb says.
If you read carefully:
Rootsweb Free Server Space Rule 5
Please don't use your RootsWeb space as a "dump" for material that won't
fit on your main site elsewhere. Such practices can create a serious
support problem for RootsWeb -- it is difficult to know if the site is
still active, people accessing the site with an incomplete URL don't
know where to start, etc. If you must split your site between RootsWeb
and another server elsewhere, please maintain a main page on RootsWeb,
preferably an index.htm or index.html, that provides access to the
material hosted in the RootsWeb account, and links to your main page
elsewhere. In addition, do not use RootsWeb space for a redirect page.
It does not say you cannot redirect, just that you can't use rootsweb
server space for an intentionally designed redirect page. I do not have
a blank page on rootsweb that says for example "you are now redirected
to OHGenWeb on another server and you will be arriving in 5 seconds or
hit this link".
I have the required index and files for OHGenWeb on Rootsweb. Just
during this controversy with TGN my page is bouncing over to the
identical index on my server space which I own until I see what happens
on the national level on whether or not we want to be forced to
advertise for
Ancestry.com.
A lot of states have their index page on their own server space already
as I shared in a previous email.
As far as I can tell, Rootsweb is _not_ taking anyone's free space away
from them for their county or state sites, that is not the issue.
The issue just has to do with whether or not a county webmaster wants to
use rootsweb free space and have the commercial banner for
Ancestry.com
appear on their pages.
The choice we all have is to stay with Rootsweb and accept the
commercial banners on our pages or pay a minimal charge for server space
on our own where you are free to do your pages without Rootsweb rules.
We have always had that choice, this is not something new. The only
thing new is the commercial advertising banner which will be put on
everyone's free server space webpages which we have no control over. You
don't have to ad code, you will just see it appear on our sites like it
did on Joan's Howe History webpages.
We need to remember that Rootsweb free server space rules are totally
separate from our USGenWeb/OHGenWeb project rules and bylaws_ because_
our project is not owned by Rootsweb/Ancestry/TGN.
Sandy