Charles R. Weese wrote to OHGEN-L:
I think you owe us an explanation. Why move an established site to your
server's location, thus breaking links all over the internet, especially
when it is located on a site that is available to any future state
coordinator? What happens when we get another state coordinator in the
future? Will the state page be arbitrarily moved again?
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Charles R. Weese cweese(a)raex.com
4012 Pardee Rd.
Stow, OH 44224-3631
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Scott Williams wrote to OHGEN-L:
Thank You Allen for NOT following like sheep to slaughter. Your move AWAY from
Rootsweb was a very smart one.
For the rest that have not made the move back to their own servers, remember
the internet is based on distributed information NOT concentrated information!
SCott Williams
Scott R. Williams 845N, 1200 E Rd. Melvin, IL 60952
------- ph 217.784.8844 mailto:photo@soltec.com ----------
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Howdy Buckeyes:
Ok, before everyone gets their chestnuts roasted on some open fire,
let's address these questions and comments.
The move is a logical one for a number of reasons:
RW does not, and will not, allow redirection pages on their
server. This has been a point of contention with them in the past,
and I would fathom to guess that it will remain their policy. Were
that possible, then there would be no problem. Everyone uses the same
address as in the past. Now, unless they CHANGE that policy and make
same known far and wide, then the topic is moot.
Case in point: I also host two county sites in other state projects.
One is a now-permanent adoption and one was (until last Saturday) a
temporary adoption pending the finding of a new host for that
particular county. In attempting to update the index redirection page
for those two counties last week SO THAT folks would NOT need to make
umpteen changes to their bookmarks, URLs, etc., I quickly learned that
the FTP PW for those county sites had been changed on the RW end of
the spectrum (with no advanced notice to me as USGW CC for those two
county sites) and that the directory's contents were summarily
deleted (with no advanced notice to me as USGW CC for those two
county sites) which then necessitated the immediate change for others
who were pointing to those sites with URLs on their respective sites.
No one needed to make URL changes until the RW directories where
those county sites' were originally held were summarily deleted
without notice. When the redirection pages were in place, all was well
in the world - folks were finding the sites (using the established
URLs) with no muss/fuss/bother. And before it's raised, no: the ~2K
that a redirection page consumes is not a drain on server real estate,
in comparison with "lost" files within directories which are not in use.
So now, if/when those county sites go back to the RW server,
the already overworked, understaffed RW folks (their declaration)
will have to ADD yet another item to their plate which is (apparently,
according to their reports) already so overloaded to be a problem. Had
those site directories remained intact, the future transfer of those
counties would be nearly effortless. But, I digress....
In order to avoid any future (accidental or intentional) deleting of
the OHGenWeb Directory on the RW server, the contents have been moved
to an independent server. A pointer page has been put into place so
that folks using the old URL can make their changes while still be
able to find the OHGenWeb Project state site. Updating an URL link
is a minor point in webpage/site maintenance. It happens, we make the
changes, we move on to our next task at hand.
Case in point: Charles, since you've raised the questions (and only
because you've raised them is this relevant; do not interpret this
to be anything other than an example), remember when you had several
changes to your server in 1996/1997 when (now)
raex.com was tweaking
their domain name? All who had URLs pointing to Jackson, Vinton and
Gallia Cos needed to change their pointing URLs *every* time those
server issues changed, and then _once again_ when you migrated
to RW. That affected our Ohio counties, the state site and several
counties in WVGW, and the myriad of independent and family sites which
pointed in the direction of those counties. The URL changes were made
(each time) upon your notice to all (each time, which was always
timely and well-appreciated, btw), and folks moved on.
As ASC, I dealt with this issue when counties changed hands more times
than I could possibly count - and I am currently assisting 5 of our
CCs with site transfers and/or changes of county coordinators (some
are from/to different servers, some are within the RW hierarchy). The
updating on the county links pages need to be done whenever there is
a change, whether it's simply the name of the host or the URL itself.
Then that information is propagated throughout the net so that the old
data is replaced by the new. That is the lifecycle on the internet.
Folks find the new link and move on.
What happens to the site when the next SC is installed will probably
be determined by that SC - I'm neither a mind-reader nor a soothsayer,
so I can't address future events in _this_ moment in time. :-)
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Now, as far as being a "sheep [led] to slaughter", I'm neither a sheep
nor a donkey [yes, you may substitute the other appelation if you so
choose - I would like to think this is a PG-14 (at least) list, but I
know we're all adults. Feel free to let me know privately if you
feel I'm delusional about my opinion of y'all being adults.] :-D
I personally don't believe the migration was detrimental to RW (which
isn't the purpose) nor to our online researchers. Considering the
numerous times I, personally, have had difficulties FTPing into RW due
to clogged pipes on their end (and I know I'm not the only one to have
experienced this situation), and given the oft-mentioned overloaded
and overworked staff at RW (their declaration), assisting _them_ by
reducing their workload, while at the same time allowing for timely
and at-the-moment updates (when required) on an independent server
simply makes sense. Win-win.
And, so long as the pointer page is in place (providing that directory
is not summarily purged also), folks may still be able to access OHGW
via the RW address. The update regarding the URL has already been
propagated; folks are updating their links; from the bottom up and the
top down, everyone will still be able to find the OHGenWeb Project.
In turn, folks will easily and quickly find ALL OUR OHIO county sites
which make this entire endeavor such a wonderful and rewarding
experience for both the CCs *and* the online researcher seeking clues
and assistance in finding their elusive ancestries.
I, as we all do, want to see this project be as successful as we can
possibly imagine, and then take it even farther as our time and
talents will allow us. By continuing to work together as the fabulous
team that we've developed over this project's history, we CAN make a
positive contribution to online genealogy -
Here.com,
There.net or
Anywhere.else is only a click away. No muss, no fuss, move on. :-)
Et in terra interneta pax,
Allen
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Allen Richmond
sciototrails(a)usa.net
OHGenWeb Project
http://www.scioto.org/OHGenWeb/
In the asking comes sharing;
in sharing comes knowledge;
in knowledge comes wisdom which lasts a lifetime. --ar.
FROM THE WIRE: Genealogist chops down family tree! Microfilm at 11:00.