Mr. Leverich:
Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. Yes, there does
seem to have been a problem, and that problem has been resolved.
Bill Butler, OHGenWeb Defunct Coordinator, is a long-time, very close
and trusted friend, an upstanding citizen, and a God-fearing Christian
gentleman in every respect. He is also the Godfather of my children, in
the event (Heaven forbid) anything should happen to my wife or myself.
I trust him.
Since Bill is on a fixed (and extremely limited) income, he cannot
afford the luxury that you and I enjoy of having personal and direct
internet access. When he first became aware of the OHGenWeb Project and
the USGenWeb project, he was ecstatic (to say the least) about the
"wonderfulness" of what we are doing online and wished to be a part.
Geography and cartography are his forte, and this area of our project
is a good match with him and for OHGenWeb. When this area became
available upon the former coordinator's disappearance, he was eager to
tackle the challenge, and has performed admirably in that capacity.
Since I do trust him explicitly, and due to his less-than-advantageous
economic status, he has had my permission to use my log-in account to
maintain the OHGenWeb Defunct website. I trust him with it, as I know
he would with me were the roles reversed.
Upon receiving your email via the State Coordinators' digest last
night, I personally visited Bill. He told me exactly what he did on
Saturday, and I must admit: anyone with half a brain cell could
duplicate walking through Rootsweb's server. (I wonder just how many
actually have?) He explained that by merely logging into the server,
it's very simple to move to any directory, which is connected to that
server, by moving through the directory. I've heard others mention how
easy that is, so it seems to hardly be rocket science there. :-)
If there has been any impropriety as you imply (e.g., "stealing
passwords"), I should like to be made aware of it. Bill has assured me,
and I believe him, that he has done no such thing. Viewing a file is
hardly "stealing" a file; and it appears very easy for anyone to do so.
There doesn't seem to be a "smoking gun" (as you phrased it) unless
there's a body in which there's a bullet. Given that anyone with
Rootsweb FTP access can easily move around on that server (as Bill has
inadvertently demonstrated), there's hardly any reason (that I can see)
for implying theft, and possibly slandering an honest individual who
was unaware that by viewing a file, some sort of "stealing" was
occurring.
Upon further considerations with Bill, he and I have concluded to
settle this matter internally (and I appreciate your apt-suggestion to
do so: "we'd prefer Allen dealt with this as a USGenWeb matter") by
removing the Defunct site off Rootsweb. This will remove your need for
concern and will allow Bill to remain in his role as coordinator. He is
still a member in good standing in OHGenWeb, and until proven
differently, will continue to be so.
On his suggestion, and my direction, you may fully delete (_not_
archive, but DELETE) the
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohdefunc/ directory
and contents immediately. Your assistance there is appreciated.
Again, thanks for bringing your concerns to my attention.
Allen
______________________________________________________________________
Allen Richmond
sciototrails(a)usa.net
Scioto.org
http://www.scioto.org/
In the asking comes sharing;
in sharing comes knowledge;
in knowledge comes wisdom which lasts a lifetime. -ar. (C) 1999