Gary and all,
From one of humble CC's, I appreciate the position that you have
taken.
Please make no changes.
Since getting talked into joining the WorldGenWeb Project last year and then
getting railroaded into being the Chairperson of the Advisory Board (just
kidding wasn't railroaded completely), I can understand some of problems
that the USGenWeb Advisory Board has faced. Running an internet
organization is like nothing that I have ever been involved with. So many
people through out their civility when they get behind a monitor and their
fingers touch a keyboard. Having faced the threats of lawsuits from
"disgruntled" volunteers, sometimes I have wanted to just through up my
hands and take my toys and leave the sandbox.
You see the great thing about this project is each and everyone of the
county hosts that give of their time to help someone with their research.
Why do we do it? We enjoy learning about our history. We can never move
forward without knowing where we came from. We want to preserve our family
history. Isn't it exciting to stumble on a little scrap of information and
sit back and think WOW, that was one of my ancestors who did that. Doesn't
it make you feel great when you get a message from a visitor to your website
and they tell you that they've learned more about their family history by a
15 minutes visit to your website than they have their entire time of
searching. There are so many other reasons why we do this.
Have you taken the time to look at some of the other county sites? What a
grand patchwork quilt we have. We've got a great project here in PA that
I'm proud to be associated with.
I guess it's inevitable that we'll have "politicking" in this, but I
think
that the most of that is because there is not effective communication and
please hear me, there is not effective listening as well. Sure there are
things that need to be changed. My wish list would include:
1 - the appointment of a by-laws committee with legal experts to review the
current by-laws and make sound legal proposals to amend them to make them
workable.
2 - an Announcement only mailing list that would be mandatory for all
members. This would prevent the "grape vine" from running wild. All
messages pertinent to each of us would be made through that medium, i.e.
proposed "statements", pending votes, etc...
3 - A 15 minute pause be installed on everyone's "reply" button so that
they
would stop and give serious consideration to what they are saying (can Bill
Gates do that?).
Maybe I'm just waxing philosophical tonight and have my rose colored glasses
one, don't think so, but you might think I do.
We don't need a new mailing list called PAChat or whatever. We need to
remember to keep the "main thing the main thing". Was it Sir Winston
Churchill that said "a housed divided against itself can never stand" (one
of our professors will have to correct me if I'm wrong). If the USGenWeb
Project continues down the current path that it is headed, it will begin to
fall apart. I speak from experience from the WorldGenWeb Project. It has
taken a year, but we are just now recovering from some of the same stuff
that is tearing apart this project. Let Pennsylvania be a part of the
solution. Let Pennsylvania lead by example. What a great history our state
has because of our great ancestors. Can we commit ourselves to preserving
those grand traditions? Let's show the others how to make this project
work!
Nate
p.s. (didn't intend for this to sound like a political speak (not running
for any office) nor to sound like a sermon from church (but I do have a
preachers heart).
Nathan Zipfel
Pa Roots Webmaster
http://www.pa-roots.com/
Armstrong County USGenWeb Project Co-Coordinator
http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong
Jefferson County USGenWeb Project Co-Coordinator
http://www.pa-roots.com/jefferson
Westmoreland County USGenWeb Project Co-Coordinator
http://www.pa-roots.com/westmoreland
UKGenWeb Coordinator
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukwgw
-----Original Message-----
From: Genealogical Computing Assoc. of Pennsylvania
[mailto:gencap@spruce.libertynet.org]
Sent: Monday, January 25, 1999 4:01 PM
To: PAGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: [PAGEN-L] More about the "rules" from our "advisory"
board
There was no "change". It was merely a proposal.
I only post stuff to PAGEN-L that I think is significant as well as being
definitive. A lot of crap gets posted to STATE-COORD-L, and I have to
read all of it. I try to weed it down, and wait until any discussion
reaches a conclusion before reposting it to any other list. I only say
something when I feel there is something to be said.
I also try not to reply to any message in my mailbox until I have read
every other message sitting in my mailbox (and there was a big pile
today). Often questions are answered as well as other additional
information that may be supplied by subsequent messages. It can be
tedious, but it is important to get as many facts as possible before
drawing any conclusions (jumping to conclusions?).
As I have stated before on this list, I take with a very big grain of salt
anything that is posted to STATE-COORD-L, and wait for people with better
debating skills than I to step up to the plate and toss out the right
questions. As frustrating as it has been at times, I've found that
clearer heads tend to prevail as long as we give them time to work.
That's why I stopped subscribing to USGENWEB-ALL a long time ago, since I
have never seen such jumping to conclusions, innuendo, and half-truths be
tossed around as on that list. If you've ever seen live video of the
British parliament in action, that's a pretty good analogy.
Also, as I've said before on this list, if I don't like the way things are
playing out, I will pick up my ball and go home. I am a volunteer, and my
time is valuable. If I feel my time is being wasted, I will go spend it
somewhere else. The Pennsylvania pages existed before the USGenWeb
project, and if necessary, they will exist after USGenWeb is gone. BUT,
that is not to say we should not give things a chance to work. It is
difficult with so many voices calling out different opinions. You see
what is going on in Congress, and how long it takes them to get anything
accomplished, and how many people they piss off daily, and they only have
485 members.
The bottom line is, please have patience. I only do what I think is right
for PAGenWeb. Let them have their shouting matches on STATE-COORD-L. If
you want to listen to the BS and increase the mail in your box tenfold, I
can appoint each and every one of you an ASC. It doesn't matter to me who
sees what is posted there (I was one of the ones who voted for a
completely open forum). I thought it was preferred this way, to have the
SC's deal with all the BS and then filter down the stuff that really means
anything.
Gary
On Sun, 24 Jan 1999, Ken Boonie wrote:
Could everyone who received notification of the Standards and Ethics
policy please respond to this? Gary, were you notified about the change?
--
Ken Boonie
Coordinator
USGenWeb Project
Huntingdon County PA
http://www.rootsweb.com/~pahuntin/