I noticed that. One said in CA that they share the cost of the server so the
cost isn't too great for any one of them. It's in one of the posts in the
last two days.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellen- (Genealogy)" <jeanealogist(a)hotmail.com>
To: <WIGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 8:57 PM
Subject: Re: [WIGEN-L] Know the facts first
Many states have found their own servers and the entire state
project
resides on that independent server.
Ellen-
>From: "Shari Milks" <2skeeter(a)charter.net>
>Reply-To: WIGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com
>To: WIGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com
>Subject: Re: [WIGEN-L] Know the facts first
>Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 11:31:46 -0700
>
>I think that its pretty myopic of the USGW hierarchy to rely on rootsweb
>for
>their server space. Their time would be well spent to find a friendly
>server
>or get their own in light of Ancestry's track record. Our whole project
is
>in jeopardy and many don't seem to understand that. In two
years time
(more
>or less) we'll be ancient history. Just a "do you
remember USGW?" They
used
>to be a free gen. site. Our lawyers can fight any breach of
contract, but
>by
>the time it works its way through the courts, any breach of contract will
>be
>a moot question, as Ancestry will be charging for all of our hard work
all
>that time, and since USGW will no longer exist, the researchers
who used
>our
>sites will be their customers.
>Shari Milks
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "RMN" <ocontogal2000(a)yahoo.com>
>To: <WIGEN-L(a)rootsweb.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 9:29 AM
>Subject: [WIGEN-L] Know the facts first
>
>
> > Craig,
> > Sounds like you are the one crying, instead of caring enough to find
>ways
>to
> > work this out. Just because it is century 21 doesn't mean we dump all
>values,
> > and give up totally to commercialism.
> >
> > We are not in competition with companies. We are not in competition
with
>anyone!
> > We fully believe in, and are dedicated to helping others free of
charge
>and only
> > want to be able to do it...without a struggle for independence and
>control. We
> > just want promises and agreements kept, not suddenly changed at will
by
> > companies or organization leadership. The County
Coordinators in
>general
>are
> > keeping our end of theses agreements up admirably.
> >
> > Each cooordinator must respect the right (yes copyright) of a
>contributor
>to
> > withdraw permission on the site for posting their material. US GenWeb
>ALSO
>must
> > respect the right (yes copyright) of volunteer coordinators to
withdraw
> > permission for the posting of their own site materials. It
is a fact
of
>life,
> > and no amount of rule changing is going to affect it. Rather than
trying
>to grab
> > control over the information, it would be much better to find ways of
>strongly
> > supporting and working with the people who are posting it...free.
> >
> > Ancestry never was free. It has ALWAYS been a for-profit outfit. It is
> > relatively new to the industry and has taken over essentially all it's
> > for-profit competition in record time. Incidently Ancestry now owns
> >
Genealogy.com (recently quietly purchased from the History Channel),
> >
Rootsweb.com, and GenConnect. Ancestry keeps the original company
names
>and most
> > folks don't realize that all the information and money goes to them.
>There
>is no
> > healthy commercial competition (maybe Heritage to a small degree).
>Ancestry
> > also now owns the only system available for free, large scale
volunteer
>access
> > posting... Rootsweb. No one that I have read, has a problem with
>commercial
> > sites. That is their business. People pay for services and
information.
>simple
> > and direct. But when it begins to eat away and undermine the ability
of
> > volunteers from free access sites, then it is
everyone's business and
>deserves
> > to be discussed. And here is a little history on each, no crying
>Craig,
>just
> > years of facts!
> >
> >
Rootsweb.com - Began with the Ran McNally Publisher's employees as a
>free
> > exchange of gen information, then went public but still free labor and
>access.
> > Became independent and was made a for-profit venture selling
individual
>family
> > website space in order to host it's free access gen information and
>volunteer
> > sites such as XXGenWeb. Rootsweb remained prmarily volunteer. Costs
from
> > tremendous growth, constant new equipment demands, and
general
expenses
>of
> > keeping the system going were too great and they accepted sponsorship
of
>one
> > company which went under, then was sold to
Ancestry.com. The people
who
>ran it
> > gave valiantly and struggled for years to keep open access information
>on
>line
> > through volunteer help.
> >
> > GenConnect:: Initially in an effort to assist with the many types and
>large
> > volumes of information that was being gathered by XXGenWeb volunteers,
>and
>to
> > have a common storage and access place available with the (then)
>modern
>site
> > search engine features, Rootsweb came up with the GenConnect system
>where
> > volunteers, most from the XXGenWeb counties, became the hosts and
>entered
> > obituaries, birth, death, marriage, probate, estate, and whatever
else
>that
> > they researched and was sent in by contributors. They also offered
>message
> > boards for each county, hosted by a volunteer, often XXGenWeb county
>site
> > coordinators. Participation was optional but it sounded like a good
>idea,
>and
> > was, until Ancestry bought Rootsweb with promises of not changing or
>tampering
> > with the frees access volunteer information. And soon afterward, took
>complete
> > control of all information on GenConnect and the Message boards,
telling
>the
> > county volunteers they no longer had any claims to the work they spent
>several
> > years doing. It was now all the property of Ancestry. The message
boards
>may say
> > Rootsweb, but Ancestry is where all information is held and boards are
>overseen.
> > Ask Rootsweb a question about the boards and you are told to go to
>Ancestry for
> > the answers.
> >
> > XXGenWeb's agreement was originally with the Rootsweb people. They are
>no
>longer
> > there. The rules for our internet support are now with Ancestry in a
one
>year
> > committment. Ancestry has given XXGenWeb fress internet access within
>that
> > agreement guidlines. The actual infomation on the county sites
belongs
>to
>the
> > contributors alone, they give only pernission to post it. Posting
work
>and
> > format of each page belongs to the site coordinator who produced them,
>and
>that
> > person has the obligation to maintain the quality and growth of site
>material.
> >
> > Graig, I'd say your grip was slipping. Now I will go back and add more
>for
>the
> > county site, volunteers and contributors I am dedicated to. Rita -
>Oconto
> > County
> >
> >
> > Craig Moore wrote:
> >
> > > You folks make me sick. What a bunch of crybabies! Yes
Ancestry.com
>isn't
> > > free any more. How else can they afford to put census collections on
>line?
> > > Do you think it doesn't cost anything to transcribe all that
>information?
> > > I'm willing to bet that within ten years even GenWeb will no longer
be
>free;
> > > it costs money to host a site, don't you know.
> > >
> > > I thought the idea was to help people find their families, not worry
>about
> > > whether or not "our" information is free or if someone has to
pay to
>view
> > > it. Get a grip; this is the 21st century.
> > >
> > > Craig
> > >
> > > ==== WIGEN Mailing List ====
> > > Celebrate Wisconsin!
> > > Visit the Washington County WIGenWeb Project Pages
> > >
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwashin/
> >
> >
> > ==== WIGEN Mailing List ====
> > Celebrate Wisconsin!
> > Visit the Taylor County WIGenWeb Project Pages
> >
http://www.rootsweb.com/~witaylor/
> >
>
>
>==== WIGEN Mailing List ====
>Celebrate Wisconsin!
>Visit the Walworth County WIGenWeb Project Pages
>http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwalwor/
>
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==== WIGEN Mailing List ====
Celebrate Wisconsin!
Visit the Washburn County WIGenWeb Project Pages
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwashbu/