--part1_7f.519a6a2.26680563_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Forwarding for the record. Virginia (Ginger) Cisewski NW-Plains CC Rep --part1_7f.519a6a2.26680563_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: <cjsnyder@midusa.net> Received: from rly-za03.mx.aol.com (rly-za03.mail.aol.com [172.31.36.99]) by air-za01.mail.aol.com (v74.10) with ESMTP; Thu, 01 Jun 2000 14:04:22 -0400 Received: from mail.midusa.net (radius1.midusa.net [216.96.0.2]) by rly-za03.mx.aol.com (v74.10) with ESMTP; Thu, 01 Jun 2000 14:04:02 -0400 Received: from midusa.net (216096077003.midusa.net [216.96.77.3]) by mail.midusa.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id NAA29958606; Thu, 1 Jun 2000 13:04:31 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <3936A57C.B6D1064@midusa.net> Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 13:03:41 -0500 From: Connie Snyder <cjsnyder@midusa.net> Organization: NEGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~negenweb/ X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: USGENWEB-ALL-L@rootsweb.com, tstowell@chattanooga.net, jzsed@slic.com, pamreid@home.com, hollyft@bright.net, gingerh@shawneelink.com, richpump@wf.net, TVick65536@aol.com, jfisher@ucla.edu, FEATHER2s@aol.com, MaggieOhio@columbus.rr.com, shari@klondyke.net, jpowelljr@gru.net, pettit@Adobe.COM, betsym@1starnet.com, gbmayfield@tyler.net, RootsLady@email.msn.com Subject: Re: Proposed States' Rights Amendment (2nd try) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I haven't seen this come through yet, and since my computer has crashed several times today, I'm resending. --------------- The members of the NEGenWeb Project have voted to co-sponsor this amendment proposal. Connie Snyder State Coordinator, NEGenWeb Project ________________________________________________ **************************** BRIEF: All authority is vested at state (XXGenWeb) and local levels, including Special Projects; all grievances handled at XXGenWeb and local level only; prohibits national sanctions; does away with all national positions other than a national webmaster and national special project webmasters, each elected by the membership, and each with no authority other than website maintenance; all national list managers (State-Coord, USGW-CC-L, etc.) elected by subscribers; adds perpetual prohibition against commercial activity. **************************** PROPOSED AMENDMENT PREAMBLE [NEW] The USGenWeb Project (hereinafter "The Project") is an unincorporated not-for-profit association whose foundation is a network of freely-accessible, independent, not-for-profit genealogical and historical websites maintained by Local Coordinators and linked to appropriate not-for-profit State Project (XXGenWeb) websites and Special Projects, including the USGenWeb Archives Project (aka USGenWeb Digital Library aka USGenWeb Project Archives), USGenWeb Census Project and USGenWeb Tombstone Project, linked to a not-for-profit national website whose sole purpose is to serve as the hub of said network, including maintenance of national web pages, domain registrations and records of the association. Except where specifically prohibited by these Bylaws, by federal or state statutes, including the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the United States of America, or their own Articles (in the case of nonprofit public benefit corporations), all Local Projects, State Projects (XXGenWeb) and Special Projects such as the USGenWeb Archives Project (aka USGenWeb Digital Library and USGenWeb Project Archives); USGenWeb Census Project and USGenWeb Tombstone Project, shall be governed by the applicable rules of these bylaws, their respective XXGenWeb Projects, and maintained and administered at State or Local levels as deemed appropriate by each XXGenWeb Project. Except where specifically granted by these Bylaws or federal or state statutes, no national-level projects or positions shall have power or authority over state or local projects. Except where specifically permitted by these Bylaws, no local, state, special or national website, shall include any commercial use or activity. Where conflicts may exist between this Preamble and any Articles herein, this Preamble shall prevail. ARTICLE I. NAME [NO CHANGE] ARTICLE II. PURPOSE [NO CHANGE] ARTICLE III. STATUS AS AN ORGANIZATION [CHANGED] [OLD] The USGenWeb Project, as a group of volunteers participating in a not-for-profit organization, is considered to be an "Unincorporated Non-Profit Association." [NEW] The USGenWeb Project, as a group of volunteers participating in a not-for-profit organization, shall be an "Unincorporated Non-Profit Association," unto perpetuity. ARTICLE IV. MEMBERSHIP [CHANGED] Section 1. [OLD] The only requirement for membership in The USGenWeb Project is a desire to assist in gathering and disseminating genealogical and historical information for free online access by researchers. Section 1. [NEW] The only requirement for membership in The USGenWeb Project is to be a local coordinator or co-coordinator in an XXGenWeb Project. Local coordinators shall be defined as Local Project webmasters. Local co-coordinators shall be defined as local co-webmasters, and may include transcribers and other positions at the will of the XXGenWeb electorate. All memberships shall be voting memberships. Section 2. [NO CHANGE] ARTICLE V. COMPOSITION OF ADVISORY BOARD [DELETED] ARTICLE V. NATIONAL WEBMASTERS [NEW] Section 1. The sole national-level positions shall be one webmaster each for The Project and each Special Project. Section 2. The sole qualifications for national webmasters shall be eligibility to vote in one or more XXGenWeb Projects and a knowledge of HTML code and FTP procedures. Section 3. The sole duties of national webmasters shall be to maintain applicable national web pages and domains, if any. No national webmaster shall have the right to add, remove or change links or web pages except at the express direction of a simple majority of members voting. Section 4. National webmasters shall be elected in open elections on XXGenWeb Mailing Lists by a cumulative simple majority of voting local coordinators. Section 5. Terms of office for national webmasters shall be at the will of the electorate. ARTICLE VI: DUTIES/QUALIFICATIONS OF ADVISORY BOARD [DELETED] ARTICLE VI: NATIONAL MAILING LISTS [NEW] Section 1. All national mailing lists shall be owned by The Project and its members, and be publicly-archived. Section 2. A national mailing list named State-Coord-L shall be maintained for XXGenWeb State Coordinators. Subscription to said list shall be limited to XXGenWeb State and Assistant State Coordinators and national webmasters. Said list shall be located on the server of choice of a simple majority of State Coordinators voting openly on said list, except that the chosen server must permit subscription and posting by all eligible subscribers. Said list shall be managed by a List Manager elected by a simple majority of State Coordinators voting openly on said list. The term of office of the List Manager shall be at the will of the electorate. Section 3. A national mailing list named USGW-CC-L shall be maintained for all members. Subscription to said list shall be limited to Local Coordinators and national webmasters. Said list shall be located on the server of choice of a simple majority of members voting openly on said list, except that the chosen server must permit subscription and posting by all eligible subscribers. Said list shall be managed by a List Manager elected by a simple majority of members voting openly on said list. The term of office of the List Manager shall be at the will of the electorate. Section 4. National mailing lists may be maintained by Special Projects for staff of said projects. Subscription to said lists shall be limited to staff and webmasters of each respective project. Said lists shall be located on the server of choice of a simple majority of eligible subscribers voting openly on said list, except that the chosen server must permit subscription and posting, where applicable, by all eligible subscribers. Each of said lists shall be managed by a List Manager elected by a simple majority of eligible subscribers voting openly on said list. The terms of office of the List Managers shall be at the will of the electorate. ARTICLE VII. ELECTION PROCEDURES [CHANGED] Sections 1-6 [DELETED] Section 1. [NEW] All national-level elections shall be conducted openly on applicable XXGenWeb, Special Project and State-Coord mailing lists. Section 2. [NEW] All national-level election results other than bylaws amendments shall be based on a simple majority of all voting members. Section 3. [NEW] All national-level election results shall be reported to all national-level mailing lists within 48 hours of the closing of the polls. Section 4. [NEW] The membership can call for an election at any time based on a simple majority vote of the members voting in each of five or more states. Said election must be conducted within thirty (30) days. ARTICLE VIII. ADVISORY BOARD PROCEDURES [DELETED] ARTICLE VIII. DOMAINS [NEW] The Project's national webmaster shall be responsibile for administering and maintaining the domains, usgenweb.com, usgenweb.net and usgenweb.org, over which The USGenWeb Project membership have control and for which the members are the official lessees. Said domains shall be registered under the name, USGenWeb Project, with the Administrative Contact information to be that of The Project's national webmaster and the Billing Contact the State-Coord List Manager. Should said domain registrations not be brought into conformance within 90 days following passage of this Article, new, appropriately-named domains shall be appropriately registered by the national webmaster and State-Coord-L List Manager and utilized until such time as registration of all of the above-named domains is in conformance, during which time period, the above-named domains shall serve solely as redirects to the new domains. ARTICLE IX. GUIDELINES/STANDARDS FOR WEBSITES/MEMBERS [CHANGED] Sections 1-2. [NO CHANGE] Section 3. [NEW] No sanctions shall be levied against any coordinator or project at other than at the appropriate XXGenWeb-level or lower. ARTICLE X. COPYRIGHT [CHANGED] Section 1. [NO CHANGE] Section 2. [NO CHANGE] Section 3. [OLD] In The USGenWeb Project, copyright to data contributed to any special projects resides with the contributor, who agrees that The USGenWeb Project, as a not-for-profit group, has permanent use of the data. The permanent use agreement is conditional upon the non-profit nature of The USGenWeb Project and will become null and void if The USGenWeb Project should ever cease to be non-profit. Section 3. [NEW] In The USGenWeb Project, copyright to data contributed to any special projects resides with the contributor, who agrees that The USGenWeb Project, as a not-for-profit group, has permanent use of the data. Section 4. [NO CHANGE] ARTICLE XI. LOCAL PROJECTS [NO CHANGE] ARTICLE XII. STATE PROJECTS [CHANGED] Sections 1-8. [NO CHANGE] Section 9. [OLD] State Coordinators and Assistant State Coordinators are subject to possible removal by a 2/3 vote of the Advisory Board and a 2/3 vote of the Local Coordinators within the state. A quorum of 75% of the Local Coordinators shall participate in order for the vote to be binding. Section 9. [NEW] State Coordinators and Assistant State Coordinators are subject to possible removal by a simple majority vote of the XXGenWeb Project's membership voting. A quorum of 75% of the Local Coordinators shall participate in order for the vote to be binding. Section 10. [NO CHANGE] ARTICLE XIII. SPECIAL PROJECTS [CHANGED] Section 1. [OLD] Special projects shall be established by The USGenWeb Project to promote the gathering of information in specialized areas. A coordinator shall be appointed by the Advisory Board to organize the project and enlist volunteers. In addition, each special project shall have an Assistant Project Coordinator or other support team in place that can take charge in case the Project Coordinator becomes unavailable for a period of 30 days, unless there are extenuating circumstances. Special projects shall be repositories for public domain or research documents and shall provide an easily accessible website for online research by the genealogical community. A collection of links does not constitute a special project, although links to appropriate websites maintained by other individuals or organizations are encouraged. Section 1. [NEW] Special projects to promote the gathering of information in specialized areas shall be established by a simple majority of the members voting. A national-level webmaster shall be elected by the initial members of the Special Project to organize the project and enlist volunteers. Special Projects shall be for the collection or transcription of public domain or research documents and shall provide easily accessible websites for online research by the genealogical community. Special Projects shall be governed at state level by the appropriate individual XXGenWeb Projects. Section 2. [NO CHANGE] Section 3-6. [DELETED] ARTICLE XIV. GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES AND APPEALS PROCESS Sections 1-2. [DELETED] [NEW] All grievances and appeals shall be processed at XXGenWeb levels. ARTICLE XV. PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY [DELETED] ARTICLE XVI. AMENDMENT TO BYLAWS Section 1. [OLD] These Bylaws may be amended by the membership of The USGenWeb Project through a two-thirds (2/3) majority of those members participating during the voting period. Section 1. [NEW] These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds (2/3) cumulative vote of the membership voting openly on the respective applicable XXGenWeb mailing lists. Section 2. [OLD] Any state project may propose an amendment by sending their proposal to one or more of the Advisory board members representing their region and including the exact wording of the proposed amendment. Upon receipt of the proposed amendment, the Advisory Board representative(s) shall request the Webmaster to post the proposed change on the national website and the National Coordinator to post to the State-Coord-L List, and any other appropriate lists, for dissemination to the members. Section 2. [NEW] Any XXGenWeb Project may propose an amendment by a simple majority vote of those voting, followed by the submission of said proposed amendment to the State-Coord-L and USGW-CC-L Lists, including the exact wording of the proposed amendment. Upon receipt of the proposed amendment, the Webmaster shall post the proposed change on the national website and State Coordinators shall post to the XXGenWeb Mailing Lists. Section 3. [OLD] The proposed amendment, with the sponsor's name and date of posting, shall remain posted for a period of at least thirty (30) days prior to the annual voting period of July 1-July 31. Any proposed amendment shall require a minimum of five (5) states as co-sponsors to command that it be placed on the ballot. State projects wishing to co-sponsor the amendment shall notify the Advisory Board and make an announcement on the USGenWeb-All Mailing List. Section 3. [NEW] The proposed amendment, with the sponsor's name and date of posting, shall remain posted for a period of at least thirty (30) days. Should four (4) additional XXGenWeb Projects, by a simple majority of their respective members voting, also approve the proposed amendment during said time period, all remaining XXGenWeb Projects, within thirty (30) additional days thereafter, shall be required to conduct elections. Section 4. [DELETED] Section 5. [DELETED] Section 6. [DELETED] --part1_7f.519a6a2.26680563_boundary--