I want to weigh in on this discussion because I believe there has been misconceptions about the role of the many tools provided by Rootsweb and Rootsweb itself versus the USGenWeb. I pick and choose the tools available to me and never view them as a threat to my sites. I didn't use the GenConnect Boards initially because I was busy and it seemed too much trouble for the relatively few queries I was receiving. Later, after learning that I would essentially lose control of the queries, I decided against using the Boards. I concur that I don't own the queries but I do control them and decided I wanted to keep it that way - my decision. Teri's comments on the county cluster boards mirror my thoughts. They simply gather everything together and present it to researchers to pick and choose from. They in no way challenge USGenWeb sites. If anything they give us more exposure. The Archives Search Engine is a fantastically good tool and I use it for the NDGenWeb Archives and my web pages. It can search every file in ND in seconds and return surnames, town and village names and even stray words if they are related. Again, I like the tool and use it - my decision. The Archives are set up as a tool for the CCs use. They provide a repository which can be linked directly or thru indexes prepared to display information in artful and attractive formats. I look at them this way. County coordinators come and go, but the Archives remain. However, no one is forced to put their data in the Archives, but they are certainly encouraged to do so. I initially hesitated to put my data there until I felt comfortable with the Archives - my decision. Rootsweb has provided server space for the Archives which essentially is unlimited and free. We are now putting high quality census scans in the Archives. These scans gobble server space to the extent of 300kb-400kb per census page. Someway, somehow Rootsweb has stayed ahead of us in this space race, so to speak. Some of the downtime that we sometimes grouse about is caused by the upgrades required to stay ahead of the input that we are piling into the Archives to the extent now of nearly 3 gigabytes of data. Thru the hard work of Joy Fisher, now here on the Board, SD and ND now have Bureau of Land Management (BLM) records online for the two states. This has generated enough excitement to cause the State Genealogical Society of ND to put the Archive links in their last newsletter. Am I a Rootsweb supporter? Yes, to the extent of being a sponsor. Do I have to be? No - my decision. There is just no better deal around. Like it or leave it - your decision. Rootsweb controls only the servers, not USGenWeb. If we can find a server to mirror our data FREE we should consider it. The point is we as volunteers don't have to do anything we don't want to do. We can use any server we wish to use for our web pages. We can use or not use any tool available to us. We can incorporate our state organizations, fire the SC of a state if 2/3s of the CCs desire it, elect whomever we wish to represent us, ignore politics and let a minority elect our representatives or just plow into the genealogy that most of us love and ignore the rest. We can quit the USGenWeb if we wish, there will always be someone waiting to pick up the slack. We can even believe that all I have pointed out above is not so. But it is so. Volunteerism is the expression of a kind heart. Lets look for the best in what we do and have and not just for the worst. You now have a Board that will listen, answer questions and respect your opinions, but not always agree with you. Talk to us and we will listen. But if we don't, be sure and vote next time. Joe -- email:jzsed@slic.com http://www.rootsweb.com/~jzed/home.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~ndpembin/pembina.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~ndramsey/ramsey.htm