----- Original Message ----- From: "Ian Singer" <iansinger@sympatico.ca> To: <boards-admins@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 8:32 AM Subject: Re: [BAd] Questions - Please Help > marilynandmonty wrote: > > >I just found another disturbing thing. Whenever I was about to move a > >message, I would always right-click on the author of a message to see if > >she/he had already posted the same message to the board to which I was > >planning to move the message. If so, then I would see if that message could > >go to another list - a second surname mentioned, locality, etc. Checking the > >author's name no longer brings up all the posts made by that person. Will > >that be a feature that is returning? > > > > > Yesterday I posted a message, which never arrived, asking if Ancestory > Board Admins were really supposed to be going in and deleting messages > as I never knew that and only I started as an Admin a couple of weeks > ago. I seriously doubt that that is the way it is supposed to be as by > allowing that Ancestory then is excerting editorial control, and legally > becomes responsible as a publisher under US law for the content > expressed in all messages. > > Are you now saying if a message is posted you were/are also expected to > move it from one message board to another message board?? Is that not > like saying if an author writes a book, and designates how it will be > displayed (cover/jacket), you can change it at whim? In both cases the > answer should be no as you do not hold copyright. > > Ian Singer > Yes, Ian, moving posts, deleting inappropriate posts, moving misplaced posts, and editing subject lines, the classification box, and the surnames box are all board admin duties. It is not to be done arbitrarily but rather to make sure the boards conform to the AUP and to 'maintain board integrity'. Some of this is explained here: http://ancboards.rootsweb.com/mbexec.xc?htx=admin.help&r=rw Regards, Sharyn

Wow! Has Ancestry destroyed the purpose of the message boards for the genealogy community? To freely share data and to make contacts to obtain more detailed data of common interest. Or this for pay service just to be able to get e-mail addresses for those people who have chosen to be anonymous? Why would any genealogist want to be annonymous and not be contacted by anyone if they have posted a query? Is this an oxymoron or am I missing something? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This was Donna's post to the message board. Message Board Post: I hope this doesn't finally show up elsewhere, I tried to post to the mailing list over 1/2 hour ago & it never showed up. I'm sure I will be asked this from the board users. I checked out my boards, when I came upon one of my board posts, I tried clicking the "poster" information (which was myself), it came up that I had chosen the option to remain anonymous (which I had not chosen) and that the connection service is a premium service from Ancestry, which requires basic membership with a minimal subscription fee. Clicking the "Go to Ancestry Profile" button below will take you to genebug2's profile on Ancestry where you can click the "Contact this person" link to send a private, anonymous message through the connection service. When I tried to see if I could reach the information by doing as suggested, there was NO contact info. Is there a secret way to contact other posters to the message boards? Donna ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Well--I did FINALLY find how to change it so that my email address was visible to other board users. But believe me it was not easy. You can elect to have it made that you address is visible. (They took it upon themselves to make mine unavailable) But I believe that most posters will never be able to follow the trail to change it to the way it should be, visible for others to see. The instructions are not clear at all. After 2 hours I finally figured out how to do, but it was complicated enough I can find it again. Donna

I just heard back from Elaine at Rootsweb and you need to send an email to messageboards.com with a list of boards to be put up for adoption. Bob

Happened to me too. So after I was told it wasn't sent I went in and changed the address to the board only. The message never appeared, never appeared, never appeared. Today, I see both messages were posted and were received by the board mailing list and therefore received twice. Must be another glitch. Laurie -----Original Message----- From: Ian Singer <iansinger@sympatico.ca> To: boards-admins@rootsweb.com Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 03:46:10 -0500 Subject: [BAd] Error > I just got this back, why as I was replying to a message and that's > what > the addresses were that came up with reply. > > > You sent email to this address gc-gateway@rootsweb.com, > boards-admins@rootsweb.com > > *** AUTOMATED MESSAGE FROM A COMPUTER *** > > You have sent a message to a RootsWeb email address that is no longer > valid. This is an automated message from a computer as the email > address > you have reached is no longer in use. For your convenience, we have > included information on some of our features so that your question > might > be answered. > > Rest snipped............ > > Ian Singer > > -- > > > ======================================================================= > == > See my homepage at http://www.iansinger.com > hosted on http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=10623894 > All genealogy is stored in TMG from http://www.whollygenes.com > Charts and searching using TNG from http://www.tngsitebuilding.com > I am near Toronto Canada, can I tell where you are from your reply? > ======================================================================= > == > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BOARDS-ADMINS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

In a message dated 12/8/2006 4:50:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, Davis@dmea.osd.mil writes: Wow! Has Ancestry destroyed the purpose of the message boards for the genealogy community? To freely share data and to make contacts to obtain more detailed data of common interest. Or this for pay service just to be able to get e-mail addresses for those people who have chosen to be anonymous? Why would any genealogist want to be annonymous and not be contacted by anyone if they have posted a query? Is this an oxymoron or am I missing something? You ARE missing the fact that it is still free as always to contact another board poster by replying on the board--and, if that poster wants to communicate with you privately they can do so--just make your settings so that others can see your email address--I have done so. Joan

Sorry it seems all the messages are arriving quite some time after they have been sent. In this particular case I did have it on flat view at the time. Perhaps it was fixed. Been gone all day, just got in and haven't had time to check my boards, too many messages to go through first. Laurie -----Original Message----- From: "marilynandmonty" <marilynandmonty@cox.net> To: <boards-admins@rootsweb.com> Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 19:03:05 -0800 Subject: Re: [BAd] Re Message Board changes > Laurie, > If you review the thread in "flat view" you can see the Classification > and > Surnames fields on all of them. > Marilyn G. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Laurie Lovelace" <lauryle@manitoulin.net> > Subject: [BAd] Re Message Board changes > > > >I need to concur here. I don't like the admin version of the new > boards. > > Two of the things I particularly dislike: > > > > 1. I cannot see which messages I have already visited. Guess this > means I > > will have to keep a calendar showing the dates I have already visited > and > > hope nothing new comes in on that particular day after I've been in. > > > > 2. Clicking on a message brings up all the messages in that thread > but > > only the first one shows the surname field, therefore I have to go > into > > the following ones individually. Once in I can see the surname fields > > have been edited. > > My boards all have surnames in lower case, however on the admin board > > some show up with the first letter of the surnames in upper case. > > Thinking that I somehow missed a message I go into edit and find that > it > > is actually in lower case. Why is that? > > > > Laurie > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BOARDS-ADMINS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I reported this to the help desk but I got such a chuckle from it I thought I would share it -- When clicking on the links for my name it says Location Bouvet Island, Acadia I do have it set at United States - State Ohio in my profile Honest -- I do. I found it humorous. J. Asche -- Happy Holidays Please visit my greetings page http://www.jasche.com/XMas.html

In a message dated 12/8/2006 4:14:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, mlsopp@earthlink.net writes: <<(1) When I go to a Board, the subjects are curtailed. . .so you can't read all the words in the subject. Without clicking on the post, how cannot see the full subject? Or does this depend upon one's browser?>> ----- If you hover your cursor over the subject you can view it in its entirety. <<(2) How do I sort (oldest/newest) in threaded view? I can only find that setting for the flat view. On the Boards I checked, in the threaded view the dates are a hodgepodge. . .and this seems to be exacerbated when the subject of the thread is altered. By that I mean the wording of the subject changed within the thread. . . perhaps to better reflect the way the thread was drifting. . .ok, they probably should have started a new thread, but they apparently didn't, and it's too late now. Or again, could this be a browser thing?>> ---- Right--you can only do that in FLAT view -- but you don't really need to be able to do it in threaded view. The dates are not a hodge podge in threaded view--they are in order of the post and all the attached replies by date--but there is a bug where some are not showing the right date of the last post and you might be seeing that bug. <<(3) The following is difficult to describe. Feel free to query me if what I'm writing is not clear. When I go to a Board, the "newest" post in a thread appears to be visible. Well, not really. I've discovered that if someone has changed the wording of the subject within a thread it totally screws everything up. Thus, there may be a "newer" (more recent, more current) post in the thread but if the subject wording changed from the original, then it's hidden (buried) within the original thread.>> --- Can you show us an example? That might help to explain it. <<Thus, if perhaps you had read through a thread a month or two ago and then you visit the Board again. .. since the date of the "newest" post in the thread hasn't changed, you would assume that no one had posted a follow-up. It's not going to occur to folks to go back and (a) expand the thread again and search for a possible "hidden update" or (b) change to the flat view and click on "newest to oldest." In general, apparently new posts within an old thread will be missed.>> ---- There shouldn't be a hidden date---the thread will pop up to the top of the list if a new post is added to that thread and the date of last post should also be updated (but as noted, there is a bug with this display). <<In one example, if you visit the Board, it appears that the newest post in a thread was made in Oct 2001.>> --- That's the bug I'm talking about -- and they are aware of it and working to fix it. <<(4) Occasionally when I read someone's post to a Board, I might decide to send them an e-mail. It was always easy to click on their name, view their e-mail address, and send them a quick e-mail. With the Board changes, it appears that if the poster does not have a "profile" I can see their e-mail address, but if they have a "profile," then I can't figure a way to see their e-mail address. How do I do that?>> Some posters choose to remain anonymous and can only be contacted by the connection service. But probably the easiest thing to do is just post a reply on the board and they will probably be notified of your reply. Joan

There's a orange dot to show unread lists. Below the messages it says *indicates an unread message but the board it's a orange dot not * On 12/8/06, Judy Florian <cageycat@gmail.com> wrote: > On 12/7/06, Janet Kruger <jurnie1999@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Where were you seeing colors on posts showing they were read or not read? > > They were all the same to me on all my boards when I went through them > > > > That's my point. They used to change colors. NOW they don't. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BOARDS-ADMINS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Happy Holidays Please visit my greetings page http://www.jasche.com/XMas.html

In a message dated 12/8/2006 12:06:38 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, iansinger@sympatico.ca writes: And the trouble with the format of this message is that it doesn't say anywhere who is writing it except for right at the end where it has a name. ----------------- And you only had Valorie's name at the end because she was kind enough to place it there. MOST message board posters don't do that and we have no way of knowing who the heck they are. If people want so much privacy that they are scared to have their email address available, then perhaps they shouldn't be online in the first place. I don't have time or interest enough to go tracking them down in their personal profile. I find that my personal profile being accessible in this way much more intrusive that I will be putting nothing there EXCEPT for my email address just as soon as I can get the crazy "My Account" page to open. Knowing what family names I'm researching is useless. Unless your posting history is available, no one can tell if MY branch of that surname coincides with theirs or not. Sharon Dulcich

Carl, I think the idea is that if you Search, you will find the message. But I have to agree with you - as a researcher I browsed the surname boards of interest (and even some locality boards since I was looking for a number of surnames in an area). Not everyone is familiar with the Search feature, nor is it always the way to go. Marilyn G. ----- Original Message ----- From: <chommel6@comcast.net> Subject: Re: [BAd] Interesting change to FAQ > When a surname has two spellings and two Boards, I will post to both > Boards. I am Board Administrator for one of the Boards (and List > Administrator for both corresponding Lists), and I have not received any > complaints from the other Board Administrator.. > > Carl Hommel > From: Ian Singer <iansinger@sympatico.ca> >> >> >It is not considered good etiquette to post a query or the same >> >information to >> >several boards at once and your duplicate messages may be deleted by the >> >board >> >staff or admin on all but the most appropriate board. > >> Ian Singer

In a message dated 12/8/2006 3:47:21 PM Eastern Standard Time, pco94979@bigpond.net.au writes: The remaining problem is that RootsWeb is still refusing to "Remember Me" - I've taken it up with them, as there's not much my fellow Board Admin's can do about this one. Regards Peter No--other than to advise you to check to be SURE you are accepting cookies. Whether RootsWeb can REMEMBER YOU is largely dependent upon your computer browser settings for cookies. Joan

As had always been intended--I see the newly revised baord FAQs clear up the often debated subject of including variant spellings of a surname in the surname box. I quote: "Once you have typed your message, enter all of the surnames mentioned in your post in the "Surnames" field. Please include only surnames that are mentioned in your post- not all surnames you might be researching. If you wish, you can include surname spelling variations for the surnames mentioned in your message." Also as always intended, this is left up to the poster to decide. Joan

Oh, no! I haven't tried to edit any yet - I'm waiting for them to go back to the old format (HA HA HA HA!!!), but I understand from other messages here that messages in the thread cannot be edited while in flat mode? Did I misunderstand that? I guess I could go try one and see for myself. I'm beginning to think Ancestry doesn't want or need our services any longer. With each change, it seems to be getting more and more difficult to perform our voluntary jobs :-( Beginning with not being user friendly at all, particularly for researchers, searching for our boards in a jumbled up mess and not being able to sort them, not being able to maintain the expanded list (even when I go to a board and then use the Back button, it won't show the expanded list again - I have to manually click on the link to expand the list), not being able to read the message subject because the screen of messages has been condensed to about one-quarter of the screen, not being able to view in date or threaded expanded mode.... well, this has all been said, I'm sure. Actually, I'm compiling a list of problems for feedback - hopefully, they will be read. Oh, and everything is sooooooo slow (moving from screen to screen) compared to before the change. Perhaps that is because we are all trying to use it at once? In addition, we write a message for this list and it takes from 8-12 hours to appear. Marilyn G. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Judy Florian" <cageycat@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [BAd] Re Message Board changes > On 12/7/06, marilynandmonty <marilynandmonty@cox.net> wrote: >> >> Laurie, >> If you review the thread in "flat view" you can see the Classification >> and >> Surnames fields on all of them. >> Marilyn G. > > > Not on MY boards! It shows only some of the info on some of the posts. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BOARDS-ADMINS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.15/580 - Release Date: 12/8/2006 > >

Ian, I'm with you on this one. And this is particularly difficult when the poster doesn't include their name on the post anywhere -- which I've already seen numerous times. In order to make sense of a "conversation" which is what a message board thread is, we need to have a sense of who the "speakers" (i.e. posters) are. This new format removes all obvious clues as to who the "speakers" are, which from a discourse perspective, severely hampers the ability to follow a conversation. This severely limits the usefulness of a message board post being gatewayed to the paired mailing list. I'll give it some time, but I may decide that the only way to handle this is to turn off all the gateways for all lists and boards I manage. But that would make it more difficult to manage the boards because I currently rely primarily on gatewayed messages to clue me in to problematic posts on the boards I manage. I just wonder what is going to happen to all of those replies that get sent to gc-gateway@rootsweb.com due to clueless subscribers who don't realize they're trying to reply to a board message. I suppose it could be somewhat of a good thing if they all bounce back to the posters, which might FINALLY begin to teach some folks that the only proper way to reply to a message board post is to go to the message board directly..... Or if those replies that get sent to gc-gateway could end up going to the board.....who knows. -- Mary Original Message: ----------------- From: Ian Singer iansinger@sympatico.ca Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 03:38:47 -0500 To: gc-gateway@rootsweb.com, boards-admins@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BAd] Message Board Update Announcement gc-gateway@rootsweb.com wrote: > >Valorie > > > > And the trouble with the format of this message is that it doesn't say anywhere who is writing it except for right at the end where it has a name. Also I hit reply and it's sending it to gc-gateway@rootsweb.com AND boards-admin@rootsweb.com and that can't be right unless one is going to be filtered out. Ian Singer -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .

In a message dated 12/8/2006 3:14:46 PM Eastern Standard Time, iansinger@sympatico.ca writes: I just got this back, why as I was replying to a message and that's what the addresses were that came up with reply. When a post is made to a list via the gateway the ONLY proper way to respond is by clicking the link and replying ON THE BOARD. Replying to the gateway address won't work. Joan

In a message dated 12/8/2006 3:06:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, iansinger@sympatico.ca writes: And the trouble with the format of this message is that it doesn't say anywhere who is writing it except for right at the end where it has a name. Also I hit reply and it's sending it to gc-gateway@rootsweb.com AND boards-admin@rootsweb.com and that can't be right unless one is going to be filtered out. Ian Singer --- It isn't right because the GC-GATEWAY address will bounce--it isn't a valid address for receiving mail. I've posted a comment about this on the newsroom blog. The gateway is also overriding the REPLY TO LIST setting many admins have in place on their lists. Joan

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.rw.admin.badmin/5011/mb.ashx Message Board Post: My comments about the changes... Obviously you allowed someone to make decisions about the message boards, who actually doesn't use the boards. You might have been better served to do some beta testing with some administrators, and users of these boards, in order to see their response before you simply put them into use. You have made these message boards much more USER UNFRIENDLY. First--I can't see the entire wording of the threads which is the most useful way to scan a particular forum. Remedy: move the PAGE TOOLS box, make wide horizontally either above the Search box, or below it. This gives you room to widen the actual forum, so you can see more of the thread name, etc.. Second--I can't expand the threads. Some of us read and answer hundreds of these queries a month. Just seeing how many replies have been made to a post doesn't tell me whether I've already responded. Remedy: Add an option to expand the threads (i.e., view it similar to how the message boards used to look). Third--Only 10 threads show up at a time. [Hmm, the magic number 10... where did you come up with that? Also see below]. Remedy: Add an option to view more than 10 at a time, and that you can set more than 10 (at least 25) as a default. Fourth--"the Edit Board Info" option is still broken. Remedy: fix it. Fifth--The "My Favorites" section is also not user friendly. I now have 5 pages (49 items) of message boards, NOT in alphabetic order, or even by surname/location/etc. I have to browse through 5 pages to find the one I want. Again, not helpful to anyone who has more than 10 message boards as favorites. Remedy: create a different format, that is more user friendly. Need suggestions on how to do this? Send me an email. Fifth--Why should you bother to make the changes I've outlined? Answer: Your message boards draw in many new people to Rootsweb/Ancestry.com (and therefore to its other products). The current format is not inviting to new or current users. Most aren't going to write to you to tell you they don't like it, they simply will stop using the message boards. I've been using message boards AND researching genealogy for over 25 years and I've seen many versions of message boards. This particular one is particularly unfriendly for research. I have ALL of the Ancestry.com subscriptions, and I use the tools almost every day. To be honest, as a result of these changes, I'm 100% less likely to browse these message boards to help others, and to use them as a tool in my research. Realize I have a background in internet technology teaching (online and in person), so I am not adverse to change. Oh, and I have marketing degree, so I know how this post will end up in the message board circular file never to see the light of day. I fully expect that little will be done to implement what I've suggested, because, well, you've probably invested a bundle in something that doesn't work well... so you'll just continue with it. Janice

-------------- Original message ---------------------- From: Ian Singer <iansinger@sympatico.ca> > > >It is not considered good etiquette to post a query or the same information to > >several boards at once and your duplicate messages may be deleted by the board > >staff or admin on all but the most appropriate board. > Ian Singer When a surname has two spellings and two Boards, I will post to both Boards. I am Board Administrator for one of the Boards (and List Administrator for both corresponding Lists), and I have not received any complaints from the other Board Administrator.. Carl Hommel

I reported this to the help desk yesterday and received a reply back that they are aware of it and it's being looked into. On 12/7/06, Sharyn Hay <meow8@verizon.net> wrote: > In the Flat View I tried to remove several duplicate posts within a thread. > When I click on Delete up comes the FIRST post in the thread. If I didn't > notice this I would have removed the entire thread! It is not possible to > click on the subject line and pull up posts within a thread in Flat View. > > Changing back to Thread View makes it possible to remove a post BUT > instead of going back to the thread it was in, once it is deleted you are > taken back to the main board. Not a problem if it is the most recent thread > but if it is an old thread and you want to do more with it (this person posted > the same message 3 times thinking it hadn't gone through) you have to find > the thread again. > > Regards, > Sharyn >