This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------AF4FE709CB905EA92B364A17 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit FYI: Rootsweb is once again in a bit of a financial crunch so I am forwarding the notes from Brian Leverich to the lists I own since it can help belie any rumors that are floating around or misinterpretation of the true situation. These were originally posted on the TEAM-MEMBERSHIP list. --------------AF4FE709CB905EA92B364A17 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Received: from bl-30.rootsweb.com (bl-30.rootsweb.com [207.113.245.30]) by franklin.lisco.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id WAA25403 for <njennings@lisco.net>; Sun, 20 Dec 1998 22:59:51 -0600 (CST) Received: (from slist@localhost) by bl-30.rootsweb.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) id UAA19785; Sun, 20 Dec 1998 20:56:46 -0800 (PST) Resent-Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1998 20:56:46 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199812210458.UAA13346@bl-5.rootsweb.com> Old-To: plaidkin <plaidkin@earthlink.net> Old-cc: TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L@rootsweb.com, "Dr. Brian Leverich" <leverich@rootsweb.com> Reply-to: "Dr. Brian Leverich" <leverich@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: Fundage In-reply-to: Your message of Sun, 20 Dec 1998 22:25:21 CST. <199812210425.UAA29748@hawk.prod.itd.earthlink.net> Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1998 20:58:53 -0800 From: Brian Leverich <leverich@rootsweb.com> Resent-Message-ID: <"aoYx_C.A.60E.NUdf2"@bl-30.rootsweb.com> To: TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L@rootsweb.com Resent-From: TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L@rootsweb.com X-Mailing-List: <TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/675 X-Loop: TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L@rootsweb.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: TEAM-ROOTSWEB-L-request@rootsweb.com -- Your message was: (from "plaidkin") > Well, I put my money where my mouth was last week and sent in info > to upgrade my sponsorship amount... Thanks! > I sent a memo out to my list to the effect that when folks get a > chance after they've settled down their Holiday finances, they think > back to all they have benefited from at Rootsweb, and consider > subscribing to show support in light of Palladium's recent > withdrawal of support. Thanks even more, though do be careful with information concerning Palladium's sponsorship. They did miss their 1 December sponsorship payment, but they and their new owners do say they'd like to continue the relationship. RootsWeb isn't sure right now how it will all turn out. > I had some thoughts...since I spent this last year in college > taking public relations courses, aka how to schmooze, spin, and > solicit funds 101 and 102, I wondered if anyone out there who's a > listowner or subscriber is also PRelations person, or does > marketing/advertising...they might be a good source to get ideas > about how to promote Rootsweb and collect fundage. RootsWeb could *really* use a publicist. While we don't want to get real hyped about membership (we'd rather just tell people what we're doing and ask for their support), we would love to have someone who could identify genealogical writers, get press releases out to them, write articles themselves for the genealogical rags, and help us get an identity established. One of the bizarre things about operating RootsWeb is that while everyone knows who we host -- CyndisList, the USGenWeb Archives, the biggest chunk of USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb, ... -- surprizingly few people actually know that RootsWeb is the host providing the server space. Even fewer people realize we are about the only experiment in "National Public Radio" user-supported information on the Internet. It's kind of crazy, but I don't know how to tell people the basic fact: you can spend $49 and get one CD-ROM, or you can spend $24 and get the equivalent of dozens of CD-ROMs. And, when you support RootsWeb, you're voting in favor of low-cost community funded resources on the Internet. It's almost a religious thing: do you want to spend $59 at Ancestry and support a company that's locking data up from the public (and might charge more when they have more data), or do you want to spend $24 at RootsWeb and support permanently open data for everyone? *sigh* I just don't know how to get that message out. If anyone wants to volunteer, their efforts would be incredibly appreciated. > And a side question: What exactly is the number of folks who use > Rootsweb and post to the mailing lists? There are approximately 180,000 list subscribers, 85,000 RSL submitters, and a handful of other people that we know about from other parts of RootsWeb. Removing all duplicates, there are about 240,000 users that we know about. Including anonymous Web surfers, we guess that our total user base is about a million people. > Susan Gibson > List-Mngr for McGuigan-L Cheers, B. ------------------ -- Dr. Brian Leverich Co-moderator, soc.genealogy.methods/GENMTD-L RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative http://www.rootsweb.com/ P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 leverich@rootsweb.com --------------AF4FE709CB905EA92B364A17--