In reviewing the current status of the county websites within IDGENWEB, I noticed a few things that give me some concern. Of our 44 county websites, 9 are now without coordinators. Another 16 appear not to have been revised at all in at least a year - sometimes many years. That means more than half of our websites are not currently being actively maintained. I also found that 27 of our county sites do not have a local search engine to help our visitors find those hidden gems that they are seeking. Discussions with some of you have revealed that some believe if there are valuable resources online at a county site, that should be adequate to be a valued part of IDGENWEB. Let me describe briefly some of the reasons why I don't believe that is true, either for the State Coordinator or for the researchers that visit us looking for help in their genealogical endeavors. While doing so, let me assure you that I found far more to like than to raise concerns. I greatly appreciate the effort, energy and creativity that you bring to your website. I'm glad to be associated with all of you in IDGENWEB! Broken Links: In the course of time, links that once worked become broken. It can be frustrating to find a link that ostensible points to exactly what I was looking for, yet returns the dreaded 404 error. It takes some effort to stay on top of this sort of change, which is inflicted upon every website. Incomplete Information: For most counties, what has been posted at our websites is a drop in the bucket compared to what could be there. I realize we all have other important matters in our lives, but taking on the responsibility to be a county coordinator assumes that we have some degree of commitment to making more information available tomorrow than is available today. We should all have a project or two underway to increase what we are providing, limited of course to the time and interest we have. Stale Information: Sets of data that were once up-to-date and complete become stale over time. It's not always true, but in many cases there are additions available that will make the data more complete and more valuable with just a little effort to make that additional information available. Births, deaths, marriages, obituaries, etc. continue to happen. And as time goes by, new records that may have been restricted by law become available. New Features: A few years ago it would have been a very unusual coordinator who would have something available like a local search engine. New technology makes that a snap now. That's just one example of the massive numbers of new potential features that are coming available to webmasters like our county coordinators. Granted, some are more technically adept than otheres, but what required a "guru" five years ago is possible for the novice today. Summary: The bottom line is that your new State Coordinator is not and will not be satisfied with websites that are not growing and improving. If you are interested in some active participation, you are in the right project. If you are NOT interested in growing and improving your site, perhaps you should let someone else take a shot at doing so. I will do my best to offer and provide any help you need in order to fit into this new, somewhat different pattern, for IDGENWEB. Examples of Future Support you can Expect: - I will be running a broken link check on each county website at least once a year and make those reports available to you. I will be glad to teach any of you how to do this yourselves, if you desire to. - I will be providing some suggestions and helps for anyone who would like to add a search engine for their county pages. - I will be providing some tracking reports to help you know how many pages you have, and what the age of those pages is. - I will be offering periodic interactive help sessions for anyone who would like to participate. Be assured that I do appreciate what you have done, as do the researchers. I well recognize that some have more time than others, and some are more technically adept than others. I know that some of you live near your counties, or near repositories that have information about your counties, while some of you are far distant from them. I also know that some counties have very limited resources in the way of records that could be posted, compared to others that have vast amounts. There is room for a wide diversity in personalities, capabilities and time availability in our project. But there is not room for anyone who just wishes to "have" the assignment but has no time or interest to make any additions or improvements to their site. Mike St. Clair State Coordinator - IDGENWEB

Mike, I would just like to say how refreshing it is to have someone on board with your enthusiasm! With your guidance and assistance, there is no reason why we can't make the IDGENWEB the best out there! I completely agree with the fact that we need coordinators that are willing to "do the time", so to speak. My personal experience with other GENWEB sites, is that there is nothing more frustrating than going to a site that has nothing on it or just leads you to a bunch of other websites that make you pay or have nothing on them either! I assume most of us are involved in this because of our love for Genealogy. Keeping this in mind, we should all know how exciting it is to find Great Grandpa's name in an old record. This should give us all motivation to at least try to add some sort of records on a regular basis. I, myself, have a "pay it forward" attitude. I have had so many others help me out, that I want to make as much information available as I can to help others. Maybe I am the exception. . . I realize that not everyone has the access to records, or the time and ambition to transcribe them, but there needs to at least be some sort of effort on our part. Again, stressing the fact that our purpose is to help other researchers. I also think that everyone should have a search engine on their site. They are easy to add and are a wonderful tool to help researchers. If you don't have one, there are plenty of us that do and would be happy to help. Thanks again Mike for offering all of your assistance and reminding us of what we need to do on our end to be successful. I know I am guilty of not checking my broken links report. I think we sometimes just put stuff out there and then forget about it. I am very proud to be a part of the IDGENWEB! Penny Idaho County > From: mike@saintclair.org > To: idgen@rootsweb.com > Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:57:11 -0600 > Subject: [IDGEN] The Case for Paying Attention to your Websites > > In reviewing the current status of the county websites within IDGENWEB, I noticed a few things that give me some concern. > > Of our 44 county websites, 9 are now without coordinators. Another 16 appear not to have been revised at all in at least a year - sometimes many years. That means more than half of our websites are not currently being actively maintained. I also found that 27 of our county sites do not have a local search engine to help our visitors find those hidden gems that they are seeking. > > Discussions with some of you have revealed that some believe if there are valuable resources online at a county site, that should be adequate to be a valued part of IDGENWEB. Let me describe briefly some of the reasons why I don't believe that is true, either for the State Coordinator or for the researchers that visit us looking for help in their genealogical endeavors. While doing so, let me assure you that I found far more to like than to raise concerns. I greatly appreciate the effort, energy and creativity that you bring to your website. I'm glad to be associated with all of you in IDGENWEB! > > Broken Links: > > In the course of time, links that once worked become broken. It can be frustrating to find a link that ostensible points to exactly what I was looking for, yet returns the dreaded 404 error. It takes some effort to stay on top of this sort of change, which is inflicted upon every website. > > Incomplete Information: > > For most counties, what has been posted at our websites is a drop in the bucket compared to what could be there. I realize we all have other important matters in our lives, but taking on the responsibility to be a county coordinator assumes that we have some degree of commitment to making more information available tomorrow than is available today. We should all have a project or two underway to increase what we are providing, limited of course to the time and interest we have. > > Stale Information: > > Sets of data that were once up-to-date and complete become stale over time. It's not always true, but in many cases there are additions available that will make the data more complete and more valuable with just a little effort to make that additional information available. Births, deaths, marriages, obituaries, etc. continue to happen. And as time goes by, new records that may have been restricted by law become available. > > New Features: > > A few years ago it would have been a very unusual coordinator who would have something available like a local search engine. New technology makes that a snap now. That's just one example of the massive numbers of new potential features that are coming available to webmasters like our county coordinators. Granted, some are more technically adept than otheres, but what required a "guru" five years ago is possible for the novice today. > > Summary: > > The bottom line is that your new State Coordinator is not and will not be satisfied with websites that are not growing and improving. If you are interested in some active participation, you are in the right project. If you are NOT interested in growing and improving your site, perhaps you should let someone else take a shot at doing so. I will do my best to offer and provide any help you need in order to fit into this new, somewhat different pattern, for IDGENWEB. > > Examples of Future Support you can Expect: > > - I will be running a broken link check on each county website at least once a year and make those reports available to you. I will be glad to teach any of you how to do this yourselves, if you desire to. > > - I will be providing some suggestions and helps for anyone who would like to add a search engine for their county pages. > > - I will be providing some tracking reports to help you know how many pages you have, and what the age of those pages is. > > - I will be offering periodic interactive help sessions for anyone who would like to participate. > > Be assured that I do appreciate what you have done, as do the researchers. I well recognize that some have more time than others, and some are more technically adept than others. I know that some of you live near your counties, or near repositories that have information about your counties, while some of you are far distant from them. I also know that some counties have very limited resources in the way of records that could be posted, compared to others that have vast amounts. There is room for a wide diversity in personalities, capabilities and time availability in our project. But there is not room for anyone who just wishes to "have" the assignment but has no time or interest to make any additions or improvements to their site. > > Mike St. Clair > State Coordinator - IDGENWEB > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IDGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Mike -- I consider myself "interim coordinator" for both Boise & Valley counties. If someone comes forward who wants either of those counties,  knows the counties & is willing to work them, I will happily step aside. Both were in dire need of work when I adopted them, & while I know both counties having lived & worked in them, I don't have the time to spend to keep three counties in A-No.-1-Updated status. Sharon ________________________________ From: Mike St. Clair/ST <mike@saintclair.org> To: idgen@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 11:57:11 AM Subject: [IDGEN] The Case for Paying Attention to your Websites In reviewing the current status of the county websites within IDGENWEB, I noticed a few things that give me some concern. Of our 44 county websites, 9 are now without coordinators.  Another 16 appear not to have been revised at all in at least a year - sometimes many years.  That means more than half of our websites are not currently being actively maintained.  I also found that 27 of our county sites do not have a local search engine to help our visitors find those hidden gems that they are seeking. Discussions with some of you have revealed that some believe if there are valuable resources online at a county site, that should be adequate to be a valued part of IDGENWEB.  Let me describe briefly some of the reasons why I don't believe that is true, either for the State Coordinator or for the researchers that visit us looking for help in their genealogical endeavors.  While doing so, let me assure you that I found far more to like than to raise concerns.  I greatly appreciate the effort, energy and creativity that you bring to your website.  I'm glad to be associated with all of you in IDGENWEB! Broken Links: In the course of time, links that once worked become broken.  It can be frustrating to find a link that ostensible points to exactly what I was looking for, yet returns the dreaded 404 error.  It takes some effort to stay on top of this sort of change, which is inflicted upon every website. Incomplete Information: For most counties, what has been posted at our websites is a drop in the bucket compared to what could be there.  I realize we all have other important matters in our lives, but taking on the responsibility to be a county coordinator assumes that we have some degree of commitment to making more information available tomorrow than is available today.  We should all have a project or two underway to increase what we are providing, limited of course to the time and interest we have. Stale Information: Sets of data that were once up-to-date and complete become stale over time.  It's not always true, but in many cases there are additions available that will make the data more complete and more valuable with just a little effort to make that additional information available.  Births, deaths, marriages, obituaries, etc. continue to happen.  And as time goes by, new records that may have been restricted by law become available. New Features: A few years ago it would have been a very unusual coordinator who would have something available like a local search engine.  New technology makes that a snap now.  That's just one example of the massive numbers of new potential features that are coming available to webmasters like our county coordinators.  Granted, some are more technically adept than otheres, but what required a "guru" five years ago is possible for the novice today. Summary: The bottom line is that your new State Coordinator is not and will not be satisfied with websites that are not growing and improving.  If you are interested in some active participation, you are in the right project.  If you are NOT interested in growing and improving your site, perhaps you should let someone else take a shot at doing so.  I will do my best to offer and provide any help you need in order to fit into this new, somewhat different pattern, for IDGENWEB. Examples of Future Support you can Expect: - I will be running a broken link check on each county website at least once a year and make those reports available to you.  I will be glad to teach any of you how to do this yourselves, if you desire to. - I will be providing some suggestions and helps for anyone who would like to add a search engine for their county pages. - I will be providing some tracking reports to help you know how many pages you have, and what the age of those pages is. - I will be offering periodic interactive help sessions for anyone who would like to participate. Be assured that I do appreciate what you have done, as do the researchers.  I well recognize that some have more time than others, and some are more technically adept than others. I know that some of you live near your counties, or near repositories that have information about your counties, while some of you are far distant from them.  I also know that some counties have very limited resources in the way of records that could be posted, compared to others that have vast amounts.  There is room for a wide diversity in personalities, capabilities and time availability in our project.  But there is not room for anyone who just wishes to "have" the assignment but has no time or interest to make any additions or improvements to their site. Mike St. Clair State Coordinator - IDGENWEB ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IDGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message