It will not be off topic at all and will not be moderated. There are still many who have not signed on to volunteer to index. https://www.familysearch.org/1940census Indexes created by volunteers will be shared through FamilySearch, brightsolid.com and archives.com Other than that,I will watch for any discussion that might spiral out of control. Let's see 10 years ago when 1930 came out, there wasn't much discussions either. Answers to your questions. 1 and 2 Free access and it's hosted by archives.com (not NARA) and with links from FamilySearch.com and brightsolid.com 3. They will open without much problem because archives.com already prepared for the load courtesy of improvements in technology. 4. They're scalable. 5. It won't be slow and only slow if you're dependent on local dialup service. BTW, ED nformation is already posted. http://www.stevemorse.org/ Even the census tract maps for counties and cities, too. David Samuelsen On 2/29/2012 3:25 PM, Darrell A. Martin wrote: > Greetings: > > I am contemplating "banning" conversations about the 1940 Census on my > surname and county lists. Not about what is seen *ON* the census (the > contents), that would be silly! I'm talking about > > - How do I get access? > - Is NARA better than Ancestry.com? > - Why doesn't it open?? > - How can I make it bigger on screen? > - Why is it so slow?!??!@#$% > > I am going to post links to the NARA. I *may* pre-emptively post the > E.D. information for each county. I waffle back and forth between just > letting things go on one hand, and moderating each list for a short > while on the other, with lots of options in between. > > The middle ground is probably something like announcing the temporary > rule and then watching like a hawk to see which lists get out of hand. > The simplest, but the most work, is using moderation. > > What do the rest of you think about this? > > Darrell