A new service from Rootsweb! Philip ----- Original Message ----- From: Tim Pierce <twp@rootsweb.com> To: <listowners-announce@rootsweb.com> Sent: May 24, 1999 9:19 PM Subject: pre-announcement: Surname Resources at RootsWeb Hi, listowners -- This is an early announcement of an upcoming service that's likely to be of interest to our listowners. One of the requests we get most often from RootsWebbers is for better navigation tools. RootsWeb provides a dizzying assortment of surname-oriented research resources, so much that it can be overwhelming to even the experienced user. Folks are constantly asking us if there's some way to unify the Websites, mailing lists, RSL entries, and GenConnect boards together in a single resource. We're extremely proud to let you know that now they can. We've created 5,000 new "Surname Resources," a new way to navigate RootsWeb's surname offerings. These are *not* yet public -- We'll be announcing them in the 26 May edition of the RootsWeb Review -- but we wanted to give our list and GenConnect board administrators a first chance to look at the new Resources. What *is* a Surname Resource? Although these new resources are still under construction, they are operational. Stop by http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/ and feel free to explore. These Surname Resources cover the 5,000 most common surnames from the RootsWeb Surname List. Many of them are completely new -- we created more than 3,000 new mailing lists just for this project. (We may even do the next 5,000-15,000 most common surnames!) The new lists and GC Boards are presently administered by a few (extremely busy!) RootsWeb staff members, but eventually we'll take volunteers to adopt them. We're still working out the details, but we will definitely give preference to folks who already administer existing mailing lists and surname boards for the same names. When we're ready to take that step, we'll announce it here. So look around, have fun, and let us know what you think! -- Regards, Tim Pierce RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative system obfuscator and hack-of-all-trades