I don't usually forward informtion like this, but RootsWeb is changing its services so much lately, that I thought some of you might be interested in this information. Especially, if you have ever thought of putting your personal genealogy into a web page. RootsWeb can now do this free, if you provide a GEDCOM file of your genealogy data. This is all described below. The following is extracted from the online newsletter, RootsWeb Review. Emmett Mason, Butler Co. NE County Coordinator http://www.rootsweb.com/~nebutler >> Subj: RootsWeb Review, Vol. 2, No. 45 Date: 11/11/1999 5:31:11 AM Eastern Standard Time From: Julie_Case@rootsweb.com (Julie Case) To: RootsWeb-Review@rootsweb.com Editors: Julia M. Case and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG <RWR-Editors@rootsweb.com> RootsWeb HelpDesk: <http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/> o DONATIONS HELP ROOTSWEB HELP YOU AND ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. For details about support levels, benefits, and payment options (check or credit card), e-mail <RW-info@rootsweb.com> or visit <http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html>. Mailing address: RootsWeb.com, Inc., P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. (Please write your e-mail address on all correspondence and checks.) * * * * * ANNNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CEO, by Robert R. Tillman o ROOTSWEB ANNOUNCES BETA TEST OF MAJOR NEW CONTRIBUTOR BENEFIT. We have been thinking very hard about how we can reward the numerous RootsWeb contributors without whom RootsWeb would not exist. We asked ourselves what tool we, as avid genealogists, would find most useful. Our answer to this question is the RootsWeb Personalized Mailing List (PML). This feature allows a RootsWeb contributor to enter multiple complex search terms and receive by e-mail notification each day of ANY new post that matches these search terms on ANY of RootsWeb's almost 15,000 archived mailing lists. Never again miss a vital piece of information on a mailing list to which you have not subscribed. RootsWeb contributors at the $24/year level and above are invited to beta test this new feature at <http://pml.rootsweb.com/>. The RootsWeb Personalized Mailing List is another achievement of Randy Winch, who is also the author of the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project. "This may be the best single tool I have ever used for online genealogy. Magnificent. Simply magnificent," Dr. Brian Leverich said. "That's not to say there aren't rough spots to be worked out before it leaves beta, but the functionality is a killer," he commented. A note of caution: Be careful about the search terms you enter. Simply entering "Smith," for example, will result in a huge number of e-mails. Also, please be patient with the inevitable glitches you may encounter. You may provide us with feedback on the Personal Mailing List message board at <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/PML>. If you wish to become a RootsWeb contributor or wish to upgrade your membership to the $24/year level, please visit <http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html>. o ROOTSWEB ANNOUNCES BETA TEST OF NEW ONLINE WEB PAGE EDITOR ON FREEPAGES. Many of our Webmasters have been asking us for an online Web page editor. Now you can beta test the RootsWeb Web Page Editor at <http://freepages.rootsweb.com/fileman/file_manager.cgi>. This new RootsWeb feature has been authored by Alex Midgley, one of the newest and, at 18, the youngest member of the RootsWeb staff. We are very proud of Alex's first effort for RootsWeb. Documentation for the RootsWeb Web Page Editor was written by Jim Wolcott, an industry veteran who has written manuals for hundreds of hardware and software products, including the first Palm Pilot. As always, please be patient with us during the beta test period and provide us with the feedback necessary to improve and finalize this new feature on the Web Page Editor message board at <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/webeditor>. o OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF WORLDCONNECT PROJECT. NOW MORE THAN 5.3 MILLION NAMES. After four weeks of beta test, the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project is now officially released for general use. As of today, RootsWeb users have uploaded more than 5.3 million names of their ancestors to the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project. Search the names already uploaded and/or upload your own GEDCOM at <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/>. We thank all of you who have used the WorldConnect Project during its beta test period. You can expect to see many new WorldConnect Project features in the future based upon your generous feedback. Search the WorldConnect Project frequently as new GEDCOMs are being uploaded at the rate of one million names per week. o ROOTSWEB ACCEPTS GEDCOMs ON REMOVABLE MEDIA. If you experience difficulty uploading your GEDCOM for any reason, please feel free to send it to us on a floppy disk or ZIP drive disk. Mail it to: RootsWeb WorldConnect Project, 1001 Tower Way, #120, Bakersfield, CA 93309. We will upload it for you and send you notification by e-mail of your account name and password. Our default display choice will be to exclude the names of everyone in your GEDCOM who was born within the past 100 years. Please make sure that you have (at least approximate) birth dates listed for any living people in your GEDCOM, as the WorldConnect software will not know to exclude them otherwise. Thereafter, you can change the viewing options at any time by going to <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/>. Remember to enclose your e-mail address with your disk or we will have no way to notify you of your account name and password. Please also note that we will destroy the disks we receive after uploading the GEDCOMs contained on such disks. You have full control over your uploaded GEDCOM at RootsWeb. You can change or remove it completely at any time and RootsWeb will never burn it onto a CD-ROM or charge others to access it. o MORE THAN 3,000 FULFILLED FREE PAGES REQUESTS. As of today, RootsWeb has fulfilled 3,208 requests for unlimited free Web space. To see the complete Free Pages announcement, please visit <http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/press/freepages.html>. You can change or remove your Free Pages at any time and RootsWeb will never burn it onto a CD-ROM or charge others to access it. FREEPAGES Directory (users' pages at FREEPAGES): <http://freepages.rootsweb.com/>. o REGISTER YOUR WEB SITE ON ROOTSLINK. Don't forget to register your own or your favorite genealogical or historical sites at RootsLink -- RootsWeb's free URL registry. Search the thousands of sites already registered and register new ones at <http://resources.rootsweb.com/~rootslink/search.html>. Your site need not be located on RootsWeb to register. o TOOLS FOR ROOTSWEB WEBMASTERS. We now have available a number of convenient tools for RootsWeb Webmasters, including: o Guest Books at <http://resources.rootsweb.com/~guestbook/> o Calendars at <http://resources.rootsweb.com/~calendar/cgi-bin/calendar.cgi> o Counters at <http://counter.rootsweb.com/>. * * * ROOTSWEB'S GUIDE TO TRACING FAMILY TREES. Lesson 18, FRATERNAL SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS, provides information about and links to organizations worldwide. Lesson 13 is MILITARY RECORDS WORLDWIDE and Lesson 14 is AMERICAN MILITARY RECORDS. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/>. * * * * * >>