It looks like some spam got through via the NY Albany message board. When I took over this list, a few years ago, we had a discussion about keeping the message board connected with the list and most wanted to keep the connection so we did. Meanwhile, Rootsweb became Ancestry with less overview, hence, we are having problems with spam on the boards and on the lists. So, I think this is a good time to get some more opinions. Do you want to keep the board connection or not? Please write your opinion to the list. After a week, I'll see how feeling is on the list and let you know if we continue the connection or not. Remember, everyone is entitled to their opinion so if someone differs with you, it is okay and no need to get in flaming wars. Thanks for your cooperation. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA, list admin http://www.connorsgenealogy.com

I vote for keeping the connection. The "spam" is not so overwhelming, and worth hitting the delete key in exchange for the reminder and easy access of getting to the boards. Personally I don't have time to check all the boards... even if I remember to do so.... so I love the reminder, and usually there's a hint there if it's something I need to go to the boards for, or not, in which case, so simple to just delete that mail too. Loree Muldowney ----- Original Message ----- From: Pat Connors To: gc-gateway@rootsweb.com ; nyalbany@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 10:24 AM Subject: [NYALBANY] ADMIN MSG: re: Change your entire life around with a fewclicks It looks like some spam got through via the NY Albany message board. When I took over this list, a few years ago, we had a discussion about keeping the message board connected with the list and most wanted to keep the connection so we did. Meanwhile, Rootsweb became Ancestry with less overview, hence, we are having problems with spam on the boards and on the lists. So, I think this is a good time to get some more opinions. Do you want to keep the board connection or not? Please write your opinion to the list. After a week, I'll see how feeling is on the list and let you know if we continue the connection or not. Remember, everyone is entitled to their opinion so if someone differs with you, it is okay and no need to get in flaming wars. Thanks for your cooperation. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA, list admin http://www.connorsgenealogy.com ====NY-Albany Mailing List==== Check out the mailing list's website at:http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/Albany/ Add/check your Albany surnames on the Surname Registry. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYALBANY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.6/1572 - Release Date: 7/25/2008 6:51 AM

Pat, As you're aware, we just recently went through this issue on the Rensselaer County list and Cliff Lamere put the negatives of gatewaying as succinctly as anyone could, certainly better than I could. The response was swift and the Rensselaer County list no longer accepts gatewayed messages from the boards. Cliff's comments follow for all to consider: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The list administrator asked our opinion about whether to keep the gateway system, so I have tried to evaluate it. Nobody has said anything negative about this system, so let me be the first. I'm not trying to talk anyone into abondoning the system. I just offer some facts to weigh. Here are some reasons why people might not like it. 1) You can't tell who wrote the gatewayed email (not even your own) without opening it. They all come from "gc-gateway". It is fairly important to know who wrote the email. For example, if Pat Connors writes an email, I will always open it no matter what the subject is. 2) People seldom use even their first name at the end of a gatewayed message, so you don't know who wrote the message, which makes them definitely less personal. 3) Most of the time you don't know, and can't learn, the email address of the sender, so you can't answer privately. 4) You can read the gatewayed email, but the previous message is not included in it. It is therefore very often hard to understand the answer. When a subject has several respondents at once, you just can't tell to what the incoming email is responding. Even if there is only one respondent that day, you still can't tell what they were answering. This becomes even worse when the question was posted several days, weeks, or months earlier (as is often the case with message boards). This kind of confusion is avoided by using the message board the way it was intended; by visiting it. 5) Gatewaying forces you to go online and do some research if you want to understand many of the emails. 6) BUT, when I tried to do that twice in the past three days, the link to the online message took me to a screen advertising Ancestry instead of to the message board. I did learn that if I closed the browser window and clicked on the email link in the message a second time, that second time I would be taken to the correct place. Most people would not have tried it a second time. 7) The current system sometimes generates duplicate messages to the mailing list. 8) Gatewaying confuses a large number of the mailing list members. Sometimes they try to answer the question being posed on the message board, but they are only sending their answer to the mailing list members. The person who asked the question doesn't always see a helpful answer. 9) As one member complained, somedays there are a lot of these messages that have to be deleted. For those who check mail once a day, that is not a problem. For those whose computers alert them to the fact that there is an incoming email, checking to see what that mail is, then deleting it is not much of a problem. But, the large number of gatewayed messages on some days can mean checking many extra times. I suspect that some people find that to be annoying. 10) Unlike in past years, the mailing list Archives no longer shows who wrote most of the emails, because the ones that are gatewayed don't list a sender or their email address. They just list a "handle" of seemingly nonsense letters which usually makes it impossible to recognize the sender's name. That means that it will be harder or impossible to contact the sender when a genealogist finds an interesting message in the mailing list's Archives. That is a lot of negatives. You may think of others. Despite all of these negatives, a small percentage of list members are no doubt being helped, and a higher percentage don't want to miss the chance that a message board message might help. But, this can be resolved a different way. A line could be added at the bottom of each email from the mailing list that tells how to reach the message board. And an email reminder could be sent every two or three months to the mailing list suggesting that we check the message board. People who use a message board usually ask to be notified when someone replies to their message. So, it would not be harmful to the list member if they didn't read the message on the day it was written. I believe the negatives of gatewaying much outweigh the positives. However, the list administrator knows things about the mailing list and message board that few of us know. She knows how she would like things to operate, what would be easy and reasonable for her, and what would be best for the mailing list. I think she is in the best position to make the decision. I don't care one way or the other. I just tried to present an analysis of the situation. Cliff Lamere ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It goes without saying that my vote is to cease accepting message board posts to the list. Regards to all, Jim Groat ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Connors" <nymets22@gmail.com> To: <gc-gateway@rootsweb.com>; <nyalbany@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 12:24 PM Subject: [NYALBANY] ADMIN MSG: re: Change your entire life around with a fewclicks > It looks like some spam got through via the NY Albany message board. > When I took over this list, a few years ago, we had a discussion about > keeping the message board connected with the list and most wanted to > keep the connection so we did. > > Meanwhile, Rootsweb became Ancestry with less overview, hence, we are > having problems with spam on the boards and on the lists. So, I think > this is a good time to get some more opinions. > > Do you want to keep the board connection or not? Please write your > opinion to the list. After a week, I'll see how feeling is on the > list and let you know if we continue the connection or not. Remember, > everyone is entitled to their opinion so if someone differs with you, > it is okay and no need to get in flaming wars. > > Thanks for your cooperation. > -- > Pat Connors, Sacramento CA, list admin > http://www.connorsgenealogy.com > ====NY-Albany Mailing List====