---------- From: Brian Leverich Sent: Thursday, May 15, 1997 12:22 AM To: MAISER-L@rootsweb.com; listowners@rootsweb.com Cc: Dr. Brian Leverich; mruddy@POP.USIT.NET; Ajohn71513@AOL.Com; irishgal@ix5.ix.netcom.com; mari@netins.net; gtrl@esper.com; mevers@odyssey.on.ca; dsam@wasatch.com; estle@fuse.net; rrevette@digital.net; cetracer@m4.interserv.com Subject: New Lists at RootsWeb ... Hi - I hate to send this post, but I need to let everyone know that we're backlogged on new lists at RootsWeb and that the backlog will probably get worse before it gets better. Right now Karen and I have been 110% booked handling the Maiser lists -- Karen's been creating lists on our existing servers, but we are rapidly exhausting our available capacity. I've crawled all over LA collecting pieces for a new server for the Maiser lists, and now I've got the new server built and burning in. However, things are about to come to a screeching halt because we have family visiting for the next four days. Anyway, here's the plan. o Next Tuesday (20 May) I'll be moving the new server into RootsWeb's Network Operations Center (which is about a half mile from here). o Next Thursday (22 May) I'll be reconfiguring all the servers in the NOC to accommodate the new server. o Next Saturday (24 May) Karen will begin creating lists again. We'll try to start creating lists sooner, but under the circumstances it's impossible to make any promises. Sorry about the delays in setting up the lists -- the Maiser catastrophe was a complete surprise to us, and we're doing our utmost to support the community. BTW, I have been asked innumerable times about the costs of lists. We're sort of making this up as we go, but I'll try to give you the same facts we have. Costs vary a little depending on the size and activity of a list, but as a planning figure it costs RootsWeb $10-15 per year in hardware and bandwidth charges to host a list. (The new server we just bought is about a $6000 machine.) Because RootsWeb is entirely supported by its users, we have to recover those costs from someone. (RootsWeb has no corporate or governmental sugar daddy; any funding deficit has to be covered out of Karen and Brian's own pockets.) In the past, we've asked listowners to cover the costs of their lists by becoming RootsWeb Sponsors. Having consulted with Larry and numerous listowners, there seems to be a general consensus that it would be better for us to provide lists for free to the listowners but to infrequently and unobtrusively ask subscribers of the lists to consider becoming RootsWeb Members or Sponsors. That is, your lists are free but once or twice a year your readers will receive a low-key invitation to become RootsWeb Members. If you've already moved lists to RootsWeb and already sent us a check, we'll be happy to refund your money. However, to the extent listowners can afford it, we'd still like to invite you to become Members or Sponsors of RootsWeb. Every dollar of income we receive is plowed back into improvements to the site that will make us better able to support you and your readers. Cheers, B. -- Dr. Brian Leverich Co-moderator, soc.genealogy.methods/GENMTD-L RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative http://www.rootsweb.com/ P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 leverich@rootsweb.com ------------------------------