At 10:12 PM 12/15/02 -0500, Derick S. Hartshorn wrote: >The NCGenWeb Project and its members are being severely harmed by the >inaccessibility of pages hosted by USGenNet. So is the TennesseeGenWeb Project, yet I haven't seen the SC there issuing such edicts as you have below. Instead she is keeping the CCs abreast of the situation on an ongoing basis. Not all counties of TNGenWeb are located on USGenNet - but that's not the real issue here. >I have sympathy for USGenNet and their members but Project patrons trying >to access our pages through the USGenWeb Project county page >(http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncgenweb/county.html) are not currently being >served. I have received several complaints, as have our ASC's, and others. >Most folks have expressed displeasure at not having a single county source, >for some particular Eastern North Carolina county. They have reported that >the ALHN pages (served by Fred Smoot's server), the AHGP page (also served >by Mr. Smoot's server) and USGenNet (Mr. Smoot himself), were down and >waiting for new hardware replacements. In addition Diane Mason Kelly, >(President of Webroots.org, founder of ncroots.com and CC of several >Eastern NCGWP counties) had all her NC GenWeb Project pages down. She fails >to explain the entire down-time problem but does present a lovely Christmas >page at www.ncroots.com. She sent a post to our Project indicating USGenNet >hardware problems--nothing else. Nothing to indicate when her NCGWP sites >would become re-actived. Her Burke County link (http://ncroots.com/Burke/) >to the Burke Co. Data Base (http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncburke/burkedat.htm) >seems to be a pretty honest appraisal of the entire situation. I do >disagree with several points made but overall, it seems to be quite accurate. > >Nobody from the USGenNet has ever contacted me regarding the estimated >down-time, let alone offered an apology for the inconvenience they have >caused our Project so I have no idea how long our affiliated NCGenWeb >Project pages will be out of service. No one from AOL, GeoCities or any other ISP contacts me when their servers go down for mostly they neither have the time, no would even know who to contact that might have connections to all the pages they host. >It is the responsibility of each page owner to provide for server space >from whatever individual or entity they choose. Nevertheless, it is the >responsibility of that same page owner to provide for contingency plans >when the unexpected occurs. Really? Do you have a contingency plan for everything in your life that might come up as an unexpected event occurs? I seriously doubt so. Since a goodly portion of North Carolina sites are most likely hosted at Rootsweb, do your CCs know that you expect them to have a contingency plan when Rootsweb might go down for an extended time due to unforeseen circumstances whether it be natural disaster or server issues? >I am forced by the current situation to issue a notice to page owners of >any and all USGenNet-hosted sites within our NCGenWeb Project. Measures >must be taken, and taken immediately. Effective midnight, December 31st, >2002, any pages not active in the NCGenWeb Project shall be declared to be >abandoned and will be retained by the NCGenWeb Project to be available for >adoption and/or re-assignment to an appropriate, knowledgeable and reliable >page owner. > >I believe that two weeks is ample time for the situation to correct itself >or for the CC page owners to find alternate server space. For that reason, >I trust that the NCGenWeb Project will be on even track in 2003 and that >each and every one of you will enjoy a blessed holiday season and reflect >on God's blessings on us all. I currently have a CC that wrote to the SCs of Georgia and Florida that she was having computer problems and asked what to do since she would be unable to fix or replace her computer for a couple of months, even though she could read and answer email from her work address. I have no idea how the Florida SC address the situation but in Georgia we are working with her until such time as she can get her situation under control. Surely you can give folks leeway in such unusual circumstances. Is it not in the best interests of our overall Project that you do so? Tim Stowell Georgia SC SE/MA SC Rep to the AB