State Coordinators- I received the following letter today and it serves as a good reminder of how necessary it is to have some kind of site review in place to make sure our counties are up to date. I've just finished preparing my Iowa county for the semi-annual review there. You might want to take a look at their review form to find ideas to use in your own state--http://www.rootsweb.com/~iagenweb/project_review/ I know some people like to refer to reviewers as "Page Police," but that's a real negative attitude toward fulfilling our purpose--"to gather genealogical and historical information for free online access by researchers." -Isaiah >X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 5.5.5 >Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:27:45 -0500 >From: "Concetta Franco" <concetta.franco@BLDD.COM> >To: <IsaiahH@cox.NET> >Subject: Mr. Harrison > >Dear Mr. Harrison, > >I'm not really sure who to send this email to, but I saw your name as a >national coordinator, and thought I would start there. > >To put it bluntly - what's happened to the GenWeb project? I spend very >little time on many GenWeb pages because they have NOT been updated since >2001, or some even earlier, and others have little more than a list of >films to request from the local FHC. Half of them don't even have a map to >help you pinpoint their location, or even a notation about what state they >are located. > >Most of them are filled with bad links, and their message board links are >still going towards Gen BBS when its now been at least a year since the >update to Ancestry's message board system. > >Or - the other problem is that they are arranged so badly that it is >confusing as to what resources one is trying to use. > >I was writing mainly to complain about XXXX County website. You see, I am >trying to get a birth certificate for my step-grandmother, and I clicked >on DOZENS of links that were broken or unupdated. So I checked the bottom >of the page for update information and got this: > >You are the 22999thvisitor since October 1, 1998. >This page launched Oct 1, 1998 >This page last modified on Wednesday, 30-May-2001 05:48:51 MDT > >Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't a person who is listed as the >Assistant State Coordinator pay more attention to his responsibilities? If >he can't, there should be a new county coordinator elected. > >Or the YYYY website. There are TWO coordinators for this county, and the >website has little of use. It points people straight to the YYYYCounty >ALHN, but one slight problem - its the wrong link! And if you want the >YYYY County archives, tough luck! Another broken link. Don't the >coordinators check these things? > >Again, check out the last update: > >This page was last updated >Tuesday, 24-Dec-2002 20:50:31 MST > >It seems like the coordinators do very little now except play political >wrangling at headquarters? Or nothing at all? > >I'd like to say those are the only two bad ones. But they aren't. There >are dozens and dozens of bad ones. The good ones are few and far between, >such as Sandy Redmond, Jan Cortez, Judy Visner, and the trio of women who >do Schuyler County, Steuben County, the Twin Tiers and Barton/Tioga >Countys in new york. But note - these people do multiple sites, and they >seem to be able to handle it. Why can't the others? > >Its very frustrating to go to these sites and not find anything. I >understand if they have resources available and I don't find MY names in >there, but I can't understand having nothing to access or just lists of >widely available material. > >I would very much appreciate a response to this email. I am very frustrated. > >Thank you for your time, > >Concetta Franco

thank you Isiaih! Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard (Isaiah) Harrison" <IsaiahH@cox.net> To: <STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 12:47 AM Subject: [STATE-COORD-L] Fwd: Mr. Harrison > State Coordinators- > > I received the following letter today and it serves as a good reminder of > how necessary it is to have some kind of site review in place to make sure > our counties are up to date. > > I've just finished preparing my Iowa county for the semi-annual review > there. You might want to take a look at their review form to find ideas to > use in your own state--http://www.rootsweb.com/~iagenweb/project_review/ > > I know some people like to refer to reviewers as "Page Police," but that's > a real negative attitude toward fulfilling our purpose--"to gather > genealogical and historical information for free online access by researchers." > > -Isaiah > > > >X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 5.5.5 > >Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:27:45 -0500 > >From: "Concetta Franco" <concetta.franco@BLDD.COM> > >To: <IsaiahH@cox.NET> > >Subject: Mr. Harrison > > > >Dear Mr. Harrison, > > > >I'm not really sure who to send this email to, but I saw your name as a > >national coordinator, and thought I would start there. > > > >To put it bluntly - what's happened to the GenWeb project? I spend very > >little time on many GenWeb pages because they have NOT been updated since > >2001, or some even earlier, and others have little more than a list of > >films to request from the local FHC. Half of them don't even have a map to > >help you pinpoint their location, or even a notation about what state they > >are located. > > > >Most of them are filled with bad links, and their message board links are > >still going towards Gen BBS when its now been at least a year since the > >update to Ancestry's message board system. > > > >Or - the other problem is that they are arranged so badly that it is > >confusing as to what resources one is trying to use. > > > >I was writing mainly to complain about XXXX County website. You see, I am > >trying to get a birth certificate for my step-grandmother, and I clicked > >on DOZENS of links that were broken or unupdated. So I checked the bottom > >of the page for update information and got this: > > > >You are the 22999thvisitor since October 1, 1998. > >This page launched Oct 1, 1998 > >This page last modified on Wednesday, 30-May-2001 05:48:51 MDT > > > >Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't a person who is listed as the > >Assistant State Coordinator pay more attention to his responsibilities? If > >he can't, there should be a new county coordinator elected. > > > >Or the YYYY website. There are TWO coordinators for this county, and the > >website has little of use. It points people straight to the YYYYCounty > >ALHN, but one slight problem - its the wrong link! And if you want the > >YYYY County archives, tough luck! Another broken link. Don't the > >coordinators check these things? > > > >Again, check out the last update: > > > >This page was last updated > >Tuesday, 24-Dec-2002 20:50:31 MST > > > >It seems like the coordinators do very little now except play political > >wrangling at headquarters? Or nothing at all? > > > >I'd like to say those are the only two bad ones. But they aren't. There > >are dozens and dozens of bad ones. The good ones are few and far between, > >such as Sandy Redmond, Jan Cortez, Judy Visner, and the trio of women who > >do Schuyler County, Steuben County, the Twin Tiers and Barton/Tioga > >Countys in new york. But note - these people do multiple sites, and they > >seem to be able to handle it. Why can't the others? > > > >Its very frustrating to go to these sites and not find anything. I > >understand if they have resources available and I don't find MY names in > >there, but I can't understand having nothing to access or just lists of > >widely available material. > > > >I would very much appreciate a response to this email. I am very frustrated. > > > >Thank you for your time, > > > >Concetta Franco > >