Hi Fred, TN-ALL and no BCCs, Fred... you have taken a lot of effort below to attempt to ridicule me. I wish to assure you that I am perfectly capable of doing that myself. It is my opinion that it is not in the best interest of the USGWP for states or LCs to solicit funds to run their USGenWeb projects. I asked the State Coordinators list to respond to this opinion (actually it was Ellen Pack's original opinion). 33 states did not respond, of the 21 people who did respond, about 10 agreed with me and 11 didn't. At this point, it was clear to me that there was little interested in the subject. Stating the obvious, my next opinion was that we should not encourage STATES to solicit funds, and that we should forbid LCs from soliciting funds. The main reason for my opinions is that it is very likely that soliciting funds will end in a bad name for the project. Now Fred, since you had no compunctions about quoting me (cutting and pasting) from another list, you will not mind that I quote your email (in its entirity) to the state coordinator list. Respectfully, George (CC for Lincoln Co TNGenWeb) On 26 Aug 2003 at 16:03, Fred Smoot wrote: > Greetings TN-all and others (BCCed), > > From the Git-Go "Waaaay back" in '96 when all the parts coalesced into > the USGenWeb Project, it was to be non-commercial deal with free > access online genealogical data. > > In '99, the bylaws were passed which included certain prohibitions of > commercialism on our pages. I have copied the pertinent section of the > bylaws way down-under. > > Now comes the punchline: A "Friends of IAGenWeb" has seemingly > incorporated as a nonprofit to eventually pay for server space for > IAGenWeb and for other worthy purposes. This nonprofit corporation is > getting a lot of heat from the naysayers. Some of the complaints are > running from, "not in the best interest of the USGenWeb Project," ... > "a clear conflict of interest," ... to Joy Fisher's smokescreen > remark: "Waaaay back, we had CCs collecting to buy materials such as > microfilm. ... The CCs vanished and so did the money." > > The quotes above are from the August page of the State-Coord list: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/STATE-COORD/2003-08 > > It is amazing as why the naysayers are SO opposed to nonprofit > corporations (puts them in a virtual panic it does) but are in a rush > to bundle up with commercial companies without so much as a blink of > an eye. > > Now we know that historically there have server changes, both for > TNGenWeb Project and USGenWeb Project. At TNGenWeb, we went from USIT > to USGenNet while USGenWeb went from DSenter to RootsWeb. In the > beginning, there was www.USGenWeb.Com which was hosted on the DSenter > server. Many states were also hosted there, and county sites were > located on a multitude of different servers. The server was owned by > Dale "Doc" Schneider and located in NE, then sent to John Rigdon in GA > for a while, and back to NE. It was supposed to be shipped to ID and > co-located there but crashed. After several weeks of being offline, > Pam Rietsch called Brian Leverich, begging and pleading with him to > make room at RootsWeb for the USGenWeb sites (and domain) that were > knocked offline when the DSenter server crashed. Brian finally > agreed, and the domain and numerous county sites were re-created on > the Rootsweb server. This was early November, 1997. So you see, Brian > saved USGenWeb! Later he sold out! This selling out business also > happened to USIT. It was purchased by others and TNGenWeb got evicted. > There is no way the perpetuity of any server can be guaranteed. > USGenNet could run out of money, RootsWeb could run out of goodwill. > > So it appears to me that "Friends of IAGenWeb" incorporation is one > way to get better control of the server situation for IAGenWeb. I > believe it is called, "thinking ahead." > > Now here is quote from our very own Tennessee George Waller. > Subject: Re: [STATE-COORD] Vote > Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 21:41:58 -0400 > >>> > This brings us to the "new" information. A few minutes ago a friend > wrote me reminding me that TNGenWeb has been doing about the same (if > not exactly the same) as what IAGenWeb is doing. And, I am a CC in > TNGenWeb so why am I picking on Iowa? <<< > > OK, I suppose we can classify George's statement as dis-information > and put it in the round file where it belongs. Then George writes > this: > > >>> > Fellow S/ACs, > The following is an email I received today which makes me think > twice about what has gone on with KSGenWeb (?), TNGenWeb, > PAGenWeb and IA ... > <snip> > This is my latest thinking. We (the USGWP) should not encourage > states to start their own servers, but if they do so they should take > the strictist care to not mess up on soliciting funds. However.... we > should amend the bylaws to say that CCs/LCs/TCs may NOT solicit funds > for whatever reason; including using their own server. <snip> > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/STATE-COORD/2003-08/1061866125 > <<< > > We could ask of George, why should we discourage the states from > obtaining > their own servers? Since the USGenWeb provides NO server space to the > states, it could be to the XXGenWebs' protection to own their server > or have their domain on dedicated server space. > > And does George really think that each CC will become a nonprofit > corporation and then obtain IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status just to > have his own server? Does George have even one iota of an idea as to > the cost of using their own server? > > Regards, > > Fred Smoot > ------------------------------------ > ARTICLE IX. GUIDELINES/STANDARDS FOR WEBSITES/MEMBERS > > Section 2. Solicitation of funds for personal gain is inappropriate. > This is defined as the direct appeal on the home page of any of the > websites comprising The USGenWeb Project for funding to do research, > to pay for server space, to do look-ups, etc. A website may, however, > acknowledge any entities who may host their website (i.e., provide > server space at no cost) or may include a link to a coordinator's > personal page on which they offer research services for reimbursement. > The acknowledgement may include a link to the hosting entity's > website. A website may list research materials and/or services which > may be for sale/hire, either by the coordinator, a genealogy society, > or others. Such a listing shall not be on the main web page for the > site, but may be linked from the main web page. It may be appropriate > to include a disclaimer that the coordinator and The USGenWeb Project > do not guarantee the contents of such research materials and/or the > expertise of any professional researchers. > > > > -This is a USGenNet Safe-Site Mailing List - http://USGenNet.Org/

Let's keep this discussion to posts that originated on this list. Isaiah has left for vacation, and for those of you that follow the Board-L list you are aware that I am Temporary Chair of the Advisory Board, and by default, list administrator of STATE-COORD. The discussion that has been presented, until the last two posts by Mr. Waller were well within the realm of discussion for this list. His forward of Tim's post was inappropriate. Tim is very capable of speaking for himself, and his moderated status will not be circumvented. George, do not cross-post to this list. Out of context posts do not serve any purpose. Tina Vickery Temp Chair, USGenWeb Advisory Board ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Waller" <George@Waller.Org> To: <STATE-COORD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 7:39 PM Subject: [STATE-COORD] Re: TN-ALL The Sky is falling!