I know I'm a bit late to this conversation; however, I was elected SC in Indiana and took office on August 15. We definitely had some attrition as 3 coordinators left and among the 3 they left 13 counties orphaned. Indiana was in need of a major overhaul and that has been occurring. I posted last week and 3 of those posted counties were adopted. Also, Pat Asher stepped up and volunteered to get a couple of the counties redesigned and updated from a program that most Coordinators do not use for two large counties, Two other Indiana CCs have also stepped up to redesign and ready some counties that had been lingering for quite some time. I pushed for more communication with the County Coordinators and found that several were not even on our mandatory mail list. Several were going to quit because they hadn't liked how things had gone over the past year. I got on the phone with those coordinators and they stayed. Some other coordinators that no one had communicated with to find out what was going on in their lives were contacted by phone. They admitted they needed to resign for one reason or another.... not enough time based on changes in work, family issues and health... Now, the state pages have been redesigned by Jeff Kemp, one of my ASCs, counties are being updated, and great communication is being fostered on our mandatory mail list for coordinators. Coordinators are, for the most part, excited. I am committed to a new Indiana with caring, sharing, communication and harmony. People are invigorated and happy about the communication. However, there are always those few who hate communication, don't want to share and get confronted when requests are made of them. Those folks have either chosen to communicate or leave. So we are indeed going through a transition period that is causing Indiana to grow and get things back on track. My 2nd ASC has rounded up a group of our CCs who are well-versed in either web design or design issues and created our newest committee - Tech Help Pages. It provides lots of information and links to helpful items, plus there are CCs who are on call to help other CCs with issues with their pages. It's starting to work well also. So, Indiana is far from failing. It's being rejuvenated. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort, but I find it well worth causing something bigger and better. And it's working. Also, for New Jersey, I am engaging with two other potential coordinators for 2 of the 3 counties that are available for adoption. On another good note, I've just received permission to retain a Rootsweb site for a county where one of our CCs passed away unexpectedly. I requested the County from Rootsweb and we began engaging in discussions with the family, and yesterday I received permission for NJ to retain the work that he did, with credit being attributed to him. The site will soon carry a dedication to him. So, things are good! Denise Wells NJGenWeb SC INGenWeb SC On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 12:26 AM, Shirley Cullum <shirlcullum@gmail.com>wrote: > Betsy's reply is spot on. > > Early on, Texas volunteers were allowed to take on as many counties as they > wanted in order to get the 254 counties online. After 15+ years, ill health > is the main reason for CC's retiring and that has resulted in a high orphan > county count. And, as Betsy said, volunteers are taking over some counties > and new volunteers are joining the project. > > I agree with Betsy in that the USGenWeb is not dead and will continue to > fill a need for researchers. Our volunteers provide person to person > contact and go the extra mile to help find information. The other projects > just can't hold a candle to the USGenWeb! > > Shirley > > > > > On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 5:04 PM, Betsy <betsyamills@gmail.com> wrote: > > > So sorry to hear your state is dead or dying. Arkansas and Texas are > > both going strong. We do have a few openings most of the time, but > > we are still getting volunteers. Arkansas has more at the moment > > because a volunteer is retiring who had 7 counties. She will be > > missed as she has done a great job! However, other volunteers are > > already stepping up to take over her counties. > > > > I fought against having a FB page for my county and another volunteer > > set one up. Was I ever wrong! We have a lot of followers and lots > > of posts. It generates lots of referrals to the website, too. > > > > I personally have information on my counties that is NOT on > > familysearch or ancestry and will never be there. There is still a > > need for USGenWeb and it is not dead, especially where the people > > care about keeping it alive. > > > > Betsy > > > > At 04:37 PM 8/8/2012, you wrote: > > >I have posted to county mail lists and the State mail lists numerous > > times. > > >While this has always been a good source to advertise, it has not been > > >lucrative. I think that basically except for the BIG lists, they are > near > > >dead. Most people now use the message boards. This morning I used our > FB > > >page and so far haven't received a response. People really are not > > >interested in doing sites now that we have familysearch.org, Ancestry, > > >Seekingmichigan. Sorry to say, but I believe that the projects have > been > > >let go for to long and they are a dying breed. Essentially, I think we > > are > > >just waiting for the last one to turn out the lights. So sad, but so > > true. > > > > > >Jan > > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > > >From: Pat Asher > > >Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 3:48 PM > > >To: state-coord@rootsweb.com > > >Subject: Re: [STATE-COORD] Texas Counties Available > > > > > >At 03:14 PM 8/8/2012, Shirley Cullum wrote: > > > >The TXGenWeb Project has several counties available for adoption and > is > > > >looking for volunteers to maintain them. Please pass this on to your > > state > > > >mail lists. > > > > > >Shirley, > > > > > >I know Arkansas is also looking for volunteers. I wonder if posting > > >to the Rootsweb mailing lists for the specific counties might be a > > >way to enlist new (and enthusiastic) volunteers for the > > >organization. I know it would take some extra effort on the part of > > >the SC. They would have to subscribe to the specific county lists in > > >order to post -- but it might be one way to generate new members for > > >the USGW as those who have done excellent work for years start to > > >scale back, or think about retiring. > > > > > > > > >Pat Asher > > >SWSC CC Rep > > > > > > > > >------------------------------- > > >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > >STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the > > >quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > > >------------------------------- > > >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > >STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > > >the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > STATE-COORD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >