I am forwarding this message to each of the subscribers on the eight surname lists I manage on RootsWeb [BEERS, GODFREY, KERN, MONROE, RICHMOND, SPICER, STEARNS & GODFREY]. I want to emphasize that I have no opinion one way or the other on this message. I just want to make sure everyone is aware of the potential need at RootsWeb for funding assistance. I really don't know what is involved, either the process of donating or how much RootsWeb would like to see in donations. If you are interested in assisting them with their funding for this resource you might contact the sender of the quoted message directly. I don't plan on sending this message, or similar message out on a regular or frequent basis. But, I did feel it was appropriate at this time. I know that under Maiser everything was free, and the lists were using spare resources on the college's systems. RootsWeb doesn't have that luxury and needs donations to continue operating at a reasonable level of efficiency. Since I opened the ball on this, feel free to use this list for a discussion for a day or two. Let's NOT GET CARRIED AWAY however, keep it civil and keep it short. Thanks. Please Review The Following Message: Chet Swanson List Owner ---Quoted Message Follows--- >Hi - > >Here's what's going on. > >When RootsWeb adopted the Maiser lists, we set three goals for >ourselves: > > (1) Deliver messages to accessible hosts in less than 30 > minutes on average. > > (2) Have essentially no unplanned down times. > > (3) Have the list archives be fully indexed and searchable. > >That requires a lot of CPU power and, given our existing hardware, >it looked like the cheapest way (a couple of thousand dollars) to >get that power was going to multiple CPUs in each of server boxes. > >The good news is that multiprocessing did get us the CPU cycles so >we could do fast turn-arounds and have power left over for >searchable archives. > >The bad news is that multiprocessing seems to be unstable with our >current operationg system and we're having far too many unplanned >downs. > >So we're falling back to single processor machines. The lists have >been down while we reconfigured servers and balanced loads again so >we can get the mail delivered quickly. > >We should have the lists back up within an hour or so. > >However, this means we have no spare capacity at the moment for >searchable archives. We'll buy and install more capacity as fast as >we can, though. > >Without intending to beg and grovel too much for financial support >of RootsWeb, I would like to mention in passing that if you intend >to become a RootsWeb Member or Sponsor (or mention that to your >subscribers), now would be a particularly good time to do so. > >Thanks much, 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 > > > -- Chet Swanson Everett, WA mailto:swanson@premier1.net