This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/AlB.2ACE/427.2 Message Board Post: TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Roy Rhodes is conducting his "freeloader" appeal on his own. It was prompted by the following e-mail exchanges: ROY RHODES WROTE: "You have done a GREAT job with the web site, but I don't like the present set up. It is too hard to navigate through the info and it is too much like a commercial site in that you must read a sales pitch before you can go to any other area of the site. Regardless, thank you for your hard work on the Robertson County site and your interest is making it the best site on the Internet." KENT BRUNETTE WROTE: "I agree that the fundraising appeal is 'in your face.' You might just bookmark the second page and avoid the first page altogether if you like." "The census project fundraising appeal is positioned as it is because I'm incredibly frustrated with the lack of interest by the online community in making even meager contributions to help bring materials online. I've been discreetly trying to obtain contributions online for the census project for the past year and have gotten $5 (and that was from a friend who was testing the online donation feature). Judging from the glowing comments the website receives on an ongoing basis, I would have thought that people would have already completely funded the remaining three census years that need to be brought online and half of the map project." "I'm not making a penny on anything I've done or am doing on the site. In fact, I've contributed a couple of thousand dollars out of pocket and no telling how many volunteer hours to get what's online now there. If placing this information online is as important as I believe it is, if people are truly benefiting from the ready availability of this valuable information (which already surpasses many of the other county websites), why aren't people willing to demonstrate their support and make some token contribution towards these efforts? Is it that they don't want to pay for something that they can get for free? Or, am I deluding myself into thinking this information is important to the masses? If the very constituency that I think I'm serving is unwilling to assist in any way, why am I doing this? Given these circumstances, I'm seriously considering resigning as volunteer coordinator for the site due to lack of interest by the intended audience." "The Census, Map, & Newspaper Project grant proposals that I wrote a year ago have been distributed to several corporations & foundations with connections to Robertson County. All funding requests have been rejected. Recent e-mails have just been sent out to some of the biggest ranches in the county. No word yet. Several volunteers and I are going to man a booth at Calvert's May 4th May Pole Festival in City Park and seek contributions there. I've created colorful flyers and other materials to promote our efforts. Let's hope that people who attend this festival (most of them strangers to the site) are more generous than the people who are actually using the site. We're also contemplating sending fundraising letters to Robertson County businesses, placing "take-one" displays and piggybanks on merchant countertops to solicit contributions & spare change for use towards our efforts." "Yes, you're right. I do want to make this the best genealogy website in the state. I think we've made tremendous strides towards this goal. But, as the propaganda states, 'there's only so much a handful of volunteers can accomplish on their own.' I can't afford to keep paying out of pocket to bring additional information online. I'm open to any ideas you might have." ROY RHODES WROTE: "I think I understand some of your frustrations. I have been thinking of your email most of the day. I have thought about how to get everyone including me off their duff and sending money to help get the Census Project some money." "I have been reading the messages asking for help and had 'INTENTIONS' of mailing money for the things that need to be done, but just didn't remember to do so. I have some thoughts on this, but have not worked out all the things that I think will work. I have come up with something that may work but it still needs some thought. Some of the things that I am thinking about, you may not like. If some one complains to you, tell them that it is my idea, that you can't control it, and to write me. Send them a copy of this email." THE FREELOADER POSTING THEN APPEARED. While Mr. Rhodes' intentions are good, his approach may be offensive to some (although one person thought it was funny). I hope his efforts to help don't sabotage my efforts to get the Census Project funded. We're up to $140 in contributions (thanks in large part to a $100 contribution by Jo Ella Snider Parker & Mr. Rhodes' $35 contribution). So, only $700 more is needed to fund the Census Project. Would you be willing to contribute or to lend constructive assistance in getting the Census Project funded?