Harriet, I have never met you nor Linda. I do know that Rootsweb is a for profit corporation and that ALL Archives records are to be stored there permanently. If I had not been on the CC-L list, I would not have know any of this. You and Linda both need to read my letter more CAREFULLY and stop implying that I said something I did not say, and then please unsubscribe me from this list. I see that it didn't take long for the links to my new page to be removed from the Tazewell page- In the "delinking" they have delinked a MAJOR portion of the Arfrican American Heritage section that I was working on. Wonder where the people researching their African American Ancestors will get the information? I repeat, please remove me from the list, IF this gets through- or have I been put on "read only" status as other people have been? Dodie Browning -----Original Message----- From: Harriet Lee Welch <hwelch@rica.net> To: VAGEN-L@rootsweb.com <VAGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 12:05 AM Subject: Re: [VAGEN-L] My Resignation >I really have to step in and say something here in support of Linda and the >Archives. I don't know what is being said on the lists now, as I >unsubscribed from all the general USGenWeb lists a while back. I got tired >of all the rumors and back stabbing that went on there, and found that I was >much happier just working with the Archives and my own county pages without >that hassle. > >I've been a CC for VA since 1996 when I adopted Rockingham & Orange >Counties. I also joined forces on the Archives Project very early on. I >have never understood why some CCs feel there is a competition between the >county pages and the Archives. When I transcribe data for my counties I put >it both on my web pages and in the archives. Figure I'll reach the most >people that way. And that's the name of the game. I thought that's why all >of us were in this project, to get good information out there on the >internet that would be free to all researchers. I don't really care where >they access it - I'd just like for them to find it easliy. > >Now, to Linda. I've been working with Linda all this time too, and I've >never seen any move on her part to try to "take over" anything. Protect, >yes - take over - no. As a co-file manager for the Virginia part of the >Archives, I have never attempted to take anything from anyone's county >pages, and I never will. If, as a CC you want to offer that data, fine. But >I'm certainly not going to steal it. I think the Archives is a good idea for >permanent storage of the data - and for the ease of using the search >engines. But it's totally the decision of the CC and of the contributors to >the CC's web site as to whether or not they place the data in the Archives. > >You might be surprised how many people stumble onto the archives without >realizing there are web sites for the counties they are researching in. It >seems to me that everyone should know about the USGenWeb and all the county >sites <g> but they don't. I get a lot of e-mail from the archives pages >asking questions about a particular county, and I always direct them to your >county pages. The web pages in the Archives are simply tables of content for >the files there - nothing more, nothing less. > >I apologize for the length of this message, but I felt strongly that someone >needs to put the record straight. We have a good group of people working on >the VAGenWeb, and we have little or no problems compared with some of the >states. I know that those of you who have been with the project a long time >and have seen what I have seen are not concerned about any rumors floating >around about Linda and/or the Archives. They've come and gone for years now. >But I'm sure we have some newer members who are probably wondering just what >they've gotten themselves into after the resignation letter. I'm sorry too >that Dodie believed all that she heard without sticking around long enough >to learn the truth. I hope that those of you who are new here will take the >time to get to know all of us, and I think if you do you'll find we all have >the researcher's best interest at heart. > >Sincerely. >Harriet Welch >