Hi again, I understand the point of the archives with the national search capabilities and I'm all for that, but why can't there be a search engine that DOES cover the county level if they are on the rootsweb server? It might take a little longer, but just let that be an option on the search page. Also, if it's still all about the archives than all of the files we have on our county site could realistically go into the archives project, except for maybe queries, but library and historical society contact info too (the info we're supposed to have) and our county sites would be absolutely obsolete. That just doesn't feel right to me, and I don't think that's what we're striving for. Besides the question of what was brought up the other day. If we're submitting all the goodie info to the archives what happens when someone emails the state coordinator complaining that the page hasn't been updated in a year. The researcher appears to not be enlightened on the archives thing even though a lot of us probably have links to the archives on our page as well. If things are better off in the archives then we probably need to advertise that more. To the CC's and the researchers. What I personally don't like while trying to look things up in the usgenweb system is all the different places I have to go for just one county. First I go to the county page, then I go to the archives to see if anything is there, then I visit the genconnect boards (which usually aren't even linked from anywhere) It would be nice if there was a search that covered at least the archives and county pages. It's also good I think to have links to files on the archives like someone else mentioned if it's not already on their page. That's what I'm talking about here, just a coming together of some of these different projects to make things easier on everyone. I have notetab, but I use frontpage which I like a lot more for page making. I'll have to try the conversion thing. I've always just started over when doing something new, which is why I've never submitted anything to the archives though I've been thinking about it for awhile. Melissa ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

Actually Melissa, you can do your own search engine. I found this (Maybe Tim found this) and it works terrifically for my Monroe County, OH site... which does have a lot of data on it. http://www.picosearch.com/ This will index all of your pages, and then your pages are completely searchable. It is also unobstrusive and doesn't require huge ads or any ugly things on your page <grin>. What you ask sounds simple, but the search engine would have to be individually set up for each county. You mention the number one reason I set up my pages the way I do. They are set up the way I like to research. I use the archives and GC Boards as an extention of my website, not "yet another place to go". Again, this is _just my opinion and the way I do my pages_. And I'm not trying to suggest what anyone should do or not do with their page. I'm trying to think of my personal criteria for deciding on putting something in the archives, and I think that simplistically, it is things/lists with people's names go in the archives. I keep libraries, research centers, historical societies, placenames, maps, photos, etc. on my webpage. I link to anything and everything that can help a researcher with his work: The SSDI, databases, websites pertaining to the area, histories, the archives, databases, etc. I provide information like which censuses were available for Racine, I link to what is online, and any additional sources I can find. If you hadn't noticed, a nice chunk of the people on the email lists think the only way to research genealogy is to ask an email list. I try to give them ideas. I don't live in WI like many CCs, but I do keep my eyes open. If someone doesn't care to transcribe (I would rather be poked in the eye than transcribe censuses), there is probably a nice large list of people on this email group willing to transcribe. County email lists are another source for people willing to do transcriptions. For Racine, I bought the 1900 CDs, and sent them off and someone else is transcribing them (they are almost done!) He's doing a terrific job, and it was worth the price to me. Kelly Racine County Genealogy http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiracine/ > -----Original Message----- > From: Melissa . [mailto:kewauneegen@hotmail.com] > Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2000 12:30 PM > To: WIGEN-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [WIGEN-L] Late Night Thinking > > > Hi again, > > I understand the point of the archives with the national search > capabilities > and I'm all for that, but why can't there be a search engine that > DOES cover > the county level if they are on the rootsweb server?