At 11:53 AM 12/7/03 -0600, Joan wrote: >We might get a great cc from a local society but then again, maybe not. > >As Nance worded so well yesterday, many of the county genealogy and >historical societies regard us as the "wicked internet woman/man" and have >some degree of competitive attitudes. Perhaps they fear we will put >everything on the internet they've indexed and no one will contact them >again to do research for $, and they will lose their *tight control* of the >data in *their* county. For this reason a local resident applying for a >site who has not been a contributor to boards and sites in the area should >be a big yellow caution light in the minds of the decision-makers. > >I can think of several counties where the WiGenWeb site was done by a local >resident and it was a store-front for a genealogy or historical society >with not alot of content on the pages or boards. In one WI county now >lacking a cc, any contributors were contacted by the pair of "volunteers" >and strongly discouraged from contributing to the messageboards or webpages >for the county, being told it was a big waste of time and they ought to >find another hobby, etc. However, I will say that it has been my experience where GenSocs or Historical societies cooperate with the CC, that it has been a win/win situation. When folks write to thank me for material on my website and wish to contribute $$, I say, thanks but no thanks - not that I'm wealthy by any standard in the USA, but instead ask that they contribute such to the local society or do a good deed for another researcher. That's thanks enough for me. I also actively encourage membership in the local societies by listmembers. Perhaps I've shared this before - but when one CC approached a local society about adding the indexes of one of their books online, they agreed on a trial basis; their book sales took off; so much so that they said - hey can you add the rest of our material - which the CC gladly did. The society was so impressed by the positive response that they mentioned the same at the state convention whereupon the state convention contacted us and fairly begged us to do the same for the other societies across the state of North Dakota. But not only there - I've heard much the same response in different parts of the country. Just 2 cents worth. Tim