Motion #01-19
"I move that the Advisory Board, acting in consulation with the members
of the USGenWeb Project at large, compose and send a letter to the
management of Rootsweb.com requesting that the access privileges of
those USGenWeb Project members whose Rootsweb use permission was
suspended in 1999 be fully restored.
The letter shall contain a clause indicating recognition that Brian
Leverich had, at the time the use permissions were suspended, the
legal right to deny access to the servers he owned, and that the
current owners of Rootsweb likewise have the legal right to deny
access to the servers they own, with no cause required. The basic
approach taken shall be that we interpret the generous policies of
Rootsweb of giving free, no ads web space to USGenWeb sites and
free, no ads email list hosting to mailing lists established for
USGenWeb project members to be an indication that Rootsweb wishes
to facilitate the healthy and unhindered operation of the USGenWeb
Project, and that since the inability of several of our members in
good standing to fully utilize the resources that Rootsweb provides
is an impediment to that operation, we sincerely desire that the
suspension, which was originally proclaimed as temporary, now be
lifted. The tone shall be cordial and the letter shall contain an
expression of gratitude for Rootsweb's past and continued support
of the USGenWeb Project.
It shall also contain a section declaring that the project members
whose access privileges were suspended have agreed to the provisions
of the Rootsweb Acceptable Use Policy posted at:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/rootsweb/aup.html
and at
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/rootsweb/aboutus.html
(If any of the suspended individuals do not agree to this section,
their name(s) shall be omitted from the list of project members
whose access privileges we are requesting be restored.)
The procedure for composing the letter will be that any Advisory
Board member wishing to submit a draft shall post it to
BOARD-L@rootsweb.com, and either post copies to the mailing
lists USGW-CC-L@usgennet.org and USGENWEB-ALL-L@rootsweb.com, or
include permission that the draft be forwarded those lists and to
any project member, with a request for comments. Each draft author
may repeatedly submit revised drafts, based on incorporating the
suggestions made by members at large or by substituting sections
or phrases from the drafts submitted by other Advisory Board members.
Since the those members whose Rootsweb access privileges were suspended
are the most materially affected by this motion, suggestions that any
of them might wish to make about its wording should be considered
most seriously, so long as they are consistent with the basic
approach outlined above.
Within two weeks after passage of this motion (earlier if the revision
process seems to have settled down), the Advisory Board shall vote
upon which version of the letter or petition is most preferred, with
repeated votes if necessary dropping off the least preferred version
each round, until some version gains the support of a majority. That
version shall then be sent immediately.
If this motion passes by a 3/4 majority, then the letter shall be
signed as "The USGenWeb Project Advisory Board". If it passes by a
smaller majority, then the letter shall be signed by a list of
individual Board members, with any dissenting Board member free
to leave their name off the signature list. Regardless of the
majority of passage, the National Coordinator may sign or not sign
at his discretion.
The letter itself will contain no signatures other than those of
Advisory Board members and possibly the National Coordinator, but
members of the Project at large shall be free to submit petitions
to Rootsweb indicating either support or opposition to the Board's
request."
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