This month's newsletter contains: * A little bit of history, Part 2 * Getting to know us * What's New * A Problem solved? Sort of. * Your vote counts * Sponsoring * Volunteer Stats A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY, Part 2 When I took over the reins of the site in April of 1999, I closed it down for a month to get it reorganized with a new URL and some extra features. Luckily the volunteers stuck with us, along with those who had volunteered to staff the site. And the site kept on growing and growing and growing, all by word of mouth. About 6 months later the URL changed once more, and we became a little more established. As we had always been hosted by RootsWeb.com, and the popularity increasing RootsWeb allowed us to use the URL http://raogk.rootsweb.com. Our usage and volunteers increased however when we were finally listed on the main page of RootsWeb.com about January of 2000. By mid-2001, we realized two things. That behind the scene changes needed to occur for the site's continued growth and usage, and it was time to move RAOGK off of the RootsWeb's servers to our own. We purchased the RAOGK domains, and began working on the backend changes that needed to be made. In January of 2002, we made our "debut" on the internet with our own home address, www.raogk.org. More to come next month. . . . . GETTING TO KNOW US Have you ever wondered who the people behind the scenes are besides names at the bottom of each newsletter? All of us, except one, are just like you -- bitten by the genealogy bug and by becoming a volunteer and subsequently a staff member trying to "pass on" the kindness shown to us by others. So I thought I would highlight a member or two of the staff in this and future issues of the newsletter. Michele Hassell Handles HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC VA, WA, WV, WI, WY Next in line with staff longevity is Michele, joining staff in the summer of 2000. She arrived in this world in the State of Montana, and has lived in Oregon (Ashland area) since 1960. Between birth and 1960 she's lived in Utah, Arizona and Taiwan. This registered nurse has been happily married for almost 35 years with 8 children and 16 beautiful grandchildren (I've seen pictures !!) She's been seriously researching her roots since 1986. WHAT'S NEW Since July 2002 we have had an area on the site where researchers can proclaim in public how well you folks do what you do. In the newsletters we call it 'kudos' and on the site it was located in the guestbook area. Since 2002 we have had well over 1100 postings and the software was beginning to get cranky. We've been "shopping" around for something suitable for our needs that would also contain, or have the ability to contain, some of the features you folks have requested. One was finally found, and now we have a new "THANK YOU" area on the site (http://www.raogk.org/thanks/). I took the liberty of taking all the February 'thank yous' and entered them into the new area so folks would have something to read for this past month. The old 'thank yous' can still be reached through a link at the bottom of the new area, however, posting is only enabled at the new area. A PROBLEM SOLVED? SORT OF. Since our format for making requests changed in August 2004, we have had problems with requesters making typographical errors when entering their e-mail address. These errors produced bounces back to us of their blind carbon copy and volunteers wondering what to do when their messages are returned to them as well. In this past month we have made it mandatory for a requester to enter their e-mail address twice, if they do not match, they are told the addresses do not match and to re- enter. Since this new requirement was put in place last week, we have received only one bounce. Quite a difference from the 2 or 3 a day we were getting. As volunteers, you now should have fewer problems acknowledging the requests you receive (whether you can honor the request or not). YOUR VOTE COUNTS RAOGK has been entered into a "Favorite Genealogy Site on the Net" contest, sponsored by Genealogical Journeys In Time. At the bottom of every page on the Random Acts site there is a graphic to vote for the site in this contest. Clicking on this graphic will take you to a "thank you for voting" page. In 2002, we won their contest for "Best Genealogy Site of the Year," hopefully we can reclaim that title in 2005. So if each and everyone of you would go to one of the RAOGK pages and click on that link, that will register as a vote. You can only vote once in a 24 hour period. SPONSORING From time to time I mention those kind-hearted folks who have sent support for the site our way. Every little bit helps and to see a list of those who have sent funds you can do so by going to http://www.raogk.org/supporters.html. If you would like to see your name listed on this page, you can follow the directions at http://www.raogk.org/support.html. CURRENT STATS Last month: 4568 This month: 4607 New: 122 Left: 63 Staff removals: 18 *Staff removals are those folks whose e-mail address has been reported bouncing and confirmed or volunteers who, over the course of trying many times, did not respond back to requesters or staff. Kudos for February: 78 (http://www.raogk.org/thanks/) Until next month. . . . . . . THE STAFF Bridgett, Michele, Bill, Madlyn, Anja, Terri and Doc, the Tech Guru