This month's newsletter contains: * Getting to know us * Duplicate Requests * Reiteration * Will I Be Removed? * Grinning * On a Personal Note * Volunteer Stats 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. Anja van Steel Handles Non-USA From Down Under (Australia), South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria but originally from The Netherlands. She is a qualified Diversional Therapist for Aged Care, one of the pioneer educators in Australia for this field and has authored a book regarding aged care. However, at the present time she works permanently on the night shift (graveyard LOL) in the Emergency Services area. Hubby Glen, who is a tech guru (must be related to Doc) and who has no interest in genealogy. Give him a pc and he is happy. Mother of 3 adult children, no grandchildren - none that she has been told about. 2 dogs, Whitney a white (when she is not rolling in the mud) Shitzu, Reba, a Black Flat Coat Retriever who is a great alarm clock. 1 cat - Celine who thinks she can sing like her namesake and is always 'talking' to us. Been doing genealogy since 1980. Joined RAOGK more than 5 yrs ago. Relaxation: Visiting cemeteries, transcribing and photographing headstones in remote country areas. I take Reba with me on my trips, she loves to 'visit' the occupants and always picks a favorite plot to relax by, usually a child's grave. DUPLICATE REQUESTS We have the capability to monitor the requests to catch those folks who love to make the same exact request to all the volunteers in one area at the same time. Monitoring is being done in most areas at this time, although not all. Full monitoring will be in place by the middle of May. We are getting good feedback from the volunteers who have been contacted that they were among several volunteers who received the same request in the same area. The amazing find is that some volunteers were among the culprits sending duplicates. Then there was the person who sent requests to 23 volunteers. Many in the same areas, all requests were to do look-up requests in a local newspaper, not to obtain information for genealogy purposes, but for writing a book on baseball. Upon being chastised for doing this, the requester called the moderater a "prosecuting attorney." Wonder what he would say if the shoe was on the other foot? When a duplicate request is found, a message is sent out to the offender with the volunteers involved being carbon copied. Usually this will take place no more than 24 to 36 hours after the request has been made. Our advice is to wait to respond back to a request for at least 48 hours to make sure the request was not duplicated to another volunteer as well. It is up to you, the volunteer, to determine whether you want to go ahead and honor the request or not, and if you do, let the other volunteer(s) know. REITERATION I know that many of you have been with this site for what seems like forever, and I also imagine that you are probably tired of me harping on the subject of responding to requests. However, we get upwards of 50 to 100 new volunteers per month and they haven't heard the nag yet . So here goes: As much as you volunteers hate to receive duplicate requests (mentioned in the above section), the requesters are none to happy about not knowing if their request has been received and if it is going to be honored. And *I* am not too happy in receiving e-mails from these requesters who imply that we are morons for not addressing the issue of non-responding volunteers. So please, respond to all requests received whether you can honor them or not. I cannot stress this enough. Thank you. End of Nag. WILL I BE REMOVED? Lately we have been asked if a volunteer will be removed when they do respond back to a request but all they get in return is a message from a Spam Filter to 'click on the below link' to prove you are human, and decide not to click on that link. Well, no you won't be removed because of that reason. But keep your correspondence in case we receive a complaint that you did not reply back (you'll have proof you tried). Grounds for removal are few and usually very specific. If you are reported for not responding, and staff tries to communicate with you and also receives a non-response, then you will be removed. You will be removed if our e-mail address is bouncing both for the person reporting the bounce and ourselves. We always check out all complaints made on volunteers. Who knows, the complainer may just be a disgruntled requester trying to get even by reporting the volunteer. Another way to be removed is if this newsletter bounces back as 'user unknown' or 'not accepting mail from this sender' or if your mailbox is full two months in a row. Those of you on AOL, if we get a report from AOL that any mail coming from our domain (@raogk.org) is reported as Spam, you are subject to removal. From my understanding, if any of our messages hit your spam folder, don't delete it. If you delete it, it goes to the spam cops, this may not be your intention. I do not know if you can mark a message "NOT SPAM" and it gets transferred over to your inbox or not, but please do not hit the delete button. If enough messages are received by AOL's SpamCops regarding messages from our domain, they will block messages coming from our domain to other AOL volunteers (and this includes requests). We have around 1,000 volunteers who use AOL, this is just not fair to them or to those using our site. Thank you for being careful about this. GRINNING Last month, to help fund the site, we started a new venture for RAOGK. Our Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness Store. It was announced in the last newsletter and we would like to thank those who visited the store, and made purchases. Since the last newsletter we have added new items to the store, and to make your purchases easier from now until May 7 on any orders over $50 you will give $5 off -- you need to use the coupon code: 5MDAY. Also, if you see an item that you like, but not the logo that appears on it, or the location of the logo (there are about 3 different versions of our logo being used), you can write to me at raogk@raogk.org and let me know and I can create a special order for you. Please visit our store: http://www.roagk.org/store PERSONAL NOTE On Monday, April 4, RAOGK's Tech Guru (and my hubby) went in for back surgery. He is doing better and getting back to normal (whatever normal may be for him ). Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes we received. Critique: If you have read this newsletter, could you please place a vote whether it has been informative and helped you in any way. Thanks. http://www.raogk.org/vote/ CURRENT STATS Last month: 4598 This month: 4597 New: 112 Left: 78 Staff removals: 19 March Requests (to 1700 CST 31 Mar 2005): 9,556 USA volunteers received: 8,461 NON-USA volunteers received: 1,095 *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 March (failed to report last time): 107 (http://www.raogk.org/thanks/) Kudos for April: 113 Until next month. . . . . . . THE STAFF Bridgett, Michele, Bill, Madlyn, Anja, Terri, Nancy, Don and Doc, the Tech Guru