Newsletter, February 2006, Vol V, Issue 2 This month's newsletter contains: * A MUST DO * PUBLIC RECORDS * ACTS OF KINDNESS * IT IS A PROCEDURAL THING * RANT OF THE MONTH * ATTENTION -- BANNED * WHAT'S NEW AT THE STORE * SEEKING . . . * CURRENT STATS A MUST DO Among the small list of 'must do's' as a volunteer for RAOGK is reading this newsletter. Important policy changes and notices are put into these newsletters regarding being a volunteer. As of late, the staff is receiving too many inquiries about current procedures that have been mentioned in the newsletters and/or even outlined in the FAQ's for Volunteers (http://www.raogk.org/faq-vols.htm). PUBLIC RECORDS Ever since 1999 when a form was put online to fill in to volunteer, there have been several pre-choices that you could select as an Act of Kindness. One of those selections is "Public Records Lookups." There has been much discussion amongst the staff what is considered public records. We have come to the conclusion it depends upon with whom you are talking. The easy answer is 'what ever is out there for the public to see and obtain.' However, if someone selects the pre- choice of Public Record Lookups when signing up they may be thinking obituaries while someone else would be thinking courthouse documents. Sometimes this causes a dilemma for both the volunteer and for the requester as well. The volunteer form will probably be changed sometime in the future (no date for this change is available at this time) to show more specific pre-selections. These pre-selections will probably be worded similar to "County Records lookups (wills, deeds, birth, marriage records)," "Obituaries," "Videotaping Cemeteries," "Still photos of tombstones" and possibly other choices as well. ACTS OF KINDNESS You may want from time to time review what you have listed as your "Act of Kindness" (aka AOK), in fact it is highly recommended that you do so. To be able to view your AOK go to the location for which you are volunteering and find your listing. Having trouble finding the page with your location? Just go to http://www.raogk.org/listing.htm and select the state or country from that page and proceed from there. It is advised and highly recommended that you bookmark that listing page. Suggestion. If you have just the "Public Records Lookups" in your listing, however you don't do obituaries, submit a Change of AOK form (http://www.raogk.org/change.html) and submit a change to read something like "Public record lookups, NO obituaries." If you are willing to do any vital record lookups (not on the living of course) indicate from what year to what year is available (i.e. marriages from 1783 to 1930). If doing cemetery research/pictures and there is only a certain part of your location you will go to, be specific. It may even be better to list the cemeteries you will be able to visit. If your list is long, it would probably be better to list the cemeteries you will NOT go to. IT IS A PROCEDURAL THING Want to change something regarding your listing? A change of address possibly or even going on vacation. *Nothing* can be done with your listing unless you go to the change form (http://www.raogk.org/change.html) and fill in the appropriate one. We announced a new procedure when receiving complaints on volunteers. We always check with the volunteer first before doing anything, but while checking the complaint out a volunteer is removed from the viewing public (NOT FROM THE SITE). Please go to the November 2005 newsletter (http://www.raogk.org/newsletters/2005-11.txt) and scroll down to where it says "ATTENTION ALL VOLUNTEERS" and read about this procedure. RANT OF THE MONTH My biggest beef with correspondence coming into my mailbog is the inability of people being able to read. The next is, apparently they have read what they needed to read but then think "it doesn't apply to me." Next in line is when you gently show them they have bent the rules in some fashion but because of special circumstances the rules just do not apply to them, and that the people running this site are rude and the word 'Kindness' needs to be removed from the site's name. Usually you only run into a person who you could identify with just one of my beefs, and when shown the error of their ways they are appreciative of being lead by the nose to the correct method. However, this month the award winner for my "RANT OF THE MONTH" award hit all 3 nails on the head. This person hit a nerve so raw that I even posted about it on all of my personal blogs, now that is bad. ATTENTION -- BANNED I think this is the first time I've ever banned someone with a whole lot of prejudice. A requester does not call a volunteer a bad name and expect to gain our services any longer. I cannot post what the volunteer was called, as the message would get caught in spam filters. To top it off this requester WAS a volunteer -- until he was removed. Please if you get a request from a James Morrow. He was banned using the address tjflowers@optonline.net. If you should receive a request from this person just respond with "I am sorry I cannot honor this request." Say no more, just those words. Thank you for understanding. WHAT'S NEW AT THE STORE Do you have Irish ancestors? I have added two new designs on Genealogy For you just for St. Patrick's Day http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/1198719?pid=2851439&tid-0602 I sort of broke away from Genealogy this past month and decided to build a site for my 2nd next passion Cairn Terriers (the pup that was the star of Wizard of Oz). If you are a Cairn Terrier lover check out the designs that are available on totes, t-shirts, mugs and all the rest at Cairn Productions http://www.cairnproductions.com If you are like me (hopefully not too many of you are, if so this world is in big trouble, LOL), up pops an event on your calendar for which you need some kind of greeting card and you don't have any laying around to send. I also have many people who are not on a computer where the ability to just send an e-card is not an option. I found an online site that was the answer to my prayers. This online card store (http://www.genealogyforyou.com/?cat=11#cards) has a wide selection of pre-printed cards for you to choose from (or you can even build your own). You provide the address, they provide the stamp and will even mail it for you. The cost is not any higher than going to a store, buying a good quality card, the stamp, the time and the gas it takes to get this purchase done. I'm sold, hope you will be as well. (Only available to those in the USA). Don't forget that you can purchase t-shirts, mugs, Thank You cards, and our very own recipe book at the RAOGK Online store: http://www.cafepress.com/raogk?pid=2851439&tid-0602 SEEKING. . . Corporate sponsorship. If anyone knows of a corporation who may want to sponsor our site, please let advise. Thank you. If you would like to contribute to the 'cause,' you may do so by going to http://www.raogk.org/support.html CURRENT STATS Last month: 4341 This month: 4325 New: 86 Left: 38 Staff removals*: 38 February Requests (through February 26, 2005): 6,822 USA volunteers received: 6,122 NON-USA volunteers received: 700 *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. The STAFF thanks you for volunteering and until next month. . . . . . THE STAFF Bridgett, Michele, Bill, Madlyn, Anja, Terri, Nancy, Bobbi and Doc, the Tech Guru