This month's newsletter contains: * HAPPY NEW YEAR * LINKING TO RAOGK * DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR KINDNESS SAYS? * RAOGK PERK? MAYBE * GEEK SPEEK * SHOPS * KUDOS * STAFF * THANK YOU * CURRENT STATS HAPPY NEW YEAR Another year is under way, and all of our staff wish everyone a healthy and prosperous one. We also wish to thank you for being the generous people you are in allotting time to help others in their quest to find who their ancestors are. Without you wonderful volunteers, RAOGK would not be seeing its 8th anniversary online just around the corner. LINKING TO RAOGK In the FAQ's for Volunteers ( http://www.raogk.org/faq-vols.htm ) we tell you how you can link to the website within your signature line. Occasionally we get queried on how to present a link to RAOGK via a website. I've add a web page to give you the coding for signature lines and for linking through a website: http://www.raogk.org/linking.html However, I am noticing a lot of postings to message boards and mailing lists that link to pages within the site. We would prefer you to just link to the main page and not "deep" link to another page. We have in bright red on the main page "Looking For a Volunteer" with links to the FAQ's which will then take folks to the table of states and countries. Bypassing this step causes folks to not know that it is wrong to send the same request to more than one volunteer in the same location, to complain about some volunteers asking for a fee while others don't, and to make a request that is so outlandish they just don't understand why you can't do all their research for them. Yes, we have received complaints that the site is not easy to navigate. However, if one *reads* and follows the directions, instead of just scanning what is put before them, then the navigation flows like it should. DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR LISTING SAYS? Many volunteers upon signing up, will check off one of the selections listed under "My act of kindness". We used these phrases a long time ago as those acts were being submitted most of the time. But the selection of "Public Records lookups and copying" is so general that many volunteers run into being asked to do searches that they cannot do. Some get frustrated and just quit. Others have more luck in just changing their listing to be more specific. This is very easy to do by going to http://www.raogk.org/change.html As volunteers, we would like the requester to be as specific as possible in what they are wanting us to do. It makes our life less chaotic. Please be specific and to the point when listing what volunteer work you are able to do. Try to put yourself in the position of a person making a request. Consider what you would need to know from the volunteer to determine if that person would be able to find what you are looking for. Include that information in your listing. Location, location, location. If there are just certain areas of your county and/or area you are willing to go to, it would be best to list this in your act of kindness. As an example, you can indicate you will take photos in cemeteries within a 25 mile radius of [your location]. If there are some cemeteries you will not go to within that 25 mile radius, list those exceptions. Really read your act of kindness. Our staff members just cut and paste what is submitted. Many do not have the time to check out if the word cemetery is spelled with all e's or cematery or genealogy spelled correctly or the oft misspelled version of geneology. RAOGK PERK? MAYBE Our RAOGK Tech, Doc, found an online calendar that can be set up for individual use. This calendar is easy to navigate around and to set up for your personal tastes, and sends out reminders to you when you ask it to do so. The staff has used it and has enjoyed it and the suggestion was made to possibly offer it to the volunteers. If there is enough interest in such an application, then we will move forward and make it available to the volunteers. If you are interested, please send your wishes to feedback@raogk.org subject: Calendar GEEK SPEEK About the first part of January we started noticing a traffic increase on our mail servers. This increase coincided with several viruses that raised their ugly heads and became rampant on the internet. Most of these viruses turn your computer into a zombie remotely controlled by spammers. In one day our mail servers were hit with over 91,000 spam messages !! (this was on all our different mail servers and not just RAOGK's) This is totally unacceptable, and a drain in our ability to service RAOGK and other clients as well. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if you don't have a virus protection program, get one. AVG (I use this one personally), a free anti-virus program, can be downloaded by going to http://www.grisoft.com/ and following the links to download it. If you do have an anti-virus program, UPDATE IT and USE IT. Just having one on your computer does not protect you; you have to use it and updated it at lease once a week (if not having the software update automatically). After updating your program, run a FULL system scan with it, not just selected areas. We are not saying that these viruses are coming from a RAOGK volunteer, we are just putting out the request to make you aware of our situation. Doc -- RAOGK tech guru. SHOPS A new item has been added to the RAOGK Shop. This item is especially for RAOGK volunteers as it is a notebook/journal where you can keep track of your requests. Small enough you can carry with you as a reminder of what you might be looking up and for whom. Tracking Requests: http://www.cafepress.com/raogk.103230216?pid=2851439&tid=701 and since there was no way to show what the pages look like on the inside with the cover, here is a snapshot of a page from the .pdf file: http://raogk.org/graphics/example_page.png Genealogy For You Shop http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou?pid=2851439&tid=701 This shop has one new design. It was an idea one of our volunteers came up with: Cemetery Junkie: http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/2407919?pid=2851439&tid=701 Have an idea of a design to go on products? You can submit them to feedback@raogk.org Subject: Designs I am also trying to get as many designs on our dark shirts (black, navy, military green and 'cardinal'). This is taking time, but am adding any new work to a section called "What's New" http://www.cafepress.com/genealogyforyou/2075083?pid=2851439&tid=701 I really need to hurry up with this as there is a hint that more new colors are coming our way for t-shirts, along with another style of t- shirt. So stay tuned. Cafepress.com is offering FREE SHIPPING for orders of $50 or more through midnight February 14 (PST). Coupon Code: VDAYSHIP (some restrictions do apply tho). As a reminder, sales made from these shops go towards maintaining the website and keeping it online. KUDOS http://www.raogk.org/thankyou/ Since the new Thank You area went on line the following volunteers have received kudos: December 31: Robert J. Stauffer, Jr. (MO); Randy White (Canada); Lauren Richard (SC); Trevia Beverly (TX); Debbie Bert (MI); Ellen Bishop (SD); Carol (MI); Dona Burnett (IL) January: Donna Perry (OH); Warren Hilt (WA); Andrea Zupan (PA); Ann Morey (OH); Frederick W. Reeve (NJ); Jan (UT); Jan Robinson (FL); Roger Cortis and Jurek Douglas (England); Lawrence Chin (Singapore); Bill and Barbara Ziegenmeyer (AZ); Beth Klingensmith (CO); Betty Helf (CA); Diana Watson (PA); Sandra Eberhardt (TN); Charlie Peasha (MN) Congratulations to all. STAFF Would you like to be a member of the RAOGK staff? There are several positions that are needing to be filled. One position will be learning the various tasks of the current staff members and called upon to fill-in when someone needs some time off. There are a couple of openings for folks who are knowledgeable with PR. All positions are non-paying volunteer positions and can be done from your home. If you are interested, please send a message to feedback@raogk.org with the subject of Application. Your message should indicate why you would like to become a member of the staff, what you believe you could do to contribute to the site, and computer skills. Thanking you in advance for your interest. THANK YOU A great big THANK YOU goes out to one and all who have helped RAOGK to continue to be a presence online. Your purchases through one of our stores or by sending a contribution via PayPal or check are very much appreciated. Also, thanks goes out to all who have suggested to their requesters to make a contribution to the site as well. We have received a few messages that indicated it was suggested to them to do so by their very capable volunteer. http://www.raogk.org/support.html CURRENT STATS Last month: 4148 This month: 4149 New: 60 Left: 27 Staff removals*: 30 January Requests (through January 26, 2007): USA volunteers received: 4968 NON-USA volunteers received: 499 *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, Anja, Terri, Nancy, Jo, Bonnie, Melissa, Brenda, Dennis, Wanda, and Doc, the Tech Guru