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Archiver > ACADIAN-CAJUN > 1999-10 > 0938804119


From: Yvon Cyr <>
Subject: Rootsweb needs your financial support!
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 14:55:19 -0400


Hi Folks:

The following message is posted for the benefit of "new" members of this
ACADIAN-CAJUN Mailing List and will be re-posted on an ongoing basis.
- -------------------------------------------------------------

Hope you're all enjoying the Mailing List! While I am the Listowner of the
ACADIAN-CAJUN Mailing List, I want to make it absolutely clear to everyone,
that I personally receive no remuneration, as Facilitator of this List. As a
matter of fact, I am a Rootsweb sponsor and, if you agree that you are
receiving benefits from being a subscriber, I encourage you all to consider
providing them a small donation. Read on...

WHY DOES ROOTSWEB NEED YOUR SUPPORT?
by Dr. Brian Leverich <>

Sometimes it is difficult for users to understand the costs
involved in operating RootsWeb and why it is worth genealogists'
time and money to support RootsWeb.
For example, take the United States census. RootsWeb is currently
providing server support to the USGenWeb Archives and Census
Projects as they bring the U.S. census online. Our goal is to
have both a searchable index to the census *AND* images of all
the pages available on an open basis for all Internet
genealogists.
Our best estimate is that bringing the census online will require
about 3.6 terabytes of data storage. That means we will need
about 200 18 GB hard disks, and each of those disks costs about
$1,000. That means the data storage alone is going to cost
$200,000, and that doesn't include the servers and the bandwidth
to make that storage accessible over the Web.
Is $200,000 a lot of money? Well, sort of. Regardless of how much
they want to help, Karen and Brian couldn't pay for that even if
they mortgaged their house and cashed in their pension savings.
On the other hand, $200,000 is only about 67 cents per user at
RootsWeb. That is about 1/100 of what some commercial firms are
charging for data they have locked up in members-only areas.
Bringing the U.S. census online is not the only project RootsWeb
supports. We are hosting literally hundreds of other data
projects, some American and many for other countries (like the
British FreeBMD Project).
If all (or even if most) of our users were contributors, there is
a lot RootsWeb could be doing to accelerate the rate at which
public records are brought online and opened to the public.
You can help us bring those records online.
For details about support levels/benefits and payment options,
visit <http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html>; or
send e-mail to <>. The regular mail address
is: RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative, P.O. Box 6798,
Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. (Please include your e-mail address
on all correspondence and checks sent to RootsWeb.)


"I AM ONE OF THE 7%" is a message we heard numerous times this
week in response to Dr. Leverich's article about who supports
RootsWeb. Your response has been encouraging, but growth is still
painfully slow. Who are the 7% of users who support RootsWeb? To
show our appreciation, RootsWeb has started a voluntary listing
of current RootsWeb contributors at any level. To register:
<http://www.rootsweb.com/~donors/addme.html>;; to see the listing:
<http://www.rootsweb.com/~donors/percent.html>;.

PS: If you decide to donate, please be certain to mention to Rootsweb, that you
are a subscriber of the ACADIAN-CAJUN Mailing List.


YVON L. CYR, Facilitator of Rootsweb's ACADIAN-CAJUN
Mailing List. For details see URL :
<http://www.acadian.org/genealogy/rootsweb.html>;

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