CyndisList-L Archives

From: Cyndi Howells <>
Subject: A Decade of Cyndi's List
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 19:33:44 -0800

Hello all -

Ten years ago, on March 4, 1996, I posted online my first attempt at
a personal web site. Our personal site had our surnames, articles,
and several other things that we planned to expand upon over time.
One small portion of the site was a list of links to genealogy web
sites. It was one web page with more than 1,000 links. I had no idea
that I had just created a monster that would take on a life of its
own. Since that time I have been the coyote, and Cyndi's List has
been the roadrunner--taking me on a frantic chase to try and keep up
with it, while also periodically dropping a virtual anvil on my head.

The original announcement was posted on Roots-L Tue, 5 Mar 1996 with
the subject line: "A New Web Site is Spun!" In that message I
bragged: "The many resources include:...a categorized list with over
1,000 links to genealogy Internet sites." See the archived copy
at:
http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/textindices/R/ROOTS+1996+983115229706+F
I had no way of knowing how big this little list was going to become,
or what impact it would have on my life.

Since that day ten years ago life has not been dull. My son, Evan,
was born (8 years old now). I've been through 5 computers and written
three books. The site gained a corporate sponsor and then lost it
three years later when Sierra sold the genealogy division. I have had
the wonderful experience of traveling and speaking to hundreds of
genealogy groups about this engrossing hobby of ours. Travel and
trips have now been curtailed by family illnesses, but a break there
means more time on the web site again. The ups and downs of running a
site of this magnitude have worn me out often. But about the time I
want to throw up my hands and run away I get a big lift from one of
the thousands of visitors to my site: I receive a nice message
telling me how helpful the site has been in their research. That is
all it takes so that I'm off and running full steam ahead again.

Cyndi's List began as a six-page written article for my local
genealogical society. When I put it online on March 4, 1996 my
intension was to continue growing the list of links so that they
might be helpful to other interested genealogists online. That
intension hasn't ever changed. However, the amount of time and effort
certainly has!

What is Cyndi's List? The same research tool now that it was ten
years ago (only bigger):
--A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical
resources on the Internet.
--A list of links that point you to genealogical research
sites online.
--A free jumping-off point for you to use in your online research.
--A "card catalog" to the genealogical collection in the immense
library that is the Internet.
--Your FREE genealogical research portal onto the Internet.

For anyone interested in learning more about using Cyndi's List, see
the syllabus material created for my lecture, "A Guided Tour of
Cyndi's List" http://www.CyndisList.com/guidedtour.pdf

For anyone interested in the history of Cyndi's List this timeline
will take you down memory lane:
Cyndi's List Historical Timeline
http://www.CyndisList.com/faq/timeline.htm
On March 4, 1996 Cyndi's List started out with 1 page, 1,025 links, a
handful of categories, and just one caretaker. Today, 10 years after
its creation Cyndi's List has:
--251,235 total links
--242,672 categorized links
--8,563 "What's New" links submitted by visitors
--684 individual web pages
--Visits through the front page: more than 43 million
--An average of 2 million page hits each month
--1 part-time employee, Michele
--1 periodic dabbler and caffeine-delivery person, Mark
--1 full-time caretaker, Cyndi

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the site I have given Cyndi's
List an all-new layout with streamlined navigation. Now there is less
white space with the content being moved up and to the left on each
page. There is now a Google search box at the top of each page.
Hopefully the rest of the navigation is more intuitive than in the
previous version. The indexes, categories, sub-categories, and web
page addresses are all the same. I have many more ideas and plans for
things that I would like to do on the site. Michele and I have a big
to-do list that we are whittling away at a little at a time. Come
back and visit the site often to see how we progress.

I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Cyndi's List
over the last decade. Without you, your feedback, and your
constructive criticism, I wouldn't have continued this long. Your
ongoing support and enthusiasm for genealogy and the Internet have
been an inspiration to me. Thank you for your many friendships and
kindnesses through the years!

Cyndi Howells
http://www.CyndisList.com

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• A Decade of Cyndi's List by Cyndi Howells <>