RHEA-L Archives

Archiver > RHEA > 2001-06 > 0992659183


From: "Patricia Hall" <>
Subject: [RHEA] New Changes- Ancestry, Rootsweb, Family History .com, GenConnect
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 21:39:43 -0500


This was sent to me from Ancestry, as I am a subscriber. Some of you may
also get this message and if you don't want it, delete it.
But I think for free you can't beat it.
Pat

List Coordinator
****
IMPORTANT MESSAGE BOARDS IMPROVEMENTS
You have probably heard about the new message board changes coming about in
the
next days and weeks. Ancestry.com and RootsWeb.com will be releasing a new
integrated message board system that is a combination of two powerful
message
board systems (i.e., GenConnect and FamilyHistory.com). Users will be able
to
take advantage of a much larger community in which to share experience,
tips,
and genealogical information.

Users will be able to access these new message boards on either RootsWeb.com
or
Ancestry.com, and message board access will remain free on both sites. (Any
FamilyHistory.com bookmarks will be redirected to the message boards at
Ancestry.com)

Overall, we expect the new system to be more stable and have more features.
Improvements include the following:

--- The new message boards database will be by far the largest collection of
such messages on the Internet. In fact, the FamilyHistory and RootsWeb
messages
are extremely complimentary. The majority of the messages on FamilyHistory
are
surname-based, while RootsWeb's strength is in the locality and topic areas.
Not
only will the new combination enjoy a larger set of data, but users will
have
access to a much larger audience.

--- The new message boards can now handle attachments to e-mail messages in
the
form of uploaded pictures (scanned documents, family photos, etc.) and
GEDCOM
files.

--- Users will be able to view the e-mail address of message authors and be
able
to respond to them easily and privately. However, the message boards cannot
be
"crawled" by unscrupulous third parties to gather e-mail addresses for spam
mailings.

--- Search functionality will be improved compared to either the RootsWeb or
FamilyHistory systems. Search hits will be ranked by relevance and wildcard
searches are available.

--- The hardware infrastructure supporting the new message boards is faster,
can
handle larger traffic loads, and is more stable. The new system is also less
expensive over time and easier to maintain.

The boards, however, will definitely be different. We hope that we have
preserved the important features and conveniences from FamilyHistory.com as
well
as added a few new bells and whistles. It is important to us that these new
boards continue to serve your needs.

We will be working hard to help you learn about the features of the new
system
so that they can continue to function as important research tools. Please
help
us by being communicative yet patient as we launch the new system.

Thanks again for your help.

Jake Gehring
Product Manager
Ancestry.com


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