Volunteer Host Information for Genealogy Trails (2024)

So maybe you've been cruising through our websites and find that you're excited by what you see us trying to do.And you're asking yourself, how do I become a part of this? Or maybe you're saying to yourself, I wish I coulddo this, but I don't think I have the skills. Or maybe you're just saying I need to know more of what's involvedbefore I commit to anything. You've come to the right page :-)

We are a group of volunteers trying to put as much free genealogical andhistorical data online as possible. If that's not where your interests lie, then there's really no point in youreading on.
But if you agree with our philosophy of trying to put as much data online for the free use of all,then you're exactly what we're looking for!

First.... a little history

Now for the details about joining our group as an unpaid volunteer County Host....(did we just lose you? :-)

What's needed to host a county website....

You pretty much need to know howto type - accuracy is more important than speed.
You need to have access to non-copyrighteddata to transcribe for your county and the desire to transcribe that data.
You must know how to make a basicwebpage.

If you're stopping readingright here.....
There are tutorials to help you learn how to make webpages - it's not that tough, honest. Many of our hosts werecomplete html newbies and now they're churning out webpages left and right. We can't teach you how though, cuz we're absolutelyswamped with transcribing.

If you don't want to learn the ins and outs of html, then you can always use download an html editor, looking forthe word "WYSIWYG" is the programs description - that means it works like WORD works... all the htmlformatting is done for you behind the scenes. Examples of WYSIWYG editors are html-notepad.com, TRELLIAN WEBPAGE, KOMPOZER,SEAMONKEY,Bluegriffon, Microsoft Web Expressions 4 ...and the old Frontpage if you can find a copy.

Want a head start on designing an index page, (which is usually a bit more complicated than the interior webpages)...Here's a

basic webpage template to make a county index page.

If you've tried, but you just can't pick up the "how-to's" of making a webpage, write us and we'll see if we can't set something up for you. But first, PLEASE give it a try.

What's involved in hosting a County website?

See Also

50 Free Genealogy Sites to Search TodaySouth Bend Indiana FamilySearch Center

The responsibilities of a County Host are as follows:

1. The biggest responsibility ofa Genealogy Trails Host is to transcribe data on a regular basis.
That's what our group is about. If you don't want to transcribe data, you might as well stop reading right now.This is a deal-breaker.
Many of our hosts try to make monthly updates, some weekly, others every two or three months. Some folks workin spurts as their schedules allow and that is fine too. Just make the effort to keep the website current and we'llbe happy. We ask that all hosts try to add a little something to their sites every quarter. We're not talkingtranscribing a census every quarter - though feel free to, lol. Researchers will LOVE YOU if you do. But whatwe're talking about is transcribing a couple of obituaries and/or biographies every 3 months. If you don't have thetime to do even that, then hosting a site is probably not for you. Websites that sit without any new data addedto them for extended periods of time quickly lose their appeal to researchers. The more you transcribe, the morelikely your website visitors will be inspired to contribute data to your site.

Data to be included are items such as Census, Cemeteries, Marriages, Deaths, Histories, Biographies, etc. followingall copyright laws. A good place to begin is with the documents you already have gathered from your own familyhistory. Putting your data online will also increase the chances you'll meet up with somebody researching yourown family. As you get that data online, you'll want to branch out into data that is beneficial to a widerrange of researchers rather than just the ones researching your own family lines. You'll want to progress to transcribinglists of names, rather than just snagging one or two surnames out of a list.

2.

Accept data contributions and place them online. If researchers donate their records to Genealogy Trails for your County, it's your jobto place that data online, giving a copyright to the person who submitted the material. However, this doesn't meanyou have to accept someone's gedcom or family tree and post it online for them; rather we want the records theyfound that helped them create that family tree, rather than the tree itself.
Just a note about the data - It is important to realizethat researchers are contributing their family information to the GenealogyTrails project, not to YOU, the county host. If you leave our group for whatever reason, every attempt will be made to retain the datathat researchers contributed to for that website. It's a confusing point and many of our hosts get attached to"their" researchers, so it's just good to make things as clear as we can. Any data that's on a sitewhen you join us WILL remain with that site.
Onward.....

What should your website look like?

You can be as creative as you'd like with your pages in the style and color of your choice, making sure to includethe following

WEBPAGE ELEMENTS:

LINKS - Required ones are: back toour main Genealogy Trails page, your state's main index page and to the surrounding counties.The links must be displayed on your main index page, usually near thebottom of the page is a good place.CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS - displayedin an obvious place on the index page of the website so researchers can contact you with questions or data contributions.LOGO: Your main page must include the OFFICIAL GenealogyTrails Logo of your choice and it needs to be displayed near the top ofyour index page. Once you join us, you can visit our Graphics Page to pick up one of the OFFICIAL Genealogy TrailsLogo. (No, you cannot make your own logo, nor can you alter one ofours) We don't require logos on every page of the website, but you shouldbe sure to include a link back to your county's own main index page for the visitor's convenience.

Your site should

Include a brief history of your County. Let visitors know what your County was all about. You can include historical photographs,biographies, public officials, tax lists from the past. Libraries are excellent places to find public-domain materialslike this to include. Other than that, you're free to add whatever other copyright-free data you can find.

You can create your pages in any style or color that you like, as long as theabove elements are present.
We would appreciate it if you crunch/optimize any graphics used in making the site. We try and keep our sitesquick loading and big graphics, besides being wasteful of our server space, can slow a website down to a crawl,costing you viewers. Also, our data files are in html format, trying tokeep the webpages as simple as possible for the fastest loading possible. We do not use pdf files due to theirlarge size, the long time they take to actually open and the fact they do not get included in search engines.

It is your choice as to whether you add surname/query/brickwall webpages, links to informational websites suchas area libraries and societies, etc. The only type of links we don't want are links to commercial websites (ancestry,familytreemaker, genealogy.com, etc - they don't need our help and many users can't access them). Remember though- a link is an excuse to leave your website. You're doing a lot of work to attract visitors to your site and whenyou provide a link, you're providing an easy way for visitors to leave your site... so you'll want to make surethat there's a good reason for providing a link that's going to take your website's visitor away to someone else'ssite.

We have no commercial ads or banners on our sites. We want to keep it that way.

Where do I place my site?
Hosts are NOT required to use our server, though the index page of yourwebsite must be on our serverunder our domain umbrella, and displaying only our group's logo. The other webpages of the site may be placed onany server you want - you are not required to use our webspace. There are companies who offer free webspace, thoughthey're dwindling rapidly...

We offer unlimited webspace for Genealogy Trails websites under our genealogytrails.com domain. If you choose toput your webpages on our server, you will be given a password and that space will be considered yours as long asyou are hosting for Genealogy Trails. We will respect your privacy and not interfere with the files you place init. There may be instances where we will have to access the ftp space you are using, but these instances are extremelyrare and are usually confined to cases of administrative emergencies. If you leave our group, the password willbe changed to protect the privacy of the next host. Again, we ask that you use the space we provide wisely andit is ONLY for our G.T. sites.

DATA ISSUES - who owns the data?
If a researcher contributes it, it's their data.
If a host transcribes it from copyright-free sources, it's their data.
But here's the thing - you're joining a group whose goal is to transcribe data, data and more data for the solepurpose of keeping genealogy free. Why then would you ask for it to be removed? As much as we want to accommodateevery request to remove an ex-host's data, it's just not possible to do, especially for a very active transcriber.And it's definitely not fair to the researchers to have to visit an empty site. So our policy is that if a hostfeels the need to ask for their owntranscribed data to be removed, we will attempt to remove the data that host transcribed for their own county site(s) only. If in the unlikely event that the ex-host plans on asking for theirdata to be removed from their own county site, they need to do that within 3days of leaving the group. After the 3 days elapses, the data WILL REMAINONLINE on the county site of the host, as the host originally intended.

We all work together on unhosted sites and we have a transcription team whose sole function is to transcribe data.Having that data there one day and gone the next is totally unfair to the researchers and other hosts, especiallysince we provide a lot of the data to be transcribed and also pay for the subscriptions which a host can also usefor their family research. Accordingly then, our policy for host contributed data to sites

otherthan their own is that the data will notbe removed once it's online. It's just too hard and time-consuming togo through over a 200,000webpages trying to find who did what, when. So if a host or transcription teammember made a wonderful gift to researchers by transcribing some data for a county or state other than their ownsite, we will accept that gift in the spirit it was given and will continue to display the data online, even aftera host has left the group.

To try and make this as clear as possible: --- Your transcribed data for your individual county site is yours todo with as you please, leaving it online here, or even contributing it to other genealogical projects, but if wedon't hear from you within 3 days of leaving the group, it will continue to be used by and posted on GenealogyTrails websites for the free use of researchers just like you originally intended it to be. Any data you contributedto a site other than your own county will NOT be removed. Material contributed by others, which a host may haveposted, will remain the property of the contributor, not the host, and should not be used on any other site withoutthe written permission of the submitter.

For 99.9% of our hosts, all of the above means nothing because they've already made it very clear they want theirdata to remain online for the free use of all researchers. For that other .1% -- we'll try our best to accommodatethe wishes of the host, but there's a point where it's just not feasible, and the guidelines above reflect thoseinstances.

And now, moving on....

And lastly,

does this cost anything?Well.... yes.... our volunteers pay to work for free. How crazy is that!!! But being a group of volunteers withno big corporations hiding behind us to pay our server bill, we need to be able to pay that bill somehow. So thevolunteers of the group decided that Annual Dues of $5 would be more than enough to pay for our server space which we offer to hosts under our domain name. We collect dues once a year in February cuz that's when the server bill isdue. It is a flat fee of $5 per host, not per number of counties that the host may manage. The dues are requiredeven if you do not host your site on our server. If the $5 is a hardship, we can work this out. Please do not let this be the only reason youdecide not to join us. Many of our hosts contribute a little extra every year to help cover hosts who can't pay.Did I mention we have a really good bunch of folks working together?

Sound good? Still interested?

Contact Usand let's set the process inmotion!!!

Thinking about wanting to be a STATE HOST?

Skills and requirements are a little different for this job because there's more work involved.... First, see ifthe state is available

here. If so, here are the job responsibilities.What skills do I need?

You need to know how to type- accuracy is more important than speed.
You need to have access to non-copyrighteddata to transcribe for your county and state and the desire to transcribe that data.
You must know how to make a basicwebpage.

What are my responsibilities as a Statehost?State Hosts are also expected to transcribe data - this is why we're differentfrom other online projects and this is why folks are so supportive of our group ... data... data... data.

State hosts are making a commitment to work on a number of sites that are not their "own". They're agreeingto add contributed data from researchers and hosts to the unhosted county sites in the state. They need to agreeto do this on a regular schedule. As a state host, you need to be able to commit the time every month to add datato the sites or you will fall hopelessly behind. (We get a lot of data contributions!) At the end of a year, ina perfect world, a state host should have tried to add some pieces of data to every unhosted county site.

If you feel like you have the time to devote to hosting a state, we're going to still start you off hosting a countysite only for the first month or two. This will give you time to adjust to online genealogy, get your "sea-legs"under you and will help you decide if this is really something you want to do before making the full commitmentto host the state. After the initial month or two and if everybody's happy with each other, we'll expand to thefull state hosting duties.

State Host Data Requirements:

1. State Hosts should host at least one county and provide transcribed data for that county, as well as state-basedtranscribed data (when able to). Set a good example for your county hosts. When they see you working hard transcribing,they will be inspired to work just as hard with you. View the countyhost responsibilities above - they apply here as well.

2. State Hosts are responsible for accepting transcribed data for unhosted counties and placing it within the websiteon a timely basis and providing a link to that data. (However, this doesn't mean you have to accept someone's gedcomor family tree and post it online for them; rather we want the records they found that helped them create thatfamily tree.) (View the county hostresponsibilities above - they apply here as well.)

Just a note about the data -

It is important to realizethat researchers are contributing their family information to the GenealogyTrails project, not to YOU, the State host. If you leave our group for whatever reason, every attempt will be made to retain the datathat researchers contributed to the websites. It's a confusing point and many of our hosts get attached to "their"researchers, so it's just good to make things as clear as we can. (View the countyhost responsibilities above - they apply here as well.) Onward.....Administrative Duties:

1. Help new hosts get their pages up and running, so you need to have a pretty good grasp of html and ftp'ing.We do have tech people who can help out here though and our mailing list is ALWAYS available for asking questions.

2. State Hosts should periodically check to make sure all site requirements are on the county website pages. Logosand links should all be correct.

3. State Hosts can expect to handle day-to-day personnel issues that arise with their county hosts. They shouldrespond to emails within a reasonable time, whether from the public or their County Hosts. If there are complaintsor inquiries about County Hosts, the State Host is responsible for alerting the National Coordinator (Kim) of thosecomplaints. You're won't be alone in handling "issues" which may arise - there's always someone to helpand our mailing list is available 24/7.

What should your website look like?

You can be as creative as you'd like with your state webpage in the style and color of your choice, making sureto include the following

WEBPAGE ELEMENTS:

- Proper placement of an OFFICIAL Genealogy Trails logo at the top of the page,a link to the main Genealogy Trails page (usually at the bottom of the page) and links to the hosted counties ofthe state which can be either on the index page or a page linked to from the index page - your choice.

Your main index page

must includethe Genealogy Trails Logo andit needs to be displayed near the top of your index page. Once you join us, you can visit our Graphics Page topick up one of the OFFICIAL Genealogy Trails Logo. (No, you cannotmake your own logo, nor can you alter one of ours) A state site should havea G.T. logo on every page.

- A current email address displayed in an obvious place on the index page of the website so researchers can contactyou with questions or data contributions.

- Information on adopting available counties

- A brief history of the state.

- Information on the state's research resources with [optional] linksto informational websites. Genealogical/Historical Society website links are optional, but snail mail addressesshould be provided. The only type of links we don't want are links to commercial websites (ancestry, familytreemaker,genealogy.com, etc - they don't need our help). Remember though - a link is an excuse to leave your website. You'redoing a lot of work to attract visitors to your site and when you provide a link, you're providing an easy wayfor visitors to leave your site.

We have no banner ads on our sites. We want to keep it that way.

Feel free to create your statepages in any style or color that you like, as long as theabove elements are present. However, our county sites are set up already, even the unhosted ones. They don't need a mass overhaulor massive redecorating project, so if you just like to design websites, this isn't what we're looking for in astate host. We live in a busy world, we all have busy schedules and limited time, so we want your available timeto be spent in adding data, not redecorating already decorated websites.

*****

Where do I place my site?
Hosts are NOT required to use our server, though the indexpage of your website must be on our server displaying our logo. Your stateinterior data pages may be placed on any server you want.

All unhosted county sites must remain on our server.

We offer unlimited webspace for Genealogy Trails websites under our genealogytrails.com domain. If you choose toput your webpages on our server, you will be given a password and that space will be considered yours as long asyou are hosting for Genealogy Trails. There may be instances where we will have to access the ftp space you are using, but these instances are extremelyrare and are usually confined to cases of administrative emergencies. If you leave our group, the password willbe changed to protect the privacy of the next host.

DATA ISSUES - who owns the data?
If a researcher contributes it, it's their data. If a host transcribes it from copyright-free sources, it's theirdata. But here's the thing - you're joining a group whose goal is to transcribe data, data and more data for thesole purpose of keeping genealogy free. Why then would you ask for it to be removed? As much as we want to accommodateevery request to remove an ex-host's data, it's just not possible to do, especially for a very active transcriber.And it's definitely not fair to the researchers to have to visit an empty site. So our policy is that if a hostfeels the need to ask for their own transcribed data to be removed, we will remove the data that host transcribedfor their own county site(s) only,and that request must be made within 3 daysof leaving the group. After the 3 days elapses, the data WILL REMAIN ONLINE on the county site of the host, asthe host originally intended.

STATE HOSTS -- Any data you transcribe for your state's unhosted county sites will remain with that county site,even if you ask it to be removed. A state host is assuming a lot of responsibility, including that for unhostedsites and to remove the data they added would most likely be very detrimental to the whole state and we won't allowa state to be stripped bare. Sorry, that's just the way it needs to be.

We all work together on unhosted sites and we have a transcription team whose sole function is to transcribe data.Having that data there one day and gone the next is totally unfair to the researchers and other hosts, especiallysince we provide a lot of the data to be transcribed and also pay for the subscriptions which a host uses to obtainthat data. Accordingly then, our policy for host contributed data to sites

otherthan their own is that the data will notbe removed once it's online. It's just too hard and time-consuming togo through over a hundred thousand webpages trying to find who did what, when. So if a host or transcription teammember made a wonderful gift to researchers by transcribing some data for a county or state other than their ownsite, we will accept that gift in the spirit it was given and will continue to display the data online, even aftera host has left the group.

To try and make this as clear as possible: --- Your transcribed data for your individual county site is yours todo with as you please, leaving it online here, or even contributing it to other genealogical projects, but if wedon't hear from you within 3 days of leaving the group, it will continue to be used by and posted on GenealogyTrails websites for the free use of researchers just like you originally intended it to be. Any data you contributedto a site other than your own county will NOT be removed. Material contributed by others, which a host may haveposted, will remain the property of the contributor, not the host, and should not be used on any other site withoutthe written permission of the submitter.

For 99.9% of our hosts, all of the above means nothing because they've already made it very clear they want theirdata to remain online for the free use of all researchers. For that other .1% -- we try our best to accommodatethe wishes of the host, but there's a point where it's just not feasible, and the guidelines above reflect thoseinstances.

And now, moving on....

And lastly,

does this cost anything?Well.... yes.... our volunteers pay to work for free. How crazy is that!!! But being a group of volunteers withno big corporations hiding behind us to pay our server bill, we need to be able to pay that bill somehow. So thevolunteers of the group decided that Annual Dues of $5 would be more than enough to pay for our server space which we offer to hosts under our domain name. Any extragoes to purchase data to transcribe. We collect dues once a year in Februarycuz that's when the server bill is due.It is a flat fee of $5 per host, not per number of counties that the host may manage. The dues are required even if you do not host your siteon our server. If the $5 is a hardship, we can work this out. Please do not let this be the only reason you decidenot to join us. Many of our hosts contribute a little extra every year to help cover hosts who can't pay. Did Imention we have a really good bunch of folks working together?Sound good? Still interested? Contact Us andset the process in motion!!!

IMPORTANT: We are not a commercial website - we are volunteer basedand do not receive payment. We do not allow our hosts to make a profit from this project and a host should neverask a researcher for money. Also, we do not allow hosts to advertise or link to their own commercial businessesfrom a Genealogy Trails website. This includes any Professional Genealogy Research business.

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