Di Ann Vick was the administrator of the Vick e-mail list on Rootsweb. When she passed away, I adopted the list. At one time there was quite a bit of activity on the list, but recently it has been pretty quiet. There is also a Vick board on Rootsweb. The board also seems to be pretty inactive. As I looked at the board and thought about the e-mails I have received from the e-mail list it seemed to me that the subscribers to the e-mail list didn’t use the board and vice versa. My next thought was that there might be an opportunity to generate more discussion about Vick family history by bringing the two groups and mediums together. Rootsweb has a technique called gatewaying that at least links the board to the e-mail list.
To gateway a board to an e-mail list requires the approval of both administrators. I had not noticed any mention of the administrator on the board. When I clicked on the icon to send the board administrator an e-mail suggesting gatewaying the board, there seemed to be a problem. When I checked, it turned out that the Vick Rootsweb board didn’t have an administrator. So, to gateway the board, I also adopted it.
After gatewaying the board to the e-mail list I sent an e-mail to the members of the mail list explaining what I had done and how they could recognize a gateway e-mail from the board. I also explained to them that if a person who wasn’t a member of the e-mail list posted a query on the board the poster wouldn’t see e-mail responses. Fortunately, Rootsweb makes it easy for e-mail list subscribers to reply on the board. The e-mails from the gateway have a link to the board so all the e-mail subscriber has to do is click on the link and then post the reply on the board. I hope this process won’t be too confusing. It will be interesting to see if gatewaying the board to the e-mail list does foster more communication about Vick family history. Perhaps I had better prime the pump.
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