Hi Frances,
Congratulations on your Editorship role... well done.
Good to see some action from the Society re electronic/internet etc usage.
How would we get these passwords for use to this BB which are being proposed? I rejoined at the beginning of this year and have not yet received my membership number! So unless some guaranteed/improved communication with members is exercised when joining, getting the password to use the BB may become very muddly. If it becomes a requirement to have a password to use this BB (and I have no difficulties with that) then it will be to the Society's detriment if they do not ensure that all members receive their individual PW.
One just has to have been reading the BB this year and communication in several areas has been lacking. (Password to genealogy areas of this site, magazine delivery problems etc)
So part of the IOMFHS requirements of moving into the computer age should be to ensure communication with members is beefed up - perhaps a notice board for announcements, etc yes I know its all voluntary ( been there done that)that was the reply I received earlier in the year when I suggested certain improvements but remember to do the IOMFHS work is a voluntary choice. We are all volunteers in getting our research and records out there to share with others.
Like the idea of a Society e-zine (Postscript or otherwise).. Perhaps for those of us with computers we could have the membership option of receiving the Magazine as a PDF file or something to cut our fees.
Would also like to see the Society become more active in prompting free genealogy with info/more databases online..a few individuals like yourself and Brian Lawson are doing wonderful work on their own websites as well as several of us are doing it with our own personal Manx onename studies research.
Some coordination needs to be effected to avoid duplication and also make the information more readily available like links and cross links to individual websites from this site out and back,for instance. I have attempted twice to get Ian Gerrard to provide for Manx One Name Study websites for instance to be listed and links created but to no avail. This is very important I feel
In the interim I have created links to one name websites on my links page of Qualtrough Genealogies ( about 10 so far, but some are not purely one name, however) .http://www.interworx.com.au/users/routledge Go to contents then links
This One Name links facility should be on THIS website
I am sure that as it begins to develop, we will become amazed at how useful computerisation will be Perhaps in the future the Society's own website will be the way to go Check out the NZ Society of Genealogists excellent website (http://www.genealogy.org.nz )
Well done and keep up the good work. Hopefully others will respond with their ideas too.
Elizabeth, Australia.