Request for Feedback: Idea for an Official USGenWeb Project Blog

[webmaster]

Hello everyone,

 

I recently posted the below idea for discussion on the new USGW-Members list, and I would also appreciate hearing from our leaders.

 

I’ve been considering piloting an official USGenWeb Project Blog, with the option to share posts on new Facebook and Twitter accounts. The goal is to increase public awareness of our Project, demonstrate that we are still active with real people, highlight our best state and county sites, encourage repeat visits, connect people with existing state & county social media pages, and hopefully inspire new volunteers.

 

I know our priority is maintaining our websites and filling open county and state roles, and that will never change. Still, with hundreds of members, we may have many people who enjoy writing, creating content, or helping us engage more effectively through social media to draw researchers to our sites. A blog and coordinated socials could help researchers see us as approachable volunteers.

 

I’d love to hear your thoughts and see whether there’s support for this idea. We can use our current hosting to set up a WordPress blog on usgenweb.org at no extra cost, allowing us to test without a long-term commitment. But it will take a village to make it work.

 

Would you read a USGenWeb Project blog?

 

And if we move forward, would you be interested in helping with any of the following?

• Writing articles
• Editing articles
• Helping solicit and create featured site stories 
• Creating short videos
• Collecting social media links from state, county, or special project sites
• Serving as a WordPress publisher or administrator

Your honest and constructive feedback is truly appreciated, whether you’re excited about the idea or feel it may be a distraction. 

 

Thank you all for everything you already do to support and grow our Project!

 

Linda K. Lewis

National Coordinator

The USGenWeb^® Project

Free Genealogy for over 25 Years!

www.usgenweb.org

 

[Nancy_Janyszeski]

Hi, yes... I would read a USGenWeb blog and I would help in any way I could contribute, certainly I could help by publicizing.    I have never done a Blog so I would not be of much help in setting it up.  

~ Nancy     

Nancy Janyszeski

 ~  PAGenWeb/

 ~  Bucks County PAGenWeb
 ~  Montgomery County PAGenWeb 
 ~  Northampton County PAGenWeb

Bucks County History   

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[Mary Ann Lubinsky]

I am all for it but know nothing about actually doing a blog.

Mary Ann Lubinsky 

On Dec 11, 2025, at 20:08, 'Nancy_Janyszeski' via State Coordinators <state...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[Kerry Hairston]

Love the idea.  I would love to help any way I can.

Kerry

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[Timothy Stowell]

By editing articles what do you mean?

Tim Stowell

MNGenWeb

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[Rebecca Maloney]

I'm with Nancy! I will help anyway I can find- but this isn't in my wheelhouse of skills.

Rebecca Maloney
Volunteer with USGenWeb

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[Martha A C Graham]

Good Morning,

Like so many others, I know nothing about maintaining or creating a blog, but would read and contribute as is appropriate. Also do not use social media of any type, finding it trivial and boring.

Martha A Graham

SC: MOGenWeb

[Timothy Stowell]

This landed in my mail box a few days ago - about blogging specifically for genealogy - For what it's worth: 

https://lorelleteaches.com/2013/01/31/family-history-blogging-resources-and-tips/

Rooting through the page of links - I found at least 1 dead link - but being nearly 13 years old it wasn't too surprising.

I did though find this interesting article - https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2012/10/22/cemetery-photos-permission-required/

Tim Stowell

MNGenWeb

On Thu, Dec 11, 2025 at 6:06 PM webmaster <webm...@cottonhills.com> wrote:

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[Cheryl Rothwell]

Judy's article on cemetery photography is interesting. Illinois has state laws relating to all but privately endowed cemeteries so it wouldn't come up for us but  I haven't heard that anyone sued FindAGrave for publishing cemetery photos.

Cheryl Rothwell

ASC, ILGenWeb

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[Cheryl Rothwell]

Judy says the law hasn't changed. 

[Dale H. Cook]

On 13 Dec 2025 9:37 am, Cheryl Rothwell wrote:

> Illinois has
> state laws relating to all but privately endowed cemeteries so it
> wouldn't come up for us but  I haven't heard that anyone sued FindAGrave
> for publishing cemetery photos.

Perhaps that is because those are amateur photographs, often taken with
cell phone cameras. Scholarly photographs, such as those found in the
Farber Gravestone Collection:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/farber/

require more equipment, and because of that the photographer would draw
more notice. I have requested permission to take photographs in some
cemeteries, and where I have received no response I have not taken
photographs in those cemeteries.
--
Dale H. Cook, Member, NEHGS, AGS, MA Soc. of Mayflower Descendants;
Massachusetts State Coordinator for the USGenWeb® Project;
Administrator of https://plymouthcolony.net

[Cheryl Rothwell]

Good point.

Cheryl Rothwell

ASC, Illinois

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[Kris Meyer]

My two cents worth--

I love Facebook.  I belong to a lot of the  If you are from (Town) groups.

I get a lot of ideas and when I post something on IAGenWeb site I add a link

 in the Facebook town group. I can get a lot of feedback that way.   

There are also genealogical groups and I can add links of things I have

 posted that  answer their questions. Or give them links to other sites.

I have 6 counties in Iowa and Iowa has a Facebook page.  

 I feel Facebook is a real asset for IAGenWeb and can be for USBenWeb

Kris

Kris

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[Jean Walker]

Hi Kris.  How do you deal with all the ads that pop into Facebook?

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[Kris Meyer]

I  ignore the ads of Facebook or click do not see again or not interested  

Kris

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[Dale H. Cook]

On 13 Dec 2025 2:33 pm, Jean Walker wrote:

> How do you deal with all the ads that pop into Facebook?

I use a free (but contributions are accepted without nagging) browser
extension / add-on called F.B. (Fluff Busting) Purity:

https://www.fbpurity.com/

I use it in Firefox, but it is also available for Chrome, Edge, Safari,
Opera, and Brave (Brave uses the Chrome version). There is also a
Greasemonkey script version. It lets me block things which I do not want
to see (such as ads and "People You May Know," and it can prevent
autoplay of videos). It can block many things which I consider
irrelevant, and show only what I consider relevant.

[Timothy Stowell]

Dale is that from the end user's perspective or the blog's?

Tim S.

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[Linda K. Lewis]

The blog would be on our website's wordpress install and would not have ads. But that's only if we have enough volunteers willing to write content on a regular basis. 

It would be neat if SCs were to write articles showcasing some of their best counties. That would be good press, make the CC feel special, and maybe encourage our CCs.

But so far I've not seen many on this list that volunteered to help. There's no way to be successful without regular relevant posts, and that takes a village.

Linda K. Lewis

Sent from my Fi ZFold6

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[Jean Walker]

Thank you Dale! I'm going to give it a try on my personal page.  

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[NancyJanyszeski]

Maybe a specific question...would you be willing to submit a county article or In turn CC's could  be asked to submit an article on their county.

Nancy 

Nancy  Janyszeski. 🍀

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[Dale H. Cook]

On 13 Dec 2025 5:18 pm, Timothy Stowell wrote:

> Dale is that from the end user's perspective or the blog's?

Tim -

FBP is for the Facebook user.

[Lynda Peach]

Several have stated they would be glad to help, but know nuthin' about doing a blog. I've created, administered, & written WordPress blogs since 2010. 
I did a bit of research after reading a couple of messages stating blogs were passe.  They are still much in use, but have changed because of social media, mostly Facebook.

Facebook is great for short pieces of info or a short synopsis of a blog post (article). But a blog has morphed into more in-depth articles. A USGenWeb FB page (or group -- and yes, they are different) might have a post stating that a stateGenWeb has a completely new design with updated content. A USGenWeb blog mich have a post(article) about how to use AI for researching a brick wall. 

A WordPress blog has various roles with limits to what a person can do in that role.

Top dog is an Administrator -- and this role shouldn't have too many cooks in the kitchen. The Administrator(s) pick the template [we don't create it -- we obtain money for free of money] and then modify it to fit the website's needs. Given Linda's recent post about money, I recommend we use the ThemeGrill "ColorMag" template -- the FREE version, not the Pro. I use it myself, and it doesn't look like a magazine. ThemeGrill keeps it updated. My site runs on BlueHost as well. 

      The Administrator uses "plugins" (think scripts, we don't write them, we use the free ones) to keep spammers at bay. Plus:

• Control comments (a spammer's playground).
• Ensure those requesting accounts are legit 
  
• Set the role for each account.
• Ensure that all plugins are up-to-date (BlueHost helps with this).
• Note: Plugins exist that post automatically to Facebook. Or set to post ONLY when a certain box is checked.
• They can also write, edit, publish, and delete posts.
• Ensure that the correct notifications are on the website.
• Ensure that the website complies with the requirements of The USGenWeb Project.
• Ensure that 501 web compliance is met. 

Lowest user is Subscriber -- this role only receives a message when a post is made live. The email contains a link back to the post. They have no other rights or privileges. Their access is READ only. 

Depending on the setup, the following are separate from the Administrator:

• a submitter - could write a post, but not edit it.
  OR write *and* edit.
• a reviewer -- could do the above and edit the posts created by others. Grammar errors. Formatting improvements. Formatting errors.
• a publisher -- could do any of the above. BUT this role has the right to publish (make live) the post (article). Publishing also sends emails to all subscribers.
• delete own posts - limited to just their posts. 
• delete other posts - I recommend this can only be done by the Administrator(s).

There are even plugins that allow a submitter to email a post. No one would see it except the Admins, the submitter, the reviewer, or the publisher. WHAT it WOULD require is a reviewer. It should NOT be assumed that an Admin should do the reviewing. Reviewing needs WordPress experience. 

Hopefully, this gives you an idea of where you can contribute. 

Lynda Coffman Peach

MOGenWeb Ass't Coordinator & Tech Advisor.

My website that uses the FREE ColorMag WordPress template -- https://idogenealogy.info 

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[tngenewhiz]

I strongly suggest we go with a system such as Substack for blogging.  It is the hot place these days, not just for genealogy but anything folks want to follow.  You can do text posts, live video chats, recorded vlogs, and much more.

And it's free.

And it's dead simple to "restack" a post, so cross-pollination is a dream.

https://tngenwebproject.substack.com