Introduction
Board Administrator Basics
Useful Administrator Resources
Optional Administrator Duties
The Ancestry and RootsWeb message boards are a place where researchers can ask questions, collaborate with other researchers, and post information on specific genealogy topics. The boards support a diverse community of researchers with a common goal—discovering their family history.
As a board administrator, your overall objective is to maintain a message board that welcomes posts and creates a supportive environment for genealogical researchers of all skill levels. This can be done by performing the basic administrator duties and showing respect for the members of your board and their posts.
Board Administrator Basics
Basic Duties of a Board Administrator
The following duties are required for an administrator to remain in good standing:
- Maintain a current, working e-mail address.
- You must be willing to receive questions and requests from board members as well as receive administrator announcements at this e-mail address.
- Your contact information must always be accessible to the board members—even if you modify your "Board Information" page.
- Respond to and assist board members when you are contacted via e-mail.
- Manage your board according to the Board Administration Guidelines.
Board Administration Guidelines
These guidelines are given to you both to protect the interest of the posters and to ensure that all of the message boards are being administered consistently.
- Allow all genealogical posts for your board, including research how-tos, DNA studies or programs, genetics, genealogy society announcements, links to new genealogy sites, etc., as long as they are on topic for your board.
- Advertising or fee-for-service posts can be deleted. These are defined as posts made to solicit new paid subscribers, or to advertise and promote products. Use your best judgment since all posts that mention or have a link to a for-profit site may not necessarily be promotional. If you are unsure about a post, you may ask other board administrators by posting to the Boards Administrators message board or mailing list, or by emailing the message board staff.
- Ensure that the majority of each post is on topic for your board. "On topic" is defined as a post that is board-topic specific or genealogy-related. For instance, if your board is a surname board, the posts should be about that surname—the same rule applies to locality and topic boards.
- Read and enforce the Community Guidelines as they apply to boards and delete any posts that are found to be in violation.
- Read the "Administrator News" posted on the Admin Center.
- Review all reports of abuse and take appropriate action.
- Move messages that are incorrectly posted to the appropriate board.
- If you question whether or not a message should be moved—for instance if it applies to more than one surname or topic—it should be left on the board that the author posted it to unless it specifically violates the Community Guidelines.
You are responsible for performing each of these tasks as frequently as your board requires.
What happens if I fail to perform the basic administrator duties?
If you fail to perform the basic duties of an admin for your board, you may be removed as the administrator of that board. You will be sent notice and given an opportunity to correct the situation prior to removal. If you fail to respond, you will be removed as the board administrator.
What do I do if I am no longer able to care for my board or if I no longer want to be the administrator?
If you no longer wish to be an administrator, please e-mail the message board staff at messageboards@rootsweb.com and include your username and the name of the board(s) you would no longer wish to administer.
Any long-time administrator will agree that administering a message board is more of an art than a science. Sometimes knowing what to do with a post is not black and white. In addition, learning the administrator tools can sometimes be difficult. Fortunately, you have many resources available to you:
Community Guidelines:
Take some time to first review the Community Guidelines. A link to the Community Guideline is found at the bottom-center of any message board page.
Board Help and Board FAQ pages:
The Board Help and Board FAQ pages can help you (and your board members) learn to use the many tools on the message boards. Links to these pages can be found at the bottom-center of any message board page.
Boards Administrators Message Board:
The Boards Administrators message board is a great place to post any questions you might have on administering your board and using the administrator tools. The board can be found by following this path:
Message Boards > Topics > RootsWeb > Administrative > Boards Administrators
Boards Admins Mailing List:
The Boards Admins mailing list can put you in touch with hundreds of board admins like yourself. You can ask questions about using the admin tools and get input on what to do with difficult posts. You can subscribe to the Boards Admins mailing list by sending an e-mail with the word “subscribe” in the subject to boards-admins-l-request@rootsweb.com.
Contact the Message Board Staff:
If you are unable to find the answer to your questions at one of the above listed resources please contact the board staff at messageboards@rootsweb.com for help.
The following activities that are not required to be an administrator in good standing, but they can make your board a more welcoming and effective research tool.
- Actively encourage use of the board by creating new on-topic posts or answering existing posts.
- Assist and educate board members in more effective use of the boards. For example, you could send an e-mail to users notifying them when you move or delete their posts and letting them know why.
- Edit the classification of each post if necessary.
- Change surnames entered in the surname field to reflect only those surnames discussed in the post.
- Review posts on the board for the time period prior to your adoption including:
- Correcting classifications and surnames, and creating more descriptive subject lines.
- Deleting Community Guidelines violations.
- Moving incorrectly posted messages to the proper board.
- Work with a Mailing List Administrator to gateway your board to a corresponding mailing list.
- Customize your Board Information box with board-related links and information.
- Adopt and review boards that do not have an administrator.