Roots

my best guess is that you just happened across the site and "committed"
since you put your "full name" when you commit, that may be all that is requried (you don't have to be registered to ask and answer on se sites)

then again - to get into the beta i think you have to be registered

GeneJ

This is a person I referred. She tried twice to commit.

warren

2:47 PM

weird - I have no idea

GeneJ

She's still an unregistered user. In her profile, she shows committed to the proposal, but she has only one point (so she has not confirmed her email ... even though she's tried twice to do that)

warren

i've got tweets and g+ notifications out on a couple right now (includign this one)

GeneJ

@JustinY, Brandy is the developer for ourFamilyology

warren

this is likely going to be a q on the real site, but i'm curious: how do genealogy tree tools handle adoptions, step parents, divorces, etc?

GeneJ

Then we have folks like Bruce Buzbee (the developer for the RootsMagic product) who committed, he too is an unregistered user, but he has 51 points

warren

2:49 PM

i've taken architectural stabs at the data model in the past, but always get hung up on how the dbw ould need to be built

GeneJ

@warren, some of the tools handle modern family relationships well, others do not.

warren

@GeneJ, fiar enough :)

GeneJ

The problem underlying is not just the linkage, it's definitional. In the US, standards recognize the host of family relationships. Not all "genealogists" however do recognize all the relationships.

Some genealogists prefer to only recognize bloodlines.

There are lots of folks, including those where JustinY works and at FHISO who are working to get information standards on par with written genealogy standards. Your question, warren, falls in that category.

warren

i'll ask it when the site goes live, then :)

GeneJ

Since I've never been part of a private beta, can either of you tell me how communication works in the private beta.

For example, will JustinY propose a set of faqs?

:-)

JustinY

2:57 PM

I won't have any special authority for being the creator of the proposal

It will all be community at the start

We'll have to work with SE mods to do stuff like that

Then when they think we're ready, we'll hold moderator elections

And then our mods will be able to modify the faq, again with input from the community

warren

is it se mods who are the initial mods?

GeneJ

I noticed that at least one proposal didn't make it out of the private beta. Immediately went to the floor in prayer.

warren

i thought they were among the early commiters

at least on christianity.se, i'm a "high rep user" (not a mod, but have many of the mod and mod-like tools)

i've seen several that didn't make it out of public beta

hadn't noticed any that failed private :(

that's a little disconcerting

JustinY

@GeneJ there's a difference between private and public beta

GeneJ

Yes.. this one didn't make it out of the private beta!

JustinY

3:00 PM

Private beta only lasts for... one or two weeks, right warren?

GeneJ

This one died on day 7

JustinY

@GeneJ ....wow.... which one?

Blog - Stack Exchange: Moderator Pro Tempore

Robert Cartaino on July 27, 2010

There’s a bit of a leadership vacuum inside the new Stack Exchange communities in public beta. We’ve put a lot of responsibility on each group to take ownership of their own site. The Stack Exchange team can act as guide, but we don’t always have the domain knowledge to understand the needs of each group. As the Network expands, this stretches our ability to assure that each community’s issues are properly addressed.

That’s why I am in the process of identifying and organizing a team of provisional Moderators from within each community (about three per site, starti …

warren

@JustinY - yes, the privates are pretty short

GeneJ

How Things Work – htw.stackexchange.com

Q&A site for people who want to know the principles of how things work

Closed after 7 days in beta.

warren

i remember that one

GeneJ

3:05 PM

"public beta start" = none

warren

never knew how it had made it to commitment, let alone beta ... therre was a lot of discussion surrounding the directedness of the site (and how badly it would overlap onto howthignswork.com)

GeneJ

First commitment was 23 Dec 2012; last commitment was 18 April 2011 = four month commitment phase.

Oo. I meant 23 Dec 2010

We won't get to public beta, I presume, without moderator approval of our scope.

JustinY

@GeneJ Yep, but I don't foresee any trouble with that

warren

i don't see issues with this proposal either

wrt getting into public beta at least

/me is off - have documentation to write :)

GeneJ

kk

TY again for your support, Warren; and for the restart, Justin.

For the log, here's a SO discussion of the How things Work closure. meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/88796/…

11

Q: Please comment further on htw.stackexchange.com closure + how this process works

I received the following comment after htw.stackexchange.com closed after a beta period of 7 days. I am contacting you because you recently committed to the "How Things Work" Stack Exchange site. We are approaching the end of the private beta period, at which time we are going to discont...

The top voted answer opens, "Private beta, which is limited to Area 51 committers, lasts 7 days. It is during this time that the community must demonstrate that it is capable of putting together quality content."

warren

5:10 PM

wish there was a way to upvote in the chat room

warren

7:10 PM

What other promotions can we do to get the site out of commitment and into beta?

GeneJ

7:25 PM

@warren. I keep hoping the Community Moderator fairies will look favorably on us and send the restart notification to supporters of the now closed effort(s). There are some discussions to that effect on the proposal site.

GeneJ

8:16 PM

When we pass 90%, I'll update the FaceBook groups and post a note on Google +. Do you know anyone with posting privileges to the StackExchange Google+ accoutn?

account?

warren

8:35 PM

@GeneJ - I don't

(know folks with posting privs to the g+ acct)

Justin808

10:21 PM

Just stopping in to say hi and thanks. I've been refreshing the proposal page about 10 times a day. I've been working on my family tree on an off for 3 years and and very much looking forward to a SE site on the subject. Can't wait for the beta to start!

warren

11:36 PM

@Justin808 happy to see you pop in :)
i'm really looking forward to this proposal gettign through commitment and going live!

warren

11:58 PM

@GeneJ - what is the name of the facebook group .. also, how could i find you on g+?

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