This morning (8 January 2020) the announcement came from Rootsweb to all Mailing List Admins.  It wasn’t unexpected – but this blog is to announce the replacement option for the AUS-VIC@rootsweb.com Mailing List.

For those who missed it, I’ve copied that announcement at the bottom of this message.

Of course we need to move with the times and we have to accept this decision from Rootsweb (Ancestry – the owners of Rootsweb).  There is no point in arguing, blaming, berating, etc. etc.  Let’s just be thankful that we had this wonderful resource from way back in the 1990s!

A lot of people have said we should all use Facebook but not everyone is comfortable using Facebook – they prefer a simple email option.  Enough others want an alternative, therefore VAFHO has decided to assist in setting up a new AUS-VIC Mailing List.

UPDATE – see NEW AUS-VIC Mailing List

We have now chosen a replacement Mailing List – fortunately Rootsweb List Admins have worked together testing different options and it’s definitely a majority decision – groups.io

If any Rootsweb List Admins are waiting to act – if you choose groups.io make sure you include the word – ROOTSWEB – in your Mailing List description.  That way anyone can search for Rootsweb and they’ll find heaps and heaps of (former) Rootsweb Mailing Lists already there.

Once I’ve finished tweaking and testing the new Mailing List and will post the details here and on the VAFHO website.

There is an option where I can upload a csv of current Mailing List subscribers and send each person an invitation to the new list – people have the choice of subscribing or declining so no-one will be forced to the new group but it certainly offers people an alternative to Facebook.

Oh – and I’m going to allow attachments – WITHIN REASON – but limiting the max size of attachments.

There is also a calendar option.

Looking good!

Make sure you subscribe to this VAFHO Blog to ensure you get notification of items of interest to Victorian Family and Local History researchers including announcements from the Victorian Registry of BDMs etc.

The original message from Rootsweb:

=================================================

[ROOT-LO-ANNOUN] RootsWeb Mailing Lists

RootsWeb Administration rwmailinglists@ancestry.com via rootsweb.com

04:36 (1 hour ago)
to rootsweb-listowners-announcements
Beginning March 2nd, 2020 the Mailing Lists functionality on RootsWeb
will be discontinued. Users will no longer be able to send outgoing
emails or accept incoming emails.  Additionally, administration tools
will no longer be available to list administrators and mailing lists
will be put into an archival state.

Administrators may save the emails in their list prior to March 2nd.
After that, mailing list archives will remain available and searchable
on RootsWeb.

As an alternative to RootsWeb Mailing Lists, Ancestry message boards
are a great option to network with others in the genealogy community.
Message boards are available for free with an Ancestry registered
account.
Thank you for being part of the RootsWeb family and contributing to
this community.

Sincerely,
The RootsWeb team
==============================================