Handbook for TXGenWeb

Position: Orphan Counties Manager

This is a duty of the State Coordinator that can be managed by a staff member. The Orphan Counties Manager is responsible for maintaining a list of counties that need a coordinator. You are encouraged to recruit Temporary County Coordinators (TCC) to help foster orphans.

There are several responsibilities for this position.
  1. Maintain A Current List of Orphans
    - This list should be prominently displayed on the website.
    - Note any counties that are being fostered by Temps other than yourself.
  2. Recruit and Oversee Temporary Coordinators
    - Ask for Temps on the Official TXGenWeb mail list about once a month.
    - Explain responsibilities to new Temps.
  3. Maintain Orphaned Counties
    - Orphan Counties need a Temp's name and email address on the index page.
    - Each orphan should have the basic requirements to be a member of TXGenWeb and USGenWeb.
    - This includes fielding questions from visitors.
The Orphan Manager is responsible for maintaining the orphans web page and assisting persons interested in adopting them. The list of orphan counties should be updated within a day or two of any change (new URLs, adoptions, orphanings, etc.). If an orphan is being temped by someone other than yourself, note their name on the orphan page. All orphan sites should be immediately moved to the http://txgenwebcounties.org/ server for ease of access.

You should try to recruit temporary coordinators to help oversee the orphans in times when there are many. Current CCs can be invited to temp for their neighboring counties. In this case, you should stress that you're asking for temporary help - if the CC decides to adopt, they must be approved by the leadership team.

Be sure the temp understands that we are asking him/her to
- Keep the site updated (including repairing broken links),
- Add to any surname list the site already has when asked by a visitor,
- Upload any queries that are directed to the county by a visitor, and
- Answer questions posed by visitors to the site.

You are responsible for doing the same for any counties that have no other temp, in addition to making sure that each orphan meets the basic requirements for a TXGenWeb county site.