Archive for the ‘Administrative’ Category

Re-boot of the Hasselbacher Family Website

Sunday, July 15th, 2018

I was sadly surprised to find that when I opened up underbelly of the hasselbacher.org site to add new material, that my last entries were in the Fall of 2015! I am frankly embarrassed and ashamed! It is not that I am not looking for and analyzing new material. I continue to travel to Germany every year. In fact, I have more original documents that I can process. The truth is that I became involved in some controversial matters at my University in which I hoped to make a difference (I did), and there were some distracting personal family matters that successfully competed for my time. In any event, I want to get going again. I turned 72 this year and I need to get things down on paper or other permanent media before I swing-off. I will need to learn to navigate the upgrades to the website and family-tree software I have been using, but I do not want the perfect to be the enemy of the good, so off we go again as almost beginners.

I have lots of stuff to show you. I plan to use the interactive family tree graphic model to make original documents available to you. I will update the family trees that I have. I will post what is perhaps the largest Hazelbaker family tree in existence- a gift from the late Imogene Sawvell Davis. I hope to tell the stories of my field trips in Germany. Bear with me, and please stay in touch to give me inspiration. It helps to know that others are interested in the same things I am.

Keep an eye on the “What’s New” link on the homepage of this site for new materials as they are added. I need to learn how to place a Google search box on the pages to navigate an increasingly huge and ponderous site. (Any advice?)

Peter
15 July 2018

Hasselbacher Family Website Taking Off

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Since the creation of this website, it has been viewed by a progressively increasing number of people. In the past few months, however, things have really taken off. In fact, discrete page views doubled from January to February 2011 to well over 110,000 discrete page views monthly! Of course a single viewer will look at multiple pages so the number of unique viewers is smaller. Nonetheless I am very pleased.

The majority of viewers arrive as the result of a Google search. Since we are well indexed by Google, this is not a surprise. If I make a change in the website, Google reflects the change within the day. Although I suspect the majority of the traffic reflects interest by the greater Hasselbacher community, there is a tremendous amount of information behind the homepage about the other branches of my family, and indeed the hundreds of other maternal lines. Google appears to be able to see details of the public family tree. There is also an increasing amount of information about geographic factors.

This amount of traffic inevitably makes me think differently when I receive suggestions from Google to monetize the site by allowing them to place advertisements. I did not start this website to make money. However there are very real costs involved in assembling the information and keeping it on the Internet. What are your thoughts about this possibility?

Thank you for your support and contributions over these past four years.
Peter

Navigation and Search on hasselbacher.org

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

I started the parent website (hasselbacher.org) for this Blog with absolutely no knowledge of how to code or structure a website. At first there were only a few pages and I gave little thought to a consistent method of navigation. Frankly, I’m still not sure what I should do. The pages on the site are heavily linked to each other and I usually try to have a link open in a separate window so that your place among the documents is not lost. I have relied on the “What’s New” link on the homepage, and to a less consistent extent on this blog to notify people when something new has been added or if there has been an extensive edit. (more…)

About Copyright and Privacy: Input Requested

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

I recently felt compelled to make a statement about copyright and to re-address the issue of privacy. I initially created this website as a way to organize my own family history and make information available to my relatives. Obviously there is also material on this site that is of general interest and it is my intent that anyone is welcome to view it. Recall that the family trees on this site contain the names of people who are only our remotest relatives by marriage. It is understandable that others may wish to learn more about their own direct ancestors even though they are not themselves Hasselbacher descendants. I am of mixed mind how to handle such interested persons and would appreciate your input.

Issues:
I have seen examples of how some individuals have added names from this site to their family trees on Ancestry.com. (I myself have placed the names and dates of my direct ancestors there in a so-far unrewarded hope that a relative would find me.) Aside from the disappointment that there is no attribution as to their sources, they have made an absolute mess of the information by using various commercial sites’ uncritical automatic methods of adding information and making invalid links to other people. Such misuse and introduction of errors does us all a disfavor. (more…)

Feedback Needed!

Saturday, March 3rd, 2007

Since this site was launched Jan 24, 2007 it has been viewed by over 1000 unique visitors for a total of almost 7000 page views. It is “findable” by Google and other search engines. I hope it has been informative for you. Nevertheless, I have not heard back from a single individual. Please take the time to contact me using the email link below or try the Blog page. I promise that I will not reuse the information or “spam you.” If you want confidentiality, use the email link. I will not make personal emails public.

+ How did you find us?
+ What were you looking for?
+ What was useful or should get higher priority?
+ What is not helpful?
+ What would you like to see?
+ How much individual information is appropriate, especially for living people?
+ Most of all, do you have knowledge of our families that I do not have?
+ Can you help with any of the puzzles that are presented?

Thank you,
Peter Hasselbacher
March 3, 2007

About Posting and Commenting

Friday, February 16th, 2007

If you want to add a comment to a post, click the “__ Comments” button just below this text block.

Newly registered Blog users may be allowed “Author” privileges. That means you can publish and manage posts of your own. Unregistered users can still comment on existing posts. (Note! This is a different registration and login than in the “Interactive Tree” section. They use different software.) Click the “Site Admin” button on the lower right to access your privileges and post a new public contribution. You can change your password and modify your personal information there as well. No one has done this yet, so I am not sure I have ti set up right. Give it a try and let me know how it is working.
Peter