Hi Simone, and all Rotaractors of the world!

I'm Rotaractor Marcos Carot, Rotaract Club de Paraná, Argentina
(District 4960).

I have used intensively the services of Rotaract.org and I had to made
some changes in or web site www.rotaractparana.org.ar when the sudden
down of Rotaract.org

Also I have a personal contact list of more than 1800 rotarctors, made
with a lot of effort, and now many of those contacts (at least 50%) are
down.

I think, and I believe you too, that Rotaract.org, official or not,
within the guidelines or not, was a key in Rotaract communications and
surely it was within ethics uses (the page itself, and the services
offered -not including in this affirmation the use of particulars of
those services-), and also within the purpose of Rotaract, "promoting
better relations between all people worldwide through a framework of
friendship and service".

I know of at least two example of a new alternative that is creating
national portals: www.rotaract.org.uk and www.rotaract.it

This is not obviously the same, but I have an idea: that all national
portals share they links page to provide a uniformed list all over the
world, using also redirections that this way can show the country: for
example, if a club page is www.rotaract.org.uk/clubname I know before
entering that it is a UK club.

I don't know what guidelines they are using at RI, so I don't know the
criteria used for Rotaract.org. That is something we need to know,
specially the webmasters of Rotaract webpages...

A more diplomatic approach to RI could be proposing that our sponsoring
Rotary's secretary to register our web pages in the uniformed list or
even in a future re-edition of Rotaract.org -with e-mail and web pages
redirection included-. RI trusts very much in the secretaries of Rotary
Clubs, and they will not disapprove that information. It is not the
faster and easiest way of administration of redirections, but is a valid
alternative, if there is not a possible change in RI guidelines.
District or multidistrict sites could be registered by governors.

Another way can be to send the proposal through the council of
legislation of RI. We need the support of a district sending the
proposal, and from the rest of districts voting it at the council of
legislation.

Finally, if you Simone think that you will not enter Rotary because of
this, let me say that leadership is to be used from inside if we want to
change things. I love Rotaract so much, but Rotaract has been created by
Rotary. Rotary and Rotaract are not the same (what a pity for
Rotarians!! ;)) but we can change Rotary in a middle or long term being
pro-active Rotarians.

I'm sending this to all the lists I belong.

The ideas and opinions in this mail are mine, and do not necessarily
represent believes or ideas of my club, or my district.

Marcos Carot
Rotaract Club de Paraná
District 4960
www.rotaractparana.org.ar


------------------

Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 07:59:01 +0800
From: "Simone Collins" <organist@...>
Subject: rotaract.org ... again ....

Hi everyone,

I am forwarding my latest response from Rotary regarding the services
formerly offered through rotaract.org, after I sent a further 3 emails.

If I was mad before, now I am really, really, really furious!

They just don't care that Rotarians can continue to use rotarymail.net
to
get free email addresses or rotary-site.org to get a rotary URL, just
like
we used to be able to.

I gave it my best shot - I realise there is nothing further I can do to
encourage RI to show us some level of support. This is one more
Rotaractor
who will NOT join Rotary.

YIR,

DRR Simone Collins

-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Wellner [mailto:wellnerc@...]
Sent: Wednesday, 21 May 2003 5:02 AM
To: Simone Collins
Cc: Bhichai Rattakul, President; Jonathan Majiyagbe, President-Elect;
James R. Shamblin; Dong-Kurn Lee; Gerald A. Meigs; Keith Barnard-Jones;
Gennaro M. Cardinale; Frank C. Collins, Jr.; Toshio Itabashi at Japan;
Peter Krön; Samuel A. Okudzeto; Floyd P. Olson; John Michael Pinson; J.
David Roper; Omar Steindorsson; Kozo Sugo; P.C. Thomas; John G. Thorne;
Alceu Antimo Vezozzo; Kenneth E. Collins; Barry J. McConville; Ed Futa;
Theresa Nissen; Sharon Cyr; Katie Lakey
Subject:


20 May 2003

Dear District Rotaract Representative Collins:

Thank you for your message to me of 11 May and to the RI
Board of
Directors on 15 May, attached for your reference, sharing further
comments
regarding the status of www.rotaract.org. I was asked to respond on
behalf
of Rotary International President Bhichai Rattakul, RI President-elect
Majiyagbe, and the RI Board of Directors regarding your concerns, as
they
are currently attending the Board meeting in Bangkok, Thailand.

As RI General Secretary Ed Futa explained, the intention
of licensing the
maintenance of www.rotaract.org was to provide a volunteer-led
information
resource all Rotaract clubs around the world could enjoy. RI has been
working with the volunteers involved for some time to establish a formal
licensing agreement and to assure full compliance with Board guidelines,
including those involving "Rotary" name and logo use. Email redirection
and
Web site sub-domaining do not fall within those guidelines and they will
not
continue when and if the site can be reestablished.

While the temporary shut-down of www.rotaract.org may
have seemed sudden,
it was necessary under the circumstances. RI recognizes that it
disrupted
communications amongst some Rotaractors; however, individual Rotaractors
or
Rotaract clubs registered for these services at their own discretion and
risk. Based on the information provided to me from those maintaining
the
site, the registrants represent only a portion of the estimated 170,000
Rotaractors and 7,500 Rotaract clubs around the world.

RI does not offer email redirection or Web site
sub-domaining for Rotary
clubs, nor would such services be approved under the RI Board's current
policies. Further, RI has a responsibility to follow up with any
individual
Rotary club, district, or multidistrict web site that is in arrears to
encourage full compliance with RI Board policies. Use of Rotary
International's trademarks (the Rotary Marks) is a universal concern
around
the entire Rotary world as it will help to preserve the Marks for use by
Rotarians and Rotaractors alike and we are doing our best to monitor and
follow up on any issues.

Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated. You
can assist RI by
encouraging the Rotaract clubs in your area to submit updated 2003-04
contact information by 15 June 2003 to data@.... This will
ensure accurate information is printed in the Worldwide Rotaract
Directory
RI produces annually to assist Rotaract club international connections.
Rotaract clubs are also encouraged to register their web sites on
www.rotary.org. Your sponsoring Rotary club's identification number is
required, so please work together to submit the information. I will
work
with my colleagues in the Web maintenance area of RI to remove
registrations
that feature www.rotaract.org.

I look forward to meeting you in Brisbane. I am unable
to attend the
Rotaract Preconvention Meeting due to responsibilities at the RYLA event
being held off-site, but I wish you good luck in your presentations to
the
meeting. We appreciate your understanding as RI tries to find a
solution to
these difficult issues. Starting on the evening of 1 June, I will be in
the
RI Programs booth of the RI Secretariat Services area, should you have
further concerns.

Regards,

Christine Wellner

_____________________________
Christine Michonski Wellner
Supervisor, Community Programs
Rotary International
One Rotary Center
1560 Sherman Avenue
Evanston, IL 60201 USA
T: 847.866.3404
F: 847.866.6116
E: wellnerc@...
www.rotary.org



<<re: rotaract.org>> <<RE: rotaract.org>>
-----Original Message-----
From: Simone Collins
[mailto:scollins@...]
Sent: Thursday, 15 May, 2003 10:34 PM
To: Bhichai Rattakul, President; Jonathan Majiyagbe,
President-Elect;
James R. Shamblin; Dong-Kurn Lee; Gerald A. Meigs; Keith Barnard-Jones;
Gennaro M. Cardinale; Frank C. Collins, Jr.; Toshio Itabashi at Rotary
Office; Peter Krön; Samuel A. Okudzeto; Floyd P. Olson; John Michael
Pinson;
J. David Roper; Omar Steindorsson; Kozo Sugo; P.C. Thomas; John G.
Thorne;
Alceu Antimo Vezozzo
Cc: Kenneth E. Collins; prtbb@...; Ed Futa
Subject: rotaract.org

Dear Members of the Board,

In April, Rotaract's primary communication with each
other and the world,
provided by rotaract.org, was removed by Rotary International, without
any
notification given to Rotaractors using this service. The decision was
made
as a result of someone by the name of Kevin Browne, who used a
rotaract.org
email address, to purchase software online. The payment was not
accepted,
and RI was contacted to see if they could help contact the user and
rectify
the situation. This resulted in the complete removal of rotaract.org to
protect RI from any future "potentially fraudulent' incidents.

The actions of one person should not result in 170,000
of us who have not
abused the service being penalised. If an employee of RI illegally
downloaded MP3s while at work, would you immediately axe
all email and
internet use for everyone at RI? It is unthinkable!

rotaract.org provided Rotaract's primary communication
network, and the
loss of these services has crippled us. The service had been in
existence
for well over 6 years, so all clubs worldwide relied on it. We have lost
the
ability to communicate with other clubs and for prospective members to
contact us, particularly since most of our advertising and marketing has
been done successfully via the internet. It has also lost every Rotaract
club and district hundreds or thousands of dollars each in now useless
publicity materials.

I urge the Board to reconsider this situation and
reinstate the email and
web redirects previously offered via rotaract.org, at least for Rotaract
clubs and districts if it is against policy for individuals to use these
addresses, as quickly as possible. Please do not kill Rotaract for the
sake
of one person.

Yours in service,
DRR Simone Collins
District 9470
Western Australia





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