Databases
 - Updates continue to trickle in and are uploaded to the member site and processed. The public site expired Apr 19. 2009 and was shut down. The board members have been discussing the usefulness of having a public access site after considering all the additional administrative support it requires to process the questions, criticisms, and responding to non-members trying to register user accounts. This page should provide visitors with enough information to determine if they would like to join the group. Our #1 source of new members is from the recommendation of current members. 

Background:
- This website is provided as a service to our group's members to share their research with others. We do not have an office or any paid staff - all maintenance is done by volunteers in their spare time.

Corrections:
- The hosting duties do not include making any "corrections" to the databases, that is the responsibility of each contributor. Database contributor information is only made available to members. The database contributors are encouraged to send in updates every quarter to include additions / corrections / etc. that have been made since the previous update.

Dues:
- The membership dues are used to cover the cost of hosting the databases - printing and mailing newsletters - or offset some of the costs of our meetings. Since our 2007 meeting, we have been pleased to welcome 292 new members to our group. (as of March 29, 2010) Memberships are for calendar years so it makes things easier for everyone if people join or renew for multiple years. Renewals or membership extensions can be done at any time.

Software:
- We moved the databases off Geneweb for three main reasons. 1) The databases went offline nearly every weekend due to the heavy usage. 2) People had to individually search each separate database. 3) The software option to hide information about living individuals never worked correctly. TNG on the other hand has handled the load without issue - searches all databases simultaneously - allows much more powerful search options such as date ranges and spouse surnames - and correctly hides information about living people.

Hosting Requirements:
- As the number and size of the databases continue to increase, there is an increasing demand for a more powerful computer system to host the databases. With the previous two hosting sites, we were banned from updating the databases because the process consumed too much of the host computer's capacity and essentially shut down the other websites hosted on the same computer. To avoid this limitation we have partnered with ncweb.com to provide us with a dedicated computer. Even with a four processor system - multiple gigabytes of RAM - and high speed drives, it still takes multiple hours to update some of the databases and some of the TNG software features such as calculating relationships have been limited. In the future we will need to fund a more powerful computer with an operating system that supports parallel processing and probably includes solid state drives to try and reduce processing times and maintain quick results for the search requests.

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Membership Form
-or click here-

Name: _______________________

Address: _______________________            City, State, Zip: _______________________

Email: _______________________                 Phone: _______________________

Research:
Anabaptist Surnames being researched: __________________________________________

Anabaptist Congregations being researched: __________________________________________

Geographic Areas being researched: __________________________________________

Genetic research project description: __________________________________________

Software:
Genealogy Software Used: __________________________________________

Number of individuals in your database: __________________________________________

Membership:
(Through 12/31/10)   $6.00 [__]
(Through 12/31/11) $11.75 [__]
(Through 12/31/13) $20.00 [__]

Members can extend their membership at any time by 1, 2 or 4 years.

users can send payments to: bob@gs-titanium.com
Note: We still need a copy of this membership application sent in.

Checks should be made out to:
Robert Geiser

Please send this form with payment to:
G&S Titanium, Inc.
PO Box 1107
Wooster, OH 44691

SAGA Members must agree to abide by the Standards For Use Of Technology In Genealogical Research listed below.

Sign here to signify your agreement: _______________________

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Standards For Use Of Technology In Genealogical Research Recommended by the National Genealogical Society

©2000, 2001 by National Genealogical Society. Permission is granted to copy or publish this material provided it is reproduced in its entirety, including this notice.

Mindful that computers are tools, genealogists take full responsibility for their work, and therefore they--

· learn the capabilities and limits of their equipment and software, and use them only when they are the most appropriate tools for a purpose.
· do not accept uncritically the ability of software to format, number, import, modify, check, chart or report their data, and therefore carefully evaluate any resulting product.
· treat compiled information from on-line sources or digital databases like that from other published sources, useful primarily as a guide to locating original records, but not as evidence for a conclusion or assertion.
· accept digital images or enhancements of an original record as a satisfactory substitute for the original only when there is reasonable assurance that the image accurately reproduces the unaltered original.
· cite sources for data obtained on-line or from digital media with the same care that is appropriate for sources on paper and other traditional media, and enter data into a digital database only when its source can remain associated with it.
· always cite the sources for information or data posted on-line or sent to others, naming the author of a digital file as its immediate source, while crediting original sources cited within the file.
· preserve the integrity of their own databases by evaluating the reliability of downloaded data before incorporating it into their own files.
· provide, whenever they alter data received in digital form, a description of the change that will accompany the altered data whenever it is shared with others.
· actively oppose the proliferation of error, rumor and fraud by personally verifying or correcting information, or noting it as unverified, before passing it on to others.
· treat people on-line as courteously and civilly as they would treat them face-to-face, not separated by networks and anonymity.
· accept that technology has not changed the principles of genealogical research, only some of the procedures.

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Brothers Keeper - http://www.bkwin.net/ - Current version is 6.3.10 released 05-Mar-2009
Roots Magic - http://rootsmagic.com/ - Current version is 4 released 25-Mar-2009
Family Tree Maker - http://familytreemaker.com/Default.aspx  - Current version is 2009
Personal Ancestral File - http://www.familysearch.org/eng/paf/ - Current version is 5.2.18.0
Legacy Family Tree - http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/ - Current version is 7.0.0.55
The Master Genealogist - http://www.whollygenes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc - Current Version 7.03

Reunion - http://www.leisterpro.com/ - Current version is 9 (for Mac OS X 10.3.9 or newer)
Mac Family Tree - http://www.synium.de/products/macfamilytree/index.html - New 3D version 5.2

GRAMPS - http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page - Open Source for Linux