New ZVA Website
In previous newsletters I explained the need to move from our old site software to a new home at WordPress. After a few false starts, we will be throwing the switch to our new home within the next few days, maybe even later today. We have searched for and repaired switchover glitches, but please let us know if we missed any by contacting me at any of the addressees below.
In preparing the move we ran headlong into today’s privacy laws. From its founding in 1996 until 2023, ZVA collected the contact information and research interests of users with the purpose of helping family researchers to connect with other researchers of the same families. However, the increasing complexity, expense, and liability imposed by privacy laws created a burden that was too great for such a small organization to bear.
Privacy Policy
Beginning in 2023, ZVA will no longer collect any personal information of website users except as follows.
- We will collect the email addresses of people who sign up specifically to receive our newsletter.
- We will collect the email or snail mail addresses of people who order church records to enable sending such records and delete the addresses immediately afterwards.
- Canadian users who donate to our library fund are eligible for charitable tax receipts from the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society. Canadians who wish to receive such receipts may submit their name, email, and snail mail addresses. We will forward them to SGS to enable the issue of these receipts and then destroy the information.
Third Parties
ZVA deals with a few third parties at arm’s length.
- Our website is hosted by WordPress. See the WordPress site for their privacy policy.
- Online payments are processed through PayPal. See the PayPal site for their privacy policy.
- The Saskatchewan Genealogical Society processes charitable receipts for Canadians who submit their contact information because of a donation to our library fund. SGS deletes this information after the receipts have been issued at the end of the calendar year.
Effect on Users
All content will be available to everyone. The site will no longer be supported by membership dues, and we will no longer track your dues. Future support will be through anonymous donations. We hope that you will continue to support us through contributions of $10 per year that you will track yourself.
New users will have to sign up for the newsletter separately, but existing users will remain on the mailing list.
We have regained the use of our pictures section that had interoperability problems on the old platform.
Payment processing will not be quite as smooth and seamless. You will have to complete the Donation/Order form and then do the PayPal payment separately.
We will no longer have the possibility of connecting researchers with each other through our User Profiles. However, I do have many personal contacts and I may be able to connect people on request.
For those who have paid their dues for some years into the future, we will retain your payments as donations unless you wish them to be returned. Please contact me at the addresses at the bottom of this newsletter if you wish some of your donation returned.
Finally, thanks to Mike O’Brien. (Good Donauschwaben name, that. But actually, he has Milleker ancestors from Kudritz.) Mike has been the tech wizard behind the scenes who has kept us online for the last several years, guided me through this change process, and done very much of the work himself. This could not have happened without him. Thanks Mike, from all of us.
Jeannette Miller Family Histories
In preparing for the switch to the new web site I noticed that I had neglected to report in previous newsletters about two new books in the library. In May 2022 Jeannette Miller contributed the following family history books that she published:
- Simeon and Miller Families (from the Serbian Military Frontier) and
- John D. Deis and Lena Reslein (Resleins were from Zichydorf and there are connections to many other Zichydorf families in the book.)
Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin Archives
In my last newsletter I had reported that these archives were temporarily offline to users in North America. I am informed that the problem was resolved soon after and they are now freely available.
Zichydorf Village Association Newsletter
edited by: Glenn Schwartz
2114 E Laurier Cres., Regina, SK, S4V 0P6
Internet: http://zichydorfonline.org
http://www.facebook.com/ZichydorfVillageAssociation
email: gschwartz@accesscomm.ca