After RootsMagic 4 was released, a small set of users started poking around in their databases which were easily accessible using free software. This led to a wish posted to the RootsMagic Forums in Dec 2009 for A new Forum for SQLite interfaces to RM data. It was met with enthusiasm but RootsMagic did not respond with an offer to host it so, on Dec 30, 2009, I launched sqlitetoolsforrootsmagic4.wikispaces.com on WikiSpaces which then offered a free wiki with 2GB storage.
Collaborators tcloud and Romer helped rapidly build a definition of the database design as we understood it. The pages of queries that could be useful tools grew in both quantity and complexity with contributions also from other Forum users, notably MVS in the early days and Jerry Bryan later, to some 260 pages and 250 SQL files in 2018.
With new releases, the site name and URL evolved through "SQLite Tools for RootsMagic 5" to the version-insensitive "SQLite Tools for RootsMagic".
In 2014, Wikispaces was sold and the new owners wanted to increasingly monetize its service, What was free became a $50 p.a. subscription with storage reduced to 500MB and then raised to $100 p.a. in 2016. Two fundraising campaigns were quickly fulfilled by members to cover the fees over four years but in 2018, Tangient decided to terminate Wikispaces rather than redevelop it with new technology.
There followed my search for a new platform which involved launching a Groups.io forum for Wikispaces 'refugees' to share knowledge and experience, trials of managed wiki hosts, web hosts and local hosts on which I installed wiki platforms while testing with the multiple Wikispaces export formats which were evolving partly due to my requests. When Wikispaces closed our site in September, MediaWiki and WordPress were the main contenders but I wasn't ready with either one so an interim static HTML site has served as an online archive. With one last failed effort on MediaWiki at the start of 2019, all effort was directed at WordPress with which I had had some success.
This WordPress site is on hostinger.com until 2022 at a lower cost than that of Wikispaces. Unfortunately, many features on Wikispaces could not be replicated or even exported (e.g. members list) to this very different platform which does have features lacking in WS such as the blog and categories . So it is necessarily a very different site that will take former members some getting used to. Hopefully, it will make sense to you, whether coming from the old platform or a complete newcomer.
Content will undoubtedly get a push when RootsMagic 8 comes out in 2019, as promised. Expect some changes to the database structure to affect some of the queries currently compatible with RM 6 and 7 and to open up some additional lines of inquiry.