Ancestry.com does really bite the big one, but they're not as bad as family tree maker. I try to avoid both. They're loaded with misinformation, and a colossal ripoff. I'm saying this to see if I get censored or not. best to all, even Scott Peck ----- Original Message ----- From: <PasaPeruva@aol.com> To: <AMXROADS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 2:38 PM Subject: [AMXROADS] Re: Census Study > In a message dated 6/22/02 6:00:18 AM US Mountain Standard Time, > AMXROADS-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > > << However, Ancestry has re-formatted most of their most > useful databases, adding a "I am related" and "Comments," after each entry, > which makes it impossible to simply copy by outlining the information from > the page with the mouse and pasting it into your word processor so that it > can be compared with other regional entries, for instance the other land > owners along a watercourse. Had I enough time, I would be adding plenty of > comments to these entries, but there are simply too many to tell Ancestry > what I think of this practice. > Computer and internet genealogy is supposed to make research > easier rather than complicate it, especially when you're paying for the > services, which is the case at Ancestry. Also annoying at Ancestry, while > I'm ranting, is the offensive advertising which now permeates their pages > -- doubly annoying for a subscription service. >> > > Carolyn: You are correct that Ancestry does not make research easy for > researchers. I pd. the yr. several yrs. ago I could get in all the free > stuff great but the pd databases was something else. I wrote and wrote about > my problems and nothing they said helped me as my son could not phathom what > they were saying. > Then when my yr had two monthss to go they came back and said that I needed > cookies in order to research in ancestry.com correctly. My son had felt I > did not need cookies cluttering up my machine so he cut accepting them. We > live and learn. > > Ancestry also gets on the long list of links for free pages and you click on > a title and here is ancestry saying that the database if for paid > subscription. This burnes me to a crisp to say it mildly. I have a pd sub > to the census on ancesty and I forget which yr. it was but for the state of > IN, Henry Co., the township of Wayne is not there. > This is the township Knightstown, IN is in and where I am supposted to find > my mother's mother as a child living with family friends. No answer as to > why this twp. > has been left out. Where do they get off if advertising complete, 'COMPLETE, > census of a state when one missing twp. can mess up genealogy research. I pd. > good money to sit home to do my census and not limp around a busy library to > get the microfilm, run it on the viewer, undo it limp many yds. to the copy > alcove, wait inline to get it copied, then retarce my limping steps to the > viewer and go on from there and when I find someone else do the same > proceedure again. This makes me want to invest in my own viewer for my home > with a printer attached. Yes, they have microviewers with printers attached, > as New Castle, IN has one in their Public Library. They are neat, and > microfilm research is enjoyable there. > > You know why ancestry wants notes when you find someone of your family and > you leave a note? This gives them more info on that person you are > researching and they can add you to thier database and charge others for > what you just gave them freely, this is not right. > > I know there are those that swear by Ancestry to be excellant bar none. Me I > will no longer be a sheep to follow them around and give them info on my > family that takes me time plus money to find and get. When I got the Census > thru Ancestry.com it was the free 14 day trial. Guess what on the thirteenth > day (13th) they subed me into the census subscription and it was three days > before I found out and they would do nothing about my not wanting the > 'service'? Oh, well we peons live, learn and lose money. These are my > personal views, I force it on no one but the fact is I do not believe that > Ancestry.com is totally honest with the world. > > Carolyn: I want to thank you for the web URL, I have not been there yet as > wanted to reply to your post. I have been to seminars and they have all said > to copy names 10 before and 10 after your ancestor in order to get a > concensus of possible inlaws, and family members that might be living close > by. Indexs I don't do this as an index is just that alpha listing and does > not mean any relationship to each name in order at all. I am looking forward > to getting into the Census Study and sure I will find much info to learn > from. You took time from your regular business at hand to be of help to me > and I trully appreciate it. > > Carolyn you are the BESTEST friend, cousin and teacher any on this list could > ask for. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS. > > Send me your mothers address and I will send her some picture postcards from > my state that at this moment is buring up and not sun temperature either. I > am sure that you have all seen this in the news. I am not close to the area > as it is, what we call, above the 'rim' so far. It is gets to Payson it will > be below the 'rim' area and it would not surprise me that it is (the rim) > 2000 ft above the vallely were Payson happens to be. > > It is a sad time for those people, I have sat and watched and wondered how > many were doing genealogy and lost it ALL. I have note books, file cabinet, > sm. plastic > crates with hanging files I have researched the past 5 yrs. , CDs and > research books that I have emassed in the past yr or two that I would be > devistated if I were to loose them. These people probably never thought this > would happen to them. A once in a livetime happening. Was in the 1800s > since the last devistating fire hit AZ. Like earth quakes, they do happen, > even rarely, and we have no idea when or where. > > I was ready to close a long time ago but as I told my new cousin I get > started and it is hard for me to quit my brain from functioning. > Also Carolyn, thank you for agreeing with me on the copy/paste post I made. > > Thank you all for reading to the end of my dissertation or exertation how > ever you see it. > > Beej > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >

Dear Beej, Marilyn, Jim and Cousins, Well, first I have to stop laughing so I can type! How does one show that via e-mail??!! The problem with Ancestry is that it's become too successful. Will success spoil internet genealogical subscription services? You bet it will! When they first were offering their services they were interested in gaining customer approval. They vowed that -- unlike Broderbund's Family Treemaker -- any gedcom lineages submitted to Ancestry World Tree would always remain free and available, and that still applies. It was in keeping with what genealogy users have traditionally done, which is to share information. They offered their databases free for the initial ten days they were put up, which was a good deal. I don't know if they still do that. If so they don't advertise it anymore. But I really agree about the misleading information. I was told when I subscribed to the census images when they were first offered, that they would have all of them online "by March." I think that would have been about six months. Well, they still aren't complete! BUT, as I said in my other posting, the census images are about the best thing going at Ancestry. I could use the AIS index to lookup many of the listings I wanted and then browse the images until I found it. But they've sort of hidden the AIS index. Why, I don't know. And the other day I found that the 1870 AIS for Indiana is missing completely. Most states go through 1870 and a couple have 1880 too. BUT, the biggest gripe I have are those "I may be related" and "comments," boxes which means you can't copy and paste database information anymore. AND I agree the customer service is crummy. My account got mixed up and after writing and writing and writing and calling and calling and calling, I was told that if I didn't like it, I didn't have to subscribe! I asked to speak to the accounts department supervisor, and the guy said he WAS the department supervisor! BUT again, I finally got hold of the Customer Service Manager, who straightened the whole thing out. (My account was in one name and my credit card in another.) I doubt if the accounts manager ever got straight, though. This is where technology has taken us folks! This is the problem with our society. The term we're groping for is institutionalized. The tail wags the dog. A perfectly good service becomes governed by something other than the service it seeks to provide. The schools no longer teach children how to think, they provide a place that hires teachers and administrators and pay them obscene wages. The education of our children gets lost in the process, along with the children. Doctors and health care are businesess. If you get healed by a brush with the business, it is a minor miracle. If you're Ford Motors, you make a Thunderbird and a Mustang and and then turn them into hog Cadillacs. The church, well, let's just say the headlines speak for themselves. So it should come as no surprise that genealogy and history organizations are run for the benefit of the organization not the subscribers. This is true of Ancestry as well as some of our formerly well founded surname organizations. I have a suspicion that at Ancestry the services are governed by persons who want to make a buck, have unleashed technicians on the services and have forgotten the genealogical considerations. Genealogy and history do not wag, but how to squeeze another dollar. High inaccuracy, inaccessibility, unfathomable formatting, and loss of usability result. Too bad. Institutionalization. On the other hand, Broderbund's World Family Tree and Family Treemaker has reformed, literally. Now owned by Mattel, which includes The Learning Company and A & E, they are Genealogy.com, still a subscription service to view all those gedcoms and CD's, but they do have the GenForum, which is free and provides a great service for Surname and locality postings. AND, Ancestry also provides their own surname boards free, and as owners of Rootsweb, Long May It Wave!!, provides a whole array of free genealogy, subsidized by Ancestry's commercial side. So it goes. I suppose Jim is going to tell us now that Scott Peck owns Mattel. Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn