Dear Marg and listers We are very lucky to have access to so much free information on Rootsweb, especially the huge number of mailing lists available to researchers. Also, many of the family history societies have their websites hosted, free of charge by Rootsweb, for example Blue Mountains Family History Society http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nswbmfhs/index.htm . At Blue Mountains Family History Society, we promote the use of Rootsweb and the mailing lists. At one of our recent general meetings, one of our members gave a presentation on the advantages of using Rootsweb and the mailing lists. We encourage our members to take advantage of this free service and to look on it as another family history tool. It is a great privilege for researchers to have some records available FREE on Ancestry, in association with State Records NSW, e.g. The Colonial Secretary's Papers 1788 - 1825. You will find some transcription errors on Ancestry and if you do, please let Ancestry know, so the errors can be rectified. We also find errors in transcriptions of records from other sources and we should have these corrected, as well, if possible. Try to have at least two separate sources of proof for each event. Go back to the original source, or have someone do it on your behalf if you are unable to travel to the original source or apply for a copy of the original source. Even our birth, marriage and death certificates are not always accurate. They are only as good as the informant, who may not even be a close relative. However, we have to make the best use of what is available. Thank you Marg for pointing out the value of consulting the "Who Do You Think You Are" magazine, especially the April 2012 issue for the tips on navigating around familysearch.org. I have not seen a copy, but will go looking for it in my local library. Regards Jan Koperberg President, Blue Mountains Family History Society Inc Secretary, NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies Inc ----- Original Message ----- From: "MargM" <genknut@exemail.com.au> To: <AUS-NSW-SYDNEY@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2012 9:00 PM Subject: [ANS] Knocking Ancestry > Dear Listers > A timely reminder Ancestry own Rootsweb . Rootsweb supplies an > enormous range of tools for genealogists use for FREE . An > example is this mailing list and the 30,000 others. > Yesterday I posted some info to help in navigating your way > around the new family search.org > > Re posting this > > The April 2012 issue of the 'Who do you think you are' magazine > has all sorts of info including 10 amazing search tips in 50 > ways to get more info from new familysearch.org. > MargM > Sydney List Admin

One of the reasons for Rootsweb's dominance in the genealogy field might be because of their anti-competitive undertakings. For many years I ran Genseek, a free, Australian based website with over 1000 indexes that people could access. I was contacted by Ancestry and asked to merge my indexes into theirs, in return for a paltry couple of free visits per year. When I explained that wasn't going to ever happen, they turned around the next day and started up their website - Genseek.com In business the old adage if you can't beat them then you had better consume them still prevails. So lets not be overly noble about what Rootsweb or Ancestry does for us. It is a business that dominates a particular market by one means or the other. The information on site are usually public records, owned by citizens whose Government has been paid a sum of money from the Mormons so they in turn can make money. pretty simple really cheers Jenny F <SNIP> -----Original Message----- From: Jan Koperberg Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2012 8:37 AM To: aus-nsw-sydney@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ANS] Knocking Ancestry Dear Marg and listers We are very lucky to have access to so much free information on Rootsweb, especially the huge number of mailing lists available to researchers. Also, many of the family history societies have their websites hosted, free of charge by Rootsweb, for example Blue Mountains Family History Society http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nswbmfhs/index.htm . of the message