This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: judithstrachan1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.scotland.ayr.general/14356.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Why should access to historical records be free? It costs money to digitise records and put them online. Who should pay for it? Those who use the records, of course - that is, genealogists and family historians. Otherwise it would be all taxpayers footing the bill and that would be unfair. Putting a message on any message board and hoping to find someone who has already researched your particular family tree is a real shot in the dark, but it can work. And there are still lots of free message boards. The reason a message about Scottish records will get a reply saying you need to use the pay to view website ScotlandsPeople is because that is how you access Scottish records. It actually works much cheaper than getting an English certificate. I can see my own family tree free of charge at any time, because I keep it on my own computer. What I put online is a copy. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.