You can still get the email address of the board poster just like you always did by clicking on the link that shows their poster name on the board message. That is free and you can also post a reply on the board to their message which is also free. Even if they haven't filled out a profile telling about themselves, their email address shows up at the top of the page. The fee is for access to ancestry's data base--not the boards. Lou -------------------original message------------------ In a message dated 12/8/2006 4:50:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, Davis@dmea.osd.mil writes: Wow! Has Ancestry destroyed the purpose of the message boards for the genealogy community? To freely share data and to make contacts to obtain more detailed data of common interest. Or this for pay service just to be able to get e-mail addresses for those people who have chosen to be anonymous? Why would any genealogist want to be annonymous and not be contacted by anyone if they have posted a query? Is this an oxymoron or am I missing something?