The following is taken from today's Eastman's Newsletter: Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter - http://www.rootscomputing.com I have received e-mail about the following companies; all have been mentioned as having questionable services. I have listed URLs where you can obtain further information: Family Discovery.com - an online Web site that claims to have "the Web's most versatile Award Winning collection of genealogical databases." However, they don't mention the "award" they received from the Better Business Bureau! The Bureau says, "Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s)." Family Discovery.com charges $59.99 for a one- year subscription. Most of the same information is available elsewhere on the Web at no charge. In fact, many of the links on FamilyDiscovery.com simply take you to free Web sites. You can obtain the same information at no cost by using one of the free search engines. Details are available on the Genealogical Web Site Watchdog site at: http://www.ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#Warning. There is an Anti-FamilyDiscovery.com newsletter at: http://compuright.dyndns.org/familydiscovery/ The xxx Family Yearbook - In this case, substitute your last name for the "xxx." For instance, an advertisement sent to a person named Smith would be advertising The Smith Family Yearbook while someone named Clark would receive an advertisement for The Clark Family Yearbook. These "yearbooks" claim to have genealogy information. However, those who purchase the "products" are usually disappointed. The producing company has several business names; for example, you can find them listed as Mountain West News Service or as the Mountain Pacific News Service. They also may appear as an organizational name, such as "The Smith Family Yearbook." However, all these "companies" have the same address: 1181 S. Parker Road, #105, Denver, CO 80231. The Better Business Bureau lists the parent company as MORPHCORP. The News Herald of Panama City, Florida has an article about these "products" at: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/2000/04/16/tp041600.htm Family Tree House - I wrote about this company in the October 31, 1998 edition of this newsletter. The company gives an appearance of a Web site that offers genealogy services. In fact, it does not appear to sell anything. However, the same company advertises on another Web site with an offer to sell personal information obtained from genealogists who visit the Family Tree House site. You innocently enter personal information about yourself on Family Tree House and then operators of the site sell your personal information to bulk mail companies. Information for sale includes name, address, e-mail address and more. You can read that article at: http://ancestordetective.com/watchdog.htm#sells ==== BURK Mailing List ==== Verify the subscription status for all your RootsWeb mailing lists; your list of subscriptions will be emailed to you. http://passwordcentral.rootsweb.com/ =======================================================