Richard, You seem to be finding the right stuff. Maybe the wrong people haven't found you. I have never been approached in person by any professional genealogist wanting my material. I have been approached via the Internet by people, after having seen some sort of post or query I had made. Once a lady specifically asked for any information I had found regarding a difficult family and indicated it was a client for whom she was seeking information. I tried to help her, but was unable due to the fact that I had not visited the area and had not done hands on work -- And when I had made the post I was trying to identify a family with a common name, which turned out to be the wrong family for me. Another time I contacted a professional genealogist writing a book about a certain family. I had wanted her opinion on what I thought was a census mistake. She rudely returned my message and said she didn't have time for this. I wrote back and told her I had identified a member of the family whose first name was wrong in the census record and that he didn't exist. At this point she realized I had been trying to help her as well as myself, lightened up, and I helped her locate the person she was actually seeking, and some living descendants. Most recently I was asked for all my information regarding a family in its early years in America. I sent a little of what I had. It was unsatisfactory to her because I had to build too much on circumstantial evidence and the family had undergone surname changes which confused her. I suggested she start another generation down if she didn't want to have to make a convincing argument. She decided to follow my suggestion, but when I asked her for a little information about the branch she had studied she refused in fear I would write a book and use her information. I'll be the first to admit that one of these people in particular these has to be the "bottom of the barrel" and I don't even know how they got their certification, aside from the first lady I mentioned who was just asking for help and thought I might be able to give her that. I've been doing genealogy for thirty-five years, and you forty. Maybe I haven't run into the right crowd yet. It also could be the Pence family that keeps the wolves at bay. Who needs a professional to research the Pences when they have you? You have posted on the Internet -- Let me guess -- Forty years of Pence research, minus some original documents, a map of some Pence property. You also answer emails freely and helpfully. When a search takes me to a page that contains the information I need, I find the index or home page and site it in my source ... And if my web page ever gets to the point I post it on the Internet, I would link to that. Google finding each page does not stop one from finding the main page. I like Google, too, and I agree it would be nice if Ancestry would take me to your "little" web site. I'd prefer, though, that Ancestry stuck mainly to information from public records, old books, census, old books, etc., unless it had a separate section of surnames to search for free where we could find pages such as yours. As for OneWorldTree, it's not as efficient as the original databases from which it derived its information. I will never pay for this index. For one thing, Ancestry picks and chooses which trees are included by standards they arbitrarily set such as whether or not there are dates to go with the names. Some very good researchers have pulled the dates and notes because they were sick of being copied over and over. If you only use OneWorldTree, you will miss some of the good research and be inundated with the bad just because they have dates. Some of this "bad" research was put in World Trees purposely to show what has been done in the past, not as verified data. I don't want Ancestry.com picking who goes with who just because people copied the wrong information over and over from each other. I also don't like paying for anything people submitted thinking it would be free. Many times they chose the Rootsweb trees over the Family Tree Maker trees just because they didn't want their data sold. AND .... Google's a pretty good index for the Ancestry trees, too. You would have less control with a Rootsweb free site because you wouldn't have to fly their banners and you wouldn't be encouraged to store your database, if you have one, at Ancestry.com where it would end up sold and mixed up with a bunch of poor research. By the way I don't complain about Ancestry.com on a regular basis, even when they annoy me. I was just expressing my opinion. I have a subscription to Genealogy.com, too, and it annoys me even more. They don't answer their emails and I have paid for them for almost a year unable to use the site. Ancestry.com called me once and offered me a trial subscription to something I didn't really want, but which if I canceled by the end of the month. I used it, didn't need it, and did as I was instructed and assured by the telemarketer. When I canceled, they canceled my entire subscription, which I had paid a lot of money for and had almost a year to go. I had to argue with three different people at Ancestry, including a manager, and nobody ever agreed to give me my subscription back. I did end up with it minus the month's free subscription, for which I was charged. At present I have a subscription to a feature I didn't order. Now I have to take away my credit card information from them. Closing Rootsweb might be a good idea. Mailing lists and web pages can be created individually with little cost. Rootsweb certainly didn't improve when Ancestry took it over. Ancestry benefits from the freepages flying banners and linking to their trees. I understand that professionals are paid for finding things. If I want other people to get these things for free, though, I have to put them on the net. I just don't have to put them there in a manner that would be suitable for use by a professional, although if I were asked I would probably send a copy. There are lots of options out there to control whose hands they reach. I am not concerned about identifying myself on an email. If my name isn't signed, I forgot. The only person I ever have known to have been robbed on the Internet opened an email with a virus. I do concern myself about my mother's maiden name, which is on the Internet, so I usually use another security question. I am not sure you understood what I said, or perhaps I didn't explain myself well. I have several times visited the sites of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Board for Certification of Genealogists. I have some books written by professionals that I use. I considered becoming a professional genealogist, but don't reside in a good area for it. I have read the codes of standards and I try to follow them. I also know that a professional genealogist is supposed to reveal to their client the real source of their information. I'm sure most do. Just as in any business, there are bad and good apples. Asking for help or using other's material as footnotes does not a rotten apple make. Taking it or gaining it by false pretense does. Suggesting that someone else should do their work for them for free does. If I were to use you for a footnote, I would be comfortable with myself. If I were to use your work and not mention that it was your work, I would be ethically bankrupt. You did bring up something I hadn't considered. Perhaps the lady who wanted all my early research couldn't give me hers because someone else was paying her to do it. My point still stands, though. They were paying HER. Therefore, she should have been doing her own legwork. I'm not going to announce to the genealogy world who I think and who I don't think are corrupt or inept. Their colors will show in the long run and their reputations will ruin themselves. I do give hints to researchers who study the same surnames. I once caught an amateur genealogist with a good reputation for her writing skills repeatedly plagiarizing and called her on it. This caused a lot of stress, but she was outed. Anything like that, I would have to report at least to the family. Richard, genealogy has NOT always been a free culture. People for years paid to have their family trees traced, many fraudulently and many just poorly. It's been a hobby for some, and occupation for others. Just like everything else, including the family farm and local grocery, it's gone the way of big business and their bottom line. Once you get past it all, Ancestry offers things only a pay-for site could reasonably well. We don't have to go to the census readers anymore, and unindexed books are digital and searchable. As time goes on, more and more free things from reputable organizations are popping up and Ancestry will lose its luster. Another little note -- Professional genealogists are also supposed to research before they publish. I know there is a lot of pressure on writers to come up with help features ... but I read an article by a well known certified genealogist that stated that the old part of the cemetery in which most of my Dad's ancestors have been buried since the 1850s had shifted and the bodies weren't necessarily where they were supposed to be. A quick note to someone in the area would have shown this certified genealogist that people are still buried in the old part of this cemetery ... I've been to two burials in the past few years where this shift supposedly occurred. My father is going to be buried in the supposedly shifted part, and my family still owns plots there. I don't know of anyone buried on top of anyone else yet. So while some genealogists are using the net to avoid legwork, others aren't even using it to verify facts to illustrate their "professional" articles. I have nothing against professional or certified genealogists. I have used them for translations. But I have to be skeptical about some, just like anything else. Not much to do with copyright, so I'll stop at this one. Debbie ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour