Okay you win, lets charge for everything, reading books in libraries, going into museums & art galleries, sitting in the park, feeding the ducks at the local pond. Where do you thing public ammentities start and end, a century ago politians, trade unionists and many other people with philanphrocpic beliefs fought so that ordinary people could enjoy culture, that was once the privelege of the rich. We have a government aided by local councils who believe in privatising everything. Your attitude to paying for what you should be getting for nothing astounds me, you are so short sighted, because at the end of the day it is your history, and you are a taxpayer already ensuring it survives for future generations There are people on low incomes, single parents, and pensioners who cant afford to pay these extravegent costs, have'nt the right to look into their history as well, why should we pay again for things that already belong to us. I am unsubscribing so dont bother replying, I was only pointing out the fact, that yes I love family history, and my aim is to give something back for FREE before its all gets taken away, because that is what is going to happen in the long term. Mike John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip Snook" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:07 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended Did you do this photographing etc for love? When you do this, do you ever consider the time that it takes for you to do it? What would you pay somebody, a professional, to do the same thing? You don't get owt for nowt! I, for one, don't mind paying a fee - but I bet that it's only a fraction of the true cost taking everything into consideration. Phil On 29/1/09 12:44, "mike john" <[email protected]> wrote: > I have just purchased 9 pages from a newpaper, they cost 90p each, I will > now upload them to my website which cost nothing. I have also photographed > practically every parish record in Monmouthshire, fantastic images over > 300,000 of them, cost me just my bus fair to the records offices. I have > also photographed all the Tithe apportionments for the whole of > Monmouthshire, cost nothing. plus several hundred thousand other documents > > Mike > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Anton Mcloughlin" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 11:06 AM > Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended > > > When the Wills Project site first came on line i had excellent and very > fast service from the Wilts Archives who photocopied and posted many > wills and associated documents to me by return of post. > > This project is really a flagship one and a tremendous help to > researchers...it really helped me with mine as i got two wills late 17thC. > > As wills are so hard to locate from a distance, and sometimes even in a > record office, it is so unusual to find such a comprehensive indexing > project. > > Considering that the Borthwick Institute has the wills for the whole of > the North of England and they chare £10 for paper copies and take up to > 28 days to send them. Wiltshire Archives are very realistic at £5 for an > instant copy or less for a posted paper copy. > > Considering the potential leads in wills £5 is a reasonable price to pay > for an instant download. > > The revenue will undoubtably be put to good use enabling more records to > go online. > > Admittadly there are some digitisation projects that are free...the most > notable is the Medway Ark project which has all the OPRs and more for > free. > > But the more that goes on line the better for all. > > Anton >> >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > -- > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.15/1923 - Release Date: > 29/01/2009 > 07:13 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.15/1923 - Release Date: 29/01/2009 07:13

So how about transcribing the thousands of documents you have for the benefit of all...after all it will cost you nothing:-) nand load the transcriptions to your web site as that is "free" as well..lucky you as I pay for my website.. regards Anton -------- Original Message -------- > Okay you win, lets charge for everything, reading books in libraries, going > into museums & art galleries, sitting in the park, feeding the ducks at the > local pond. > > Where do you thing public ammentities start and end, a century ago > politians, trade unionists and many other people with philanphrocpic beliefs > fought so that ordinary people could enjoy culture, that was once the > privelege of the rich. We have a government aided by local councils who > believe in privatising everything. Your attitude to paying for what you > should be getting for nothing astounds me, you are so short sighted, because > at the end of the day it is your history, and you are a taxpayer already > ensuring it survives for future generations > > There are people on low incomes, single parents, and pensioners who cant > afford to pay these extravegent costs, have'nt the right to look into their > history as well, why should we pay again for things that already belong to > us. > > I am unsubscribing so dont bother replying, I was only pointing out the > fact, that yes I love family history, and my aim is to give something back > for FREE before its all gets taken away, because that is what is going to > happen in the long term. > > Mike John > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Philip Snook" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:07 PM > Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended > > > Did you do this photographing etc for love? When you do this, do you ever > consider the time that it takes for you to do it? What would you pay > somebody, a professional, to do the same thing? You don't get owt for nowt! > I, for one, don't mind paying a fee - but I bet that it's only a fraction of > the true cost taking everything into consideration. > Phil > > > On 29/1/09 12:44, "mike john" <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> I have just purchased 9 pages from a newpaper, they cost 90p each, I will >> now upload them to my website which cost nothing. I have also photographed >> practically every parish record in Monmouthshire, fantastic images over >> 300,000 of them, cost me just my bus fair to the records offices. I have >> also photographed all the Tithe apportionments for the whole of >> Monmouthshire, cost nothing. plus several hundred thousand other documents >> >> Mike >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Anton Mcloughlin" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 11:06 AM >> Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended >> >> >> When the Wills Project site first came on line i had excellent and very >> fast service from the Wilts Archives who photocopied and posted many >> wills and associated documents to me by return of post. >> >> This project is really a flagship one and a tremendous help to >> researchers...it really helped me with mine as i got two wills late 17thC. >> >> As wills are so hard to locate from a distance, and sometimes even in a >> record office, it is so unusual to find such a comprehensive indexing >> project. >> >> Considering that the Borthwick Institute has the wills for the whole of >> the North of England and they chare £10 for paper copies and take up to >> 28 days to send them. Wiltshire Archives are very realistic at £5 for an >> instant copy or less for a posted paper copy. >> >> Considering the potential leads in wills £5 is a reasonable price to pay >> for an instant download. >> >> The revenue will undoubtably be put to good use enabling more records to >> go online. >> >> Admittadly there are some digitisation projects that are free...the most >> notable is the Medway Ark project which has all the OPRs and more for >> free. >> >> But the more that goes on line the better for all. >> >> Anton >> >>> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> -- >> >> >> >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.15/1923 - Release Date: >> 29/01/2009 >> 07:13 >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.15/1923 - Release Date: 29/01/2009 > 07:13 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > E-mail message checked by Internet Security (6.0.0.386) > Database version: 5.11650 > http://www.pctools.com/uk/internet-security/ > >

While it is disappointing that the Wiltshire Wills project has had to introduce a charge, its perhaps not surprising. With hindsight, what would have been great, would have been a project (while access was free), to index all the names appearing within the Wiltshire Wills (or maybe this is on the way ?) which would greatly enhance the value of what is already a superb collection. Regardless hopefully some of the income generated from the charge can be re-invested to enable more material to become available on the web in future. Best Rgds Richard Heaton ----- Original Message ----- From: "mike john" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:56 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended Okay you win, lets charge for everything, reading books in libraries, going into museums & art galleries, sitting in the park, feeding the ducks at the local pond. Where do you thing public ammentities start and end, a century ago politians, trade unionists and many other people with philanphrocpic beliefs fought so that ordinary people could enjoy culture, that was once the privelege of the rich. We have a government aided by local councils who believe in privatising everything. Your attitude to paying for what you should be getting for nothing astounds me, you are so short sighted, because at the end of the day it is your history, and you are a taxpayer already ensuring it survives for future generations There are people on low incomes, single parents, and pensioners who cant afford to pay these extravegent costs, have'nt the right to look into their history as well, why should we pay again for things that already belong to us. I am unsubscribing so dont bother replying, I was only pointing out the fact, that yes I love family history, and my aim is to give something back for FREE before its all gets taken away, because that is what is going to happen in the long term. Mike John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip Snook" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 2:07 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended Did you do this photographing etc for love? When you do this, do you ever consider the time that it takes for you to do it? What would you pay somebody, a professional, to do the same thing? You don't get owt for nowt! I, for one, don't mind paying a fee - but I bet that it's only a fraction of the true cost taking everything into consideration. Phil On 29/1/09 12:44, "mike john" <[email protected]> wrote: > I have just purchased 9 pages from a newpaper, they cost 90p each, I will > now upload them to my website which cost nothing. I have also photographed > practically every parish record in Monmouthshire, fantastic images over > 300,000 of them, cost me just my bus fair to the records offices. I have > also photographed all the Tithe apportionments for the whole of > Monmouthshire, cost nothing. plus several hundred thousand other documents > > Mike > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Anton Mcloughlin" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 11:06 AM > Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended > > > When the Wills Project site first came on line i had excellent and very > fast service from the Wilts Archives who photocopied and posted many > wills and associated documents to me by return of post. > > This project is really a flagship one and a tremendous help to > researchers...it really helped me with mine as i got two wills late 17thC. > > As wills are so hard to locate from a distance, and sometimes even in a > record office, it is so unusual to find such a comprehensive indexing > project. > > Considering that the Borthwick Institute has the wills for the whole of > the North of England and they chare £10 for paper copies and take up to > 28 days to send them. Wiltshire Archives are very realistic at £5 for an > instant copy or less for a posted paper copy. > > Considering the potential leads in wills £5 is a reasonable price to pay > for an instant download. > > The revenue will undoubtably be put to good use enabling more records to > go online. > > Admittadly there are some digitisation projects that are free...the most > notable is the Medway Ark project which has all the OPRs and more for > free. > > But the more that goes on line the better for all. > > Anton >> >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > -- > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.15/1923 - Release Date: > 29/01/2009 > 07:13 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.15/1923 - Release Date: 29/01/2009 07:13 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Mike, I also live in Wales and am a pensioner on a small income, although i manage very well by making choices. One thing I do not skimp on is family history.You are fortunate if so many of the records you are interested in are within easy travelling distance. My main lines come from Cornwall, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. I have paid for several wills to be sent to me, and for the info you get in a will, they are cheap at the price. Much cheaper than petro;l and the cost of accommodation if you are spending more than one day anywhere, and let's face it how much real research can you do in a one day flying visit now and again. How much would you have had to spend on your hobby in Wales if you lived miles away in the south east of England, or up in Scotland? My family have given me money for birthdays & Christmas to help me with my research- I get far more pleasure by spending it on that than new clothes. It's all about choices, and if we didn't pay towards these facilities they would become unviable and uneconomic and become a casualty in no time. I also believe in helping and giving back - I have transcribed for freebmd and am currently transcribing Cornish parish registers. It is possible to weigh up pros & cons, without universal application. It's called using your brain. I would not consider paying to feed ducks, but will continue to decide what elements of family history research I am prepared to pay for. Nina Graham

Dear All, As the first to defend the cost of the online Wilts wills, perhaps I can have the last words as well and then we can close the thread (please?). Mike was strident in his criticisms but as far as I know, he has never volunteered to transcribe for FreeCEN (putting the census online for free), FreeBMD (putting the civil registration indexes online for free) or FreeREG (putting the parish registers online for free). Had he done so, he would have realised that even these projects, registered as charities in the UK, have significant costs in producing the transcriptions and in maintaining the web servers for online access. Even the volunteers have costs in terms of time, use of their computers, discs and postage costs. As someone else so aptly commented, "You do not owt for nowt". Finally, the mind is like a parachute - it only works when it is open. Warmest regards, Terry Waters-Marsh FreeCEN Country Coordinator for ENGLAND FreeCEN County Coordinator for SOMERSET (1891), WILTSHIRE, BEDFORDSHIRE, BERKSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, CHESHIRE, DORSET, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, HERTFORDSHIRE, HUNTINGDONSHIRE, OXFORDSHIRE, WARWICKSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE. Visit the FreeCEN web site at http://www.freecen.org.uk Somerset web page http://freepages.genealogy.rootswseb.com/~somtcen Wiltshire web page http://www.pope-genealogy.me.uk/nwop.htm Warwickshire web page http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/freecens/1861/index_1861.html Worcestershire web page http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/wo-a-p.html OPC for Avebury, Wiltshire General census information http://www.british-genealogy.com/resources/census/index.htm "To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root." (Chinese Proverb)