Dear All I cannot comment on the cost of setting up and running websites, etc. However I would like to say that I have made considerable use of Mike John's website. I have been able to trace my family history back several generations as well as making contact with other family members. His site has saved me probably hundreds of pounds. He may, or may not, transcribe for freeCEN or freeBMD but he has made available innumerable records online for people who are unable to travel to record offices in Wales. He has helped me personally with my family tree and has sent me copies of wills that relate to my family. So please do not end this discussion with criticism of him. You may not agree with his views but he does have a right to state them. Alison ________________________________ From: Terry Waters-Marsh <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, 29 January, 2009 10:19:22 PM Subject: Re: [ENG-WILTSHIRE] Cost of Wilts Wills online defended 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) ------------------------------- 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