I apologize if any of you receive this information in duplicate from other source, but I felt it was important to pass this along just in case you have not heard about it. Some major changes are underway with regards to a merger between Rootsweb and Ancestry.com. The following note from Karen at Rootsweb explains the purpose of the merger and also what we can expect. Rootsweb has served the genealogical world so well and the folks there have always been forthright in their communications, so I feel this will be a positive for Rootsweb and the future of free genealogical resources on the internet. Wanda >To: RootsWeb-Announce@rootsweb.com >Subject: Good News, Bad News, Good News: The Merger of RootsWeb and >MyFamily.com > >Good News, Bad News, Good News: RootsWeb and MyFamily.com Merger > >Good news: You, our contributors, with your financial support, have >helped create at RootsWeb one of the largest and most popular sites on >the Internet. In May, we had over 149 million page views (according >to Nielsen NetRatings combined home and work statistics), sent over >155 million e-mails, and handled over two million downloads of files >from the various archives hosted at RootsWeb. Everyone, take a bow! >This is an incredible community of genealogists, and the advances >we're all making in our research due to the sharing that occurs here >is unprecedented. > >Bad news: The more popular RootsWeb becomes, the more costly it is to >simply stay alive and online. Even with your generous support, >expenses continue to exceed revenue. We ran up a truly scary loss >last year. Without outside help, it's not clear how long we'd be able >to go on like this. > >Good news: MyFamily.com (you may know them better as Ancestry.com) >recognizes the importance of the genealogical community that has grown >here at RootsWeb, and wants that community to continue to thrive. >They're excited to provide the financial stability we need to ensure >RootsWeb will be around for years to come. > >Brian and I are pleased by Ancestry.com's coming involvement with >RootsWeb. Now we can all focus on helping each other on the mailing >lists and message boards, uploading our GEDCOMs, and building Web >pages to share our research. <<snip>> >More good news: No one is going to charge you to use RootsWeb. You'll >still find RootsWeb at www.RootsWeb.com. Everything you're used to >using will still be here: the 19,000 mailing lists, the hundreds >of millions of names in free genealogy databases, the interactive >learning guides, the weekly RootsWeb Review and Missing Links, >the numerous tools for tracing your family history, the tens of thousands >of message boards, the thousands of independently authored web sites. >RootsWeb will still support worthy genealogy projects and societies, >such as the USGenWeb Project (www.USGenWeb.org), the Immigrant Ships >Transcribers Guild (ISTG.rootsweb.com) and the FreeBMD Project >(FreeBMD.rootsweb.com), and other groups that provide free >genealogical resources. > >You will of course still get all of services and benefits we promised >you, such as mailing lists and access to PML, the feature that >scans all our mailing lists and message boards for the surnames >you specify. > >And don't worry, you won't be charged to access RootsWeb. No one >will put your data on CD without your permission. Our Privacy Policy >(http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/pledge.html) and our Acceptable User >Policy (http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/aup.html) are unchanged. >Other promises made over the years will continue to be honored. You'll >still deal with the same RootsWeb volunteers and employees. In >fact, most users won't notice any changes, except exciting new tools, >more content, and better genealogical resources. > >If you would like more information, please check out our >official press release at > > http://www.ancestry.com/home/celebrate/rootsrelease.htm > >Again, thank you for you loyal support. We ... look forward to your continued >patronage. Now, let's go figure out where great-great-grandma really >came from, before that UFO deposited her in rural Kentucky in 1835... > >Karen