NOTE from DearMYRTLE: The following announcement was made by our > friends at Ancestry.com late yesterday afternoon bypassing the radar > of most genealogy bloggers. This requires the URGENT attention of > those of us who created Online Family Trees at Ancestry many years > ago using the old system which will be replaced "about March 2008" > according to Ancestry's official blog. All inquiries should be made > to [email protected] . > > > Online Family Tree Announcement > Posted by kfreestone > December 19, 2007 (3:16pm) > > Since 1999, our Online Family Tree system has helped almost 2 > million people build family trees, upload GEDCOM files and add their > trees to Ancestry World Tree. We've maintained this system for some > time, but the it's finally become outdated and will soon be replaced > with the Ancestry Member Tree system introduced in July 2006. We > realize this is a bitter disappointment for some of you who have > worked in our Online Family Tree system for years. > > This is an important step for us that lets us focus all our > ability on creating one great system for everyone to use. At nearly > 8 years old, Online Family Tree is an ancient product (in internet > years anyway), and we feel it is important to move everyone to the > new system while this one is still running. If we prolonged this, > it would be much more difficult to do this while the OFT system is > on life-support. > > What does this mean for you? > > For those that have a file in the old Online Family Tree > system, you'll be able to access your tree in that system through > about March 2008. Between now and then you can easily transition > your family tree file to the Ancestry Member Tree system and get > used to it before the Online Family Tree system expires. [Color > emphasis added.] > > We know how much time and energy you've put into your tree and > we've done our best to make sure you don't lose a bit of it as you > change systems. There are basically two phases to this transition > period for Online Family Tree: > > Phase 1 Trial and transition. > > Between now and March 2008 you can move your family tree file > to the Ancestry Member Tree system and get familiar with it. Your > file in the old Online Family Tree system will remain intact so you > can double-check everything. However, once you've transitioned your > tree to the Ancestry Member Tree system, any new information added > or edits made will not be reflected in your Online Family Tree file. > Do nothing during this time frame and nothing will change in your > Online Family Tree file. If you make changes to your Online Family > Tree file after you've transitioned to Ancestry Member Trees, you'll > have the option to send the updated file to the new system once > again. > > Phase 2 Tree expiration. > > At the end of March 2008 we'll send you another reminder to > transition your tree. At this point, your tree will no longer be > accessible in the Online Family Tree system, but the file itself > WILL remain on our servers and in the system for as long as we can > maintain it. When you come to view your Online Family Tree file, > you'll see only a link to move your family tree file to the Ancestry > Member Tree system. > > After March 2008 we plan to remove the old feature set > surrounding your file. This means that all Online Family Tree files > previously submitted to Ancestry World Tree will remain there > permanently, unless you take steps to remove it. > > About Ancestry Member Trees > > The Ancestry Member Tree system will give you most of the same > features as the Online Family Tree system. That includes integrated > record search, the ability to invite family members to edit and > contribute, GEDCOM import and export and much more. The Ancestry > Member Tree system will also offer many new and exciting features. > > [See the original Online Family Tree Announcement for a > comparison chart to show which features from the Online Family Tree > system are available in the Ancestry Member Trees system.] > > We believe you will find much to enjoy about Ancestry Member > Trees, and we hope to continue to add features and make you excited > about the product. Already more than 3 million people have created > trees using the Ancestry Member Tree system, and we've been amazed > at the work that has been done: > > * 4.2 million family trees created > * 378 million names added > * 937,000 family members invited > * 48 million Ancestry Hints accepted > * 4 million photos uploaded