I have followed our recent threads on online Trees with interest. It appears that the 'World Family Tree' CD's were put online via Genealogy.com (a subsidiary of Ancestry.com) - http://www.genealogy.com/ifa/wftlist.html The 'World Connect' Family Trees may be found at Rootsweb (another subsidary of Ancestry.com) - http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ------------ Regarding online Ancestry Trees @ Ancestry.com, there is merit in having one, especially if you are using FTM-2012 or FTM-2014 and have a subscription to Ancestry.com (eg. World Heritage, UK Heritage, USA Expolorer, etc.) My brother Ward and I have collaborated for nearly 20 years on our common Ancestry and related family trees. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland and I live in Victoria, Australia. I'm the keeper of the database and he does the major on-the-ground research. When FTM-2012 came out, he urged me to leave our previous program (Ultimate Family Tree), and purchase Ancestry's latest version of FTM because of its TreeSync feature. It works pretty well, although I had a few hiccups at first. Having an online Ancestry Tree (via TreeSync) has been a blessing to us. Now my brother can access everything at our Tree, and even do some inputting himself. He does this as 'Editor'. I have a handful of invited 'Guests' and 'Contributors'. Some of them can see 'Living People' but most of them can't. ---------------- With TreeSync, everything in your FTM database is translated onto your corresponding Ancestry Tree. Any additions, changes and deletions to your database are 'synced up' to your online Ancestry Tree, and anything additions, changes and deleetions to your online Tree are 'synced down' to your FTM database. You can choose to make your online Ancestry Tree Public or Private. There are two privacy settings. One locks down everything so no one can view your online Tree except invited 'Guests', 'Contributor' (or 'Editor'). ---------- As many of you know, having an Ancestry account means that you have ready access to all the Public Ancestry Trees. From personal experience, I've discovered that nearly all of them are chock full of errors (including my own). You can either stamp up and down and curse these Trees, or use them with a grain of salt. (Remember all those &%^*@ LDS Submissions and Ancestral Files? ... many of them have worked their way onto the majority of online Trees out there ... and possibly into your own database when you started off as a 'Newby' to Family History.) So what do you do with your online Ancestry Tree? - My suggestion is to make it Public, so others can challenge you and assist you with corrections and errors in your database, with 'TreeSync' this can be done online, or off-line. With your Ancestry subscription (if you have one), you have ready access to literally billions of records that are growing everyday. These are the gems and I've found them to be a great asset in organising the people and families on my Tree, but even more than that, gathering up source materials that can verify and substantiate all the information I've been inputtings. ONE WARNING: With Ancestry you can display Ancestry Member Tree "hints" in your Tree(s), or receive hint notifications only for records and media. I recommend turning OFF Ancestry Member Tree hints as they can easily lead you astray. If you turn them on, "Buyer Beware!" ----------- None of our Trees, whether online or off-line, are accurate. None of us have the time, money or resources, to research every single person in our database(s). We depend upon each other, especially cousins with whom we partner our research. We do the on-the-ground research where we are able and attempt to verify every person, story, fact and entry in our database(s). Where we can't, we can subscribe to services such as Ancestry.com and view the wealth of information that's freely available out there on the Net. Yes, Family History for us is both an obsession and a delight. "Who do we think we are?" ... We are the make up of all the individuals that came before us. We want to know our relatives and ancestors intimately, put to rest the myths of our past and discover the real stories, where we are able, that form our personal and collective history. Let's just make sure that what we gather up for ourselves or for our children and other descendants are as accurate as possible, with the off-line and on-line tools we have at our disposal ... ... And this includes records available Ancestry and even some of those #$&%$ Online Ancestry Trees, including the ones you trust. John in Oz ------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Maynard Phillip Island, Australia ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Let there be Peace on Earth, Justice and Prosperity ... ... and an End to Violence, Poverty and Greed."