I would also like to add my comments about the above. World Family Tree is by Family Tree Makers, and did or does burn submitted trees to CD which it copyrights and sells. Ancestry.com has NEVER done so, and of course Rootsweb does not either. Ancestry.com's purchase of Rootsweb enabled Rootsweb to stay financially afloat, and Ancestry's family tree area and bulletin board are NOT part of their subscription service, but free to all. When uploading your family tree to Rootsweb's World Connect site, the submitter has full control of what they wish to share. This includes an option that does NOT allow the gedcom file to be downloaded. Sources can be shown or suppressed. In several cases, I have contacted the submitter because when they upload their file they say something like "this is the bare outline of what I have, please contact me for more information or for sources" or "I will share if you will share" which meant they sent me their gedcom file when I explained my line of descent, and shared mine with them. Some people are very free with their information and allow gedcom downloading. When you find an ancestor and click on the "pedigree" link, the options the sumitter has decided to include are at the bottom of the screen. This may or may not include "download gedcom". Rootsweb was recently asked in their newsletter why they did not combine gedcom files because some lines seem to be extremely redundant. Their reply was that when a person submits a file, they in effect, have a mini-personal website. I would like to note that submitting a gedcom file to Rootsweb and not allowing a viewer to download, is no different that posting the information on another personal web site somewhere else. People can copy/paste the information from *any* website if it is submitted as text, rather than a graphic. And if it is loaded as a graphic, one can go through the laborious effort of manually entering the "found" data into their own files. I personally keep two gedcom files: one built on primary sources, and one with "leads" to follow up on, which includes Rootsweb and WFT files, 19th century newspaper gossip, family heresay, psychic readings, and other unproven-by-primary-sources leads. I am *extremely* grateful to anyone who shares, especially ealier than the 19th century, as my aptitude in understanding court records or deciphering records beyond that point is minimal, at best. I am fortunate to live within a three-hour drive of every one of my 19th century ancestors, and so concentrate on them (and share). Peace, Debbie in Ohio _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

HANCOCK-L@rootsweb.com wrote: > > I would also like to add my comments about the above. World Family Tree is > by Family Tree Makers, and did or does burn submitted trees to CD which it > copyrights and sells. IF THE ABOVE STATEMENT IS TRUE - then I want someone to explain to me just WHERE the trees come from that are sold by the thousands on the FTM CDs! > > Ancestry.com has NEVER done so, and of course Rootsweb does not either. > Ancestry.com's purchase of Rootsweb enabled Rootsweb to stay financially > afloat, and Ancestry's family tree area and bulletin board are NOT part of > their subscription service, but free to all. > > When uploading your family tree to Rootsweb's World Connect site, the > submitter has full control of what they wish to share. This includes an > option that does NOT allow the gedcom file to be downloaded. Sources can be > shown or suppressed. In several cases, I have contacted the submitter > because when they upload their file they say something like "this is the > bare outline of what I have, please contact me for more information or for > sources" or "I will share if you will share" which meant they sent me their > gedcom file when I explained my line of descent, and shared mine with them. > Some people are very free with their information and allow gedcom > downloading. When you find an ancestor and click on the "pedigree" link, the > options the sumitter has decided to include are at the bottom of the screen. > This may or may not include "download gedcom". > > Rootsweb was recently asked in their newsletter why they did not combine > gedcom files because some lines seem to be extremely redundant. Their reply > was that when a person submits a file, they in effect, have a mini-personal > website. I would like to note that submitting a gedcom file to Rootsweb and > not allowing a viewer to download, is no different that posting the > information on another personal web site somewhere else. People can > copy/paste the information from *any* website if it is submitted as text, > rather than a graphic. And if it is loaded as a graphic, one can go through > the laborious effort of manually entering the "found" data into their own > files. > > I personally keep two gedcom files: one built on primary sources, and one > with "leads" to follow up on, which includes Rootsweb and WFT files, 19th > century newspaper gossip, family heresay, psychic readings, and other > unproven-by-primary-sources leads. I am *extremely* grateful to anyone who > shares, especially ealier than the 19th century, as my aptitude in > understanding court records or deciphering records beyond that point is > minimal, at best. I am fortunate to live within a three-hour drive of every > one of my 19th century ancestors, and so concentrate on them (and share). > > Peace, > Debbie in Ohio > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > > ==== HANCOCK Mailing List ==== > Where to send messages to the list..... > HANCOCK-L@rootsweb.com > > __________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Webmail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/