Ancestry purchased ROOTSWEB a couple of years ago. They have maintained that ROOTSWEB would always remain as free research and would not fall under their subscription service. They have been chipping away to get the two systems under one since then. A few weeks ago, they issued another edict which just plain sounds like they will TAKE our information and we will no longer control it, it will no longer be free to researchers. That might be effective in March, might be April. Since that time, many of over 100 Illinois Counties have moved their data off ROOTSWEB for safety. Our new web page is under the Illinois Gen Web, http://clinton.ilgenweb.net/ Other Illinois Counties are shown under http://ilgenweb.rootsweb.com/ , most of them have left ROOTSWEB. Our Illinois Coordinators have been working long days for weeks to get everything copied and removed before we're told that we no longer own the data, they deserve medals. It was. and still is, a major undertaking to move so much so quickly. If you want to see what the other states are doing: USGenWeb <http://genealogy.about.com/b/2008/03/17/usgenweb-where-are-they-moving.htm> - Where Are They Moving? That was as of 4 days ago, there could be more by now. Overseas counties are also moving their data off ROOTSWEB. Our "old" bookmarked web page will have a redirect link for the time being. Rumors say that ancestry has begun to lock those pages up, so we don't know how long the redirect page will redirect. We don't know what will happen to the mailing list, but if you wanted to go back and read any posted queries, this might be a good time to do it. Or right after Easter. Bottom line: Hurray for the Illinois GEN WEB leaders! And a Big Thanks to Cheryl Rothwell for keeping Clinton County data safe and free.
I have been observing this move for a number of years and left both ROOTSWEB and Ancestry years ago. Wonder if there are any grounds for a class action law suit against them? They are certainly using a lot of data I have supplied. phil Entrekin Dorothy Falk <dorothyf@ameritech.net> wrote: Ancestry purchased ROOTSWEB a couple of years ago. They have maintained that ROOTSWEB would always remain as free research and would not fall under their subscription service. They have been chipping away to get the two systems under one since then. A few weeks ago, they issued another edict which just plain sounds like they will TAKE our information and we will no longer control it, it will no longer be free to researchers. That might be effective in March, might be April. Since that time, many of over 100 Illinois Counties have moved their data off ROOTSWEB for safety. Our new web page is under the Illinois Gen Web, http://clinton.ilgenweb.net/ Other Illinois Counties are shown under http://ilgenweb.rootsweb.com/ , most of them have left ROOTSWEB. Our Illinois Coordinators have been working long days for weeks to get everything copied and removed before we're told that we no longer own the data, they deserve medals. It was. and still is, a major undertaking to move so much so quickly. If you want to see what the other states are doing: USGenWeb - Where Are They Moving? That was as of 4 days ago, there could be more by now. Overseas counties are also moving their data off ROOTSWEB. Our "old" bookmarked web page will have a redirect link for the time being. Rumors say that ancestry has begun to lock those pages up, so we don't know how long the redirect page will redirect. We don't know what will happen to the mailing list, but if you wanted to go back and read any posted queries, this might be a good time to do it. Or right after Easter. Bottom line: Hurray for the Illinois GEN WEB leaders! And a Big Thanks to Cheryl Rothwell for keeping Clinton County data safe and free. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ILCLINTO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message