This topic appears to be flying around the lists - again. Please do not discuss this ON list! Here is the information as I understand it now. If you have questions regarding the service, check the Ancestry website. From List Aministrators List information and discussion: Ancestry is *not* charging for access to trees or selling trees: access will remain free from both the RootsWeb and Ancestry side as it has always been. (These are the Ancestry World Tree and the Rootsweb WorldConnect trees) OneWorldTree is a unique and totally separate thing. What Ancestry is offering, for an extra charge, is access to a special search engine to search the trees for you. Folks can still search the Ancestry trees or World Connect trees manually or browse the trees for free the same way they always have. OneWorldTree does two things. First, it searches family history records. It does not modify or replace the original records. Second, it compiles the information in an effort to group the ones that go with a given person (a process they call "stitching"), and provides references to the original sources. Think of it as a research assistant: you can hire someone to help you look for your ancestors, or you can research yourself for free. Hiring a human research assistant doesn't sell them the data being researched, or change the rules so that only they are allowed to look. That's essentially what it is, except that it's computerized, not human. (With thanks to Piglet!) Pat Mount List Admin