I think that it is terrible that they keep charging and charging for information that alot of is what they have gotten free. Ancestry is outrageous and then Myfamily wants more? It is not going to be affordable for anyone to do genealogy if this keeps up. Charlotte

Charlotte I don't know what you call "free", they have to buy books, or census film, newspapers, or whatever, transcribe the data or scan the pages, develop a database for the above, enter the information, AND, make it searchable. On top of that, they have to pay, probably, royalties to the copyright holders, where there are such. On top of that, they have to pay for servers, people to staff the servers, and all the infrastructure that goes to making it work. Now, if you mean by "free" those GEDCOMs and charts that individuals put up? Probably they (a) don't charge? I know there are both "free" and "pay" sites that have the "myfamily" genealogy charts posted by people like you and me. The "free" rootsweb? It is sponsored by these people because a few years ago, when it was sponsored by various colleges and libraries and individuals, it became a serious and expensive problem for the sponsors. And, it wasn't "free" then. Just someone other than "us" was paying for it. As my mother used to say, "there's no such thing as a free lunch, it's just a matter of who picks up the check." She was always wanting me to pick up my own check. So I do. Since I told you all that I don't golf, let me use that analogy. People here in Tucson want really cheap greens fees, have the grass watered, etc., without shelling out much money. Guess who then pays the bill. You got it! It is me, sitting here in my chair, glued to the computer for the next episode in the genealogy saga. And, BTW, what they are going to charge for is people who have their own (previously hosted by Ancestry, I guess) mini-websites. Since I've been paying for quite awhile for a web-site that is 98 megs more than I need, I guess it was really ME who was underwriting this "free" offer. Pat (who really is in Tucson, where it's a dry heat [100 today], and loving it.) -----Original Message----- From: CM7153@aol.com [mailto:CM7153@aol.com] Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 17:59 To: KENTUCKY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [KY] What won't they think of next? I think that it is terrible that they keep charging and charging for information that alot of is what they have gotten free. Ancestry is outrageous and then Myfamily wants more? It is not going to be affordable for anyone to do genealogy if this keeps up. Charlotte ==== KENTUCKY Mailing List ==== The Registry -- NEW -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/ Help defeat spam ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237