Ancestry owns RootsWeb, USGen Web, and has been goggling up many many small on-line genealogy sites, programs, databases, etc. It will be only a short time until they will have worse than a monopoly on the on-line information available--All of the volunteered family(s) information; all of the volunteered transcriptions, all of the volunteered public documents, all of it. I have been rattling my sabre about this and ancestry for some years now; I received all kinds of rebuttals as to perceptions of Ancestry's motives and costs in the name of public good. Bah--sheep to the slaughter is more like it. This is big business, we all are a part of it albeit very unwittingly early on. Watch for fees and increasing fees. The professional genealogists love it because it helps them and their fee schedules as well. We give up access but want more information--who do we turn to. Think about it. How many have bought ancillary information because it was less than a subscription to some of these sites where there may be only an index--on purpose I might add. Will it go away? NO, it won't unless everyone moves their sites, supports one another and there is whole sale exit from Ancestry and all that they own. The information already donated, however, will also remain with them for sale; and less and less of that information will remain free. alfred and arline larson wrote: > I have been wondering the same as Dick Bolt, because of the message Betty sent. Is Ancestry having a problem with rootsweb etc ? > Arline > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MAWORCES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

I am in total agreement with Susan's comments.......I hate monopolies! Sherry Susan Hedeen <chantillycarpets@earthlink.net> wrote: Ancestry owns RootsWeb, USGen Web, and has been goggling up many many small on-line genealogy sites, programs, databases, etc. It will be only a short time until they will have worse than a monopoly on the on-line information available--All of the volunteered family(s) information; all of the volunteered transcriptions, all of the volunteered public documents, all of it. I have been rattling my sabre about this and ancestry for some years now; I received all kinds of rebuttals as to perceptions of Ancestry's motives and costs in the name of public good. Bah--sheep to the slaughter is more like it. This is big business, we all are a part of it albeit very unwittingly early on. Watch for fees and increasing fees. The professional genealogists love it because it helps them and their fee schedules as well. We give up access but want more information--who do we turn to. Think about it. How many have bought ancillary information because it was less than a subscription to some of these sites where there may be only an index--on purpose I might add. Will it go away? NO, it won't unless everyone moves their sites, supports one another and there is whole sale exit from Ancestry and all that they own. The information already donated, however, will also remain with them for sale; and less and less of that information will remain free. alfred and arline larson wrote: > I have been wondering the same as Dick Bolt, because of the message Betty sent. Is Ancestry having a problem with rootsweb etc ? > Arline > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MAWORCES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MAWORCES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Susan Well spoken. I have steadfastly not put family tree details on websites OR signed up to anything Ancestry or Ancestry-related. They are obviously now in such a strong position that they think they can openly dictate to the genealogy community, for pots of money for their shareholders or else............................. Happening all over the world too. I recently noticed they run the South African Family tree site. I think they should be stopped. Do families not have the right to demand their ancestors details be removed from their sites, or at least, not used for commercial purposes. The other thing it begets is INACCURACY. Who cares if the infromation is even vaguely correct as long as people will buy it. That is already a problem with some who will accept whatever they are told, provided it fits their preconcieved ideas. Someone should start a list of "genuine" sites, as well as simply commercial ones like Ancestry and their associated enterprises. Iain -- Iain McNeill 51 Acrefield Drive, Cambridge, CB4 1JW, Cambridge, England +44 (0) 1223 500266 +44 (0) 78 1280 3574