Adair and Knox lists, First: I hope the following two emails will help clear things up a bit. They have helped me. I have known these two people since 1996 when I got involved with the USGenWeb project and trust their judgement. These messages were on a coordnaters list I am signed up with. I left the names off because I hadn't asked if they would mind my posting their words. If you every have any questions just let me know and I will try and help you out. Second: I'm working out the details along with all the other county coordinators on the posting boards. I'll update you as soon as I can. *smile* Just something new to learn. *smile* Best wishes, Claudia ______________________________________________________ I'm not concerned about Ancestry.com, even though they own Rootsweb.com, because of the public statement they continue to make and because they are regulated by what they can and cannot do by Federal, State and Local agencies. Ancestry is the profit-making side. MyFamily.com and Rootsweb.com are both free access sites. (I'm guessing that by maintaining these free sites, Ancestry has a tax write-off that helps its actual profit margin.) Anyway, because of the fact that Ancestry would literally destroy itself by suddenly taking the info from Rootsweb and announcing it would be sold, I don't think we have anything to worry about from them. If the volunteers have given you stuff to put on your sites, you are in control of that, so it's safe even if you are using the Rootsweb server. If it is info that was put on the GenConnect Boards, which has been transferred into the new system, what we have are the words of Jake Gehring, Executive Producer, Rootsweb.com......"Messages in the new system can be accessed from Ancestry.com or Rootsweb.com and access will remain free." CCs had pointed to Acceptable Use Policy of Rootsweb....of My Family....of Ancestry....and this is what Mr. Gehring wrote in yesterday's Rootsweb Review...."There is some confusion about RootsWeb's position regarding the ownership of messages posted on the boards. Let me clarify by excerpting from the Acceptable Use Policy, which reads, "When you post messages to mailing lists, message boards, and other facilities at RootsWeb, those posts remain your property under copyright law." The same is true for those using the message boards at Ancestry.com. In short, if you posted it, you own it." ______________________________________ There really *is* nothing to be concerned about here, as far as I can see. Here's what we've done, in a nutshell: taken all the message board posts that were at Ancestry, FamilyHistory.com, and RootsWeb, and merged them all into one set of boards that can be accessed either from Ancestry or RootsWeb. This means a couple of things: first, that there are a whole lot of "new" messages on the boards, as far as folks who only visited RW or only visited one of the others are concerned, and the chances of making connections with cousins has about doubled (based on count of posts) for RW users. It also means that there's a greatly increased chance that some cousin who doesn't normally use RW will turn up and find your post--you've just gained an audience of the folks who regularly use Ancestry but don't visit RootsWeb. Bottom line on the hysteria, from my point of view: A lot of you have known me for a long time--I've put in some serious time and work at USGW before I ever worked at RootsWeb, let alone Ancestry. The issues that concern you concern me as well. (I might mention in passing that my family won't starve if I quit my job--and I would do so in a heartbeat if there were ever corporate decisions made that I felt betrayed USGenWeb or longstanding RootsWeb users.) At the time of the merger, last summer, I went to the corporate headquarters in Provo, and I met the folks that make those decisions. I didn't know what I would find when I went, but I came home feeling much better about things. There are folks who continually fan a hysteria of belief that the company is waiting to pounce, any minute, and move everything at RootsWeb behind the subscription wall. We've been assured publicly time and again this won't happen, but of course that's often in tidy, legalese "corporate wording", from people you don't know, and some folks are just naturally disbelieving. I will tell you that I have stood face to face with Andre Brummer, the high mucky-muck of Ancestry, and had him tell me that the bottom line is this (regarding data): *Anything* that doesn't cost to acquire is provided for free. The stuff that you have to subscribe to see is the stuff Ancestry had to *buy* or *lease* (in other words, pay real cash for.) And Ancestry and the parent company, MyFamily.com absolutely support RootsWeb remaining free. They also care very much about USGenWeb, and keeping the USGW association with RootsWeb. (Little known fact: my boss, the guy in charge of the RootsWeb area, Jake Gehring, *is* a USGenWeb county coordinator. Summit County, Utah.) The bottom line is, there are and always have been a cadre of folks in USGenWeb who are in a big hurry to have a crisis. Any thing they can find to raise an uproar about, they will. Most of the folks who follow them are of the same bent (thrive on crises) or just don't think for themselves ("You say there's something to panic about? I better panic then. No way should I research this issue for myself, better to just panic as quick as I can"). I suppose we could call them the Henny Penny group, for those who remember their fairy tales. :-) Changes generally have some pain attached; it's always a hassle to learn a new system. But if it's a good system, within a month or two some of its loudest detractors turn into its strongest supporters: the trick is surviving the transition. :-)