I agree with Joe. It is not that expensive to use Ancestry.com and being available 24/7 makes it a real good deal! Cathy -----Original Message----- From: nybrooklyn-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:nybrooklyn-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Mark Lomax Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:37 AM To: NYBrooklyn@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [BKLYN] Ancestry and Family Search Hear, hear! Well said. Mark Lomax California On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 8:37 AM, Joe Bissett <jbissett@hot-peppers.com> wrote: > Hi Sybagram, > > At 10:08 AM 7/23/2008, you wrote: > >I am indexing for FamilySearch. I recently found that FamilySearch is > going > >to let Ancestry.com have the images that I and others are typing up for > them > >on their paid site. This made me very angry and I am now deciding if > >I should > >continue taking the time to give a paid site information that I thought > >would be on the net for free. > > My "understanding" is that Ancestry.com actually digitized the images > from which folks are working. If that is correct, then they > certainly deserve to recoup their investment and make a reasonable > profit. I also understood from one announcement that I received from > Ancestry.com that these FHS images would be available for free for a > limited period of time after posting on the site. > > I am partner in a VERY small business that digitizes old genealogy > related books. Our scanner alone cost $35,000, and the computers, CD > writers, employee paychecks, etc., are all additional costs. A > quality scanner for digitizing microfilms runs, I think, in the $60,000 > range. > > Quality scans like I access daily on my Ancestry.com fully paid > subscription are not the result of somebody laying a paper copy on an > $89.00 flat bed scanner from Best Buy. They require top notch > (expensive) equipment, and most of all, employees that will take the > time and make the effort to maximize the quality of each individual > scan. It is through this type of a process that we are now seeing US > census scans that were originally blackened, or heavily blocked out, > actually being produced now as readable images. > > Users then depend on a quality index to even find a person, and then > to point them to the proper image. That is the thankless task that > you are performing, and for which future researchers will bless you. :-) > > I know that many folks seem to object to Ancestry.com as a paid > service. It is my personal experience that a full subscription to > Ancestry.com is the best and least expensive facility that I have > found to move me forward in my personal research. More importantly, > as the Rootsweb Administrator for the PIGGOTT, CUMMISKEY and KERSLAKE > surname lists, I am always doing searches to help our list > members. Ancestry.com permits me to share up to five images for no > charge with other e-mail addressees. > > So as I was sitting here at 5:25AM this morning searching the brand > new 1891 Canadian Census for my Grandfather and his mother and > sister, I can assure you that the thought of spending $4.00 a gallon, > spending an hour each way to the FH library, paying $9.00 for a film, > waiting in line for a scanner, then waiting in line for the film > printer were the farthest things from my mind. :-) > > Anyone who takes the time to do a cost / benefit analysis of the > ability to access Ancestry.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week will > usually discover that the cost is a great deal, when compared to other > methods. > > Just my 2 cents. > > Regards, Joe > > > > ___________________________________ > > The Bklyn Info Pages Website: > www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/ > > List Administrator: NancyL916@aol.com > > Post to List: nybrooklyn@rootsweb.com > ___________________________________ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYBROOKLYN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ___________________________________ The Bklyn Info Pages Website: www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/ List Administrator: NancyL916@aol.com Post to List: nybrooklyn@rootsweb.com ___________________________________ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYBROOKLYN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message