What do you mean by the statement that follows? Re: While commercial sites are not to be endorsed on the Rootsweb lists and Re:boards, occasionally a few manage to slip through. An email was posted Re:to Re:various lists this morning about the name change of EMGS (Enchanted Re:Mountains Genealogy Society). The following email was received on the Re:Cattaraugus County (NY) list from the EMGS founder. As a courtesy, I am Re:forwarding it to those lists that did not receive it. Re: Re:Speaking of commercial sites, I would also like to say: "Caveat! Re: Re:It is unfortunate, but there are many "societies" and "research sites" Re:that Re:claim to exist for the benefit of their members or researchers, when in Re:reality these so-called-societies exist to further their own agendas. I Re:cannot state strongly enough how important it is that each "society" or Re:organization that charges a fee (no matter how minimal) be fully Re:investigaged. While genealogy is quite a popular pursuit, the "genealogy Re:world" is quite small, meaning that with a few keystrokes and a few Re:inquiries one can almost always learn a "society's" true colors. A Re:leopard Re:never changes its spots. To me it implies that someone at EMGS embezzled money from the organization and the remaining members scrambled to reorganize. Was that your intended context? Or are you saying that was a research site that has people pay for freely available information? I am stumped. Who was the EMGS founder that you received the email from? It seems kind of unfair to quote someone without using there name. I just want to inform myself about the situation. After all someone mentioned "Buyer Beware". Maybe the way I should interpret the message is that EMGS was a legitimate site but to beware as others aren't. Is PHGS a legitimate site? Brian Milks