Hi list, I have to disagree with this comment that the lists are stagnant. I know that Laura Perkins for the Oswego Co. site has added much new information of late. I know because I helped with a very small portion of it. It is very hard for one person to gather all this info and put it online. Volunteers are needed to transcribe things in order to get them online. Perhaps if each person volunteered a week per month, transcribing information, and sending it to the webmaster for posting to the site, it would help more people. The webmasters of these sites have worked hard, but they too have lives, jobs and families and can not do it all alone. There are also the USGennet sites. This url is just for NY, but they also have other state lists. http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/state/nycounties.html Not all are active because, again, people are needed to help. And as a non profit, needs funds to exist. http://www.usgennet.org/ (go down about 1/2 way on the page) see Services & Conditions & Open Books. I know I have personnally gone to great expense, buying history books, census, cemetery lists, surrogate files, etc. just to get information together, to get put online at my own sites .... FREE information, through USgennet. Free to those who go to view the sites, but many do not 'give back' and offer information that may help make more ancestor connections, or perhaps, just offer up information to help someone else, even if it isn't from your own line. How many have newspaper articles of ancestors and on that page there are other newspaper clippings of others? Every little bit helps, but not if we hold back the information. I do not know what is happening to the rootsweb lists, or why counties such as Yates Co., seems to have been "disconnected" for a while now, from any use at all. I don't know if this too is going to become a "pay to use" site or not. But I do know that not all sites are stagnant and some people are just busy, especially this time of year, with their personal lives. I am not supporting that ancestry (or any company) charges what they do, and buys up many sites of genealogy to have a monopoly, but volunteers to transcribe information ARE needed. TIME is needed - Your time to help add information to the "stagnated" sites. It is a give and take world. I'm just suggesting that everyone consider giving more of their time and energy and information, to help out and have some pride in what they have SHARED. Thanks for listening. Dianne Hello All Not only have I had few emails on this list,but on all the lists that I belong to..I too have been wondering what is going on..where are all the genealogists out there?The big thing that I have noticed...is all the sites are stagnant...no one is updating anything,USGEN WEB has the same old stuff...a few are excellent,but most are terrible,and give only basic info and are not serving their original purpose..it seems greed strikes again and everyone wants "fees'' ..it is going down the drain,as the purpose of these sites is to help each other..for instance when was the last time,the Saratoga site posted anything in the last two years...Oswego is one of the better sites for updating and helping,but even this site has slowed down...and then there is the $400 fee that Ancestry charges,as if all of us could afford that fee????.........guess we are going to have to revert back to snailmail to get info...>