- >From: "b. t. davenport" <Davenport@brooksdata.net> >To: HAMRICK-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [HAMRICK-L] RootsWebs to Family.com >Date: Sun, Jun 25, 2000, 3:35 PM > >Dan >>From the RootsWeb message I received about the "merger" between RootsWeb >and MyFamily.com, I was led to believe that this was to be something akin >to a partnership. Today, I read the press release concerning the deal. I >copied a bit of it. Read on. > >MyFamily.com, Inc. Acquires Number Two Genealogy Site, RootsWeb.com > >MyFamily.com, Inc. Increases Portfolio of Sites to Extend Its Position as >the Number One Online Source for Families and Family History Research > >San Francisco, CA – June 21, 2000 – MyFamily.com, Inc., the leading online >family network, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to >acquire RootsWeb.com, the oldest and largest free community genealogy site. >RootsWeb.com, a San Francisco, California company, is among the most >popular genealogy sites on the Internet. With more than 149 million page >views in the month of May 2000, RootsWeb.com was second among genealogy Web >sites only to Ancestry.com's over 187 million page views, according to >Nielsen NetRatings combined home and work statistics. With the acquisition >MyFamily.com, Inc. will add RootsWeb.com to its portfolio of Web sites, >which includes MyFamily.com, FamilyHistory.com, as well as Ancestry.com, >collectively recognized as the premier Internet destination for families. >Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. (I underlined the two bits.) > >It seems that I misunderstood the action. The press release says that >MyFamily.com acquired (as in bought) RootsWeb. > >Some may say, so what. From my view, RootsWeb has heretofore been a sort >of cooperative genealogical organization. Researchers have pooled >information to be freely available at no cost for the use of all. >MyFamily.com sells information. How long do you suppose it will be before >MyFamily.com decides to charge for the RootsWeb data....data that has been >donated by many, many people in the belief that it was being made available >to everyone for no cost? > >As for me I will never, knowingly, freely contribute any information to an >organization that is in the business of reselling information that they >have acquired at no cost. > >Bill Davenport > > > > > > > >==== HAMRICK Mailing List ==== >To unsubscribe, send a message to the following address: >Hamrick-L-request@rootsweb.com >Leave the subject field blank. Type in the body: Unsubscribe Your Name > > >============================== >Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: >Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. >http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ >