Treasure Maps Feed
Over the years, I've heard different "Ancestry.com stories" from Treasure Maps Genealogy Newsletter readers. There have been success stories, and negative stories.
Recently, I got feedback from my recent lesson called "Genealogy Search Sites - The Bait and Switch." Note that the developers of these bogus "genealogy search sites" are the problem, not Ancestry itself.
Typical responses, this time, were like this one:
- "Personally I don't think ancestry is so hot. I used their 30-day trial period and found false positives to searches."
And, here's a smoking hot editorial that I received from L. Darrell Nelson, Jr. (reprinted with permission, of course):
"Your public warning about "Bait-n-Switch Genealogy Search Sites" was badly needed. I sincerely hope that every Treasure Maps reader understands it and benefits from it. However, you are much more forgiving than I could ever be, Robert.
Whomever owns/operates Ancestry.com, I believe, is the very person/company that started in the genealogy business with Family Tree Maker. They came out with a bare-bones genealogy program that "looked" wonderful and was very heavily advertised. And it "only" cost $49.95.
Then about every 3 or 4 months they "just happened" to come out with a fantastic new version with a new feature that you just HAD to have!! And, it only cost $19.95 more to upgrade. Then 3 or 4 months later, another $19.95 for the next feature, and so on.
Well, over a period of years and many, many more features, one at a time, most customers had invested several hundred dollars, on top of their original $49.95. As one person told me in the late 1990's, "I can't quit using Family Tree Maker, they've about "$19.95'd" me to death; I've got my life savings tied up in it!".
They then came up with the idea of graciously allowing their customers to share their research by uploading their GEDCOM files to a Family Tree Web site. And then without notice or asking permission, they put all that private research data onto CDs and proceeded to sell them, at only $19.95 each. Thus making even more profit, from the hard-won research done by their customers (suckers, as many began to call themselves, by that time).
When their customers finally realized how very greedy and uncaring Family Tree Maker was, they complained that the company should not be making huge profits off of data they had only agreed to share with other researchers for free. But, Family Tree Maker simply ignored them.
They then demanded that Family Tree Maker provide an index of the various GEDCOM files that would cross-reference them to the particular CDs they were on so people could know which CDs to buy. But Family Tree Maker said they were at random and they couldn't do that, essentially ignoring their pleas again.
So the angry customers proceeded to set up a free public Web site with a complete cross-referenced index of all CDs and GEDCOM files to encourage everyone to start a network for freely sharing all the data on all the CDs with the direct purpose of ending any further unethical profiteering by Family Tree Maker.
Not too long after, Ancestry.com came into existence with its (quite high priced and highly advertised) online subscription service. It has since infiltrated nearly every aspect of online genealogy with its beloved & ever-continuing greedy bait-n-switch tactics.
In a similar fashion by this very same company, I have been long-awaiting the destructive usurpation of the formerly truly-free RootsWeb.com and its many online genealogy files. That other shoe has yet to fall, but I fully expect it and will not be the least bit surprised. With Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.com, greed always rules.
RootsWeb.com was hard-won, too, by the worry, sweat and personal finances of long-over-worked volunteers. I still have, and proudly wear, my RootsWeb lapel pin, given in recognition of financial contributions to help keep the Web site free; not unlike the PBS radio and television stations.
Then along came good-hearted Family Tree Maker/Ancestry.com, with ABSOLUTELY NO ulterior motive whatsoever (Ha, ha!), and donated all the free online storage space that RootsWeb could ever hope to need. Suddenly, over-night, RootsWeb ceased to plead for donations from individuals and the many genealogical societies whose Web sites it attempted to host.
Being able to yet advertise RootsWeb.com as FREE, may well be a highly profitable bait-n-switch front for Family Tree Maker/Ancestry.com, so they may never totally usurp it.
It, too, has eventually gotten involved with the USGenWeb.com. Most, if not all, of the USGenWeb sites have links to Ancestry.com now.
To me, their products extract too dear a price, to meet their too greedy desires for me to do business with. I cannot let myself forgive them or trust them….period.
I hate to be bitter about things, but this is one company that has driven me severely in that direction." (L. Darrell Nelson, Jr.)
To be fair, let's give Ancestry.com, and what it offers to the online genealogy world, a chance. There are always two sides to the story, so let's hear from you.
- Please share YOUR opinion. What are your experiences with Ancestry.com? Good or bad - do you have any success stories to share, or has this popular online genealogy service been a let down for you?
I have had a paid subscription to Ancestry.com pretty much since its inception. I also use Family Tree Maker software and had a subscription to Genealogy.com for several years. I have NOT bought every upgrade since my first purchase in 1994. With my 2006 program I could search my full subscription to Ancestry.com right from my FTM file. I skipped several years of upgrades and finally went to the 2009 version. I must admit it has taken me a while to get use to but it is definitely better than before.
Searching from the program I found over the years a wealth of information, and with this information I was able to download the pictures of documents or other info and record the source automatically without having to print or type anything. Best of all, all this work is sourced. AND in many cases I saw the original document not an index or someones transcription that is full of typos.
I have never uploaded a GEDCOM or Family Tree to the site but am willing to share with people I correspond with. I have two private web sites through MyFamily.com another arm of the Ancestry.com group that I pay for and share with my family or other genealogy friends in a password protected environment. I want to know the people I share with.
Over the years I have purchased or downloaded free programs because someone else recommended them. I sometimes use some for their reports but I still prefer my Family Tree Maker. I can print a book with all sorts of reports and information for a specific person and it will have a contents page and index. I know other programs do this or similar but I am more familiar with this one.
I have almost 9,000 people in my main database of info for me and my husbands ancestry, this does not include my 3 daughter in laws and their ancestry. Most all of this was started with searches at Ancestry.com. I have to say there are many other places I use to search but the start was almost always with Ancestry.com.
I do not work for Ancestry.com but I do volunteer on the free message boards and find them to be a great help also. All this from the comfort of my own home. I didn’t have to order a film and then forget why I ordered it by the time it came in.
I didn’t have to pay for copies at the library. The fees I pay to Ancestry.com have been worth the convenience for me.
The access to original immigration documents and census images on Ancestry.com is well worth the price to me! For 20th Century research, Ancestry.com is outstanding.
The more you learn about using their advanced search techniques, the more you can find. I’ve found ancestors by using combinations of first name, birth state, and birth year that could never have been found otherwise.
I used be a severe critic of Ancestry.com, especially after a friend spent $300 on a subscription and got nothing out of it.
But to be honest, most of the break-thoughs in my research during the past five years have come through Ancestry.com. The US and UK censuses have been wonderful! The Ontario, Canada records have been a boon too. The transcriptions are sometimes poor, but when I have submitted corrections (through the built-in feedback feature) they have been implemented right away.
If you don’t want your research distributed (possibly at a profit) don’t give it away. Put it on a personal website. At a presentation in April, I demonstrated 3 instantaneous ways to put your genealogy on the internet for free:
1. upload a gedcom to tribalpages.com
2. start a genealogy blog on blogger.com
3. upload electronic documents to scribd.com
A “full-blown” personal web site is much more flexible than these single-purpose sites, but it is a lot more work. Still, I found that these three sites used together are excellent. In less than an hour I was able to demonstate creating the three accounts and uploading files. I have been especially impressed by TribalPages, where you upload a gedcom file and instantly see your data displayed in attractive graphical formats. And you can change the contents at any time by uploading a different gedcom file.
Example: http://billbuchanan.tribalpages.com click on “Teale, Myrtle Ione” and then “Ancestors” to see a pedigree chart. TribalPages has easy navigation to see other people and other views.
[I have no connection to any of these sites other than being a satisfied user. - wrb]
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Ancestry.com and their companies. On one hand, I love the amount of information they have on their site. They have censuses, immigration papers, newspapers, and on and on.
On the other hand, their search engine just plain sucks. You could search for Max Doerflinger, a male, born in Missouri in 1873 and died in Sacramento, California in 1956 and somehow, they’ll include search results from the 1860 census! And the Max you are actually searching for is all the way on page 3!
Thankfully they’ve updated their search engine and have improved it recently (last Wednesday I think). I have to admit that it has really helped! The search results are becoming more and more relevant.
I wish Ancestry would stop taking everything over though. They have enough of an empire, and I really believe that when you over stretch yourself, you begin to create poorly made products.
Ancestry.com will always be the website that I love/hate. I hate their poor transcriptions, their cost, and the ever growing empire. Yet, I also need them because they have one of the best collections of genealogical data on the net. Without their censuses, message boards, passenger lists, etc - how would I possibly ever get through a brick wall?
I have used Ancestry.com for a few years and have found them to be extremely good. It was through them that I finally found details regarding an ancestor that I’d be searching for for nearly 10years! Needless to say I’m pleased I subscribe to them. However I cannot comment on Family Tree Maker as I don’t use this.
I have been an Ancestry subscriber for several years and LOVE IT! After many, many years (probably 20) of having to use microfilm census records, it so wonderful to be able to look up census records any time of the day or night without having to drive anywhere. I subscribe to all the US records. When you calculate the mileage, time and cost of copies of census records, I probably SAVE money. I can also get military records, marriages, and lots of other goodies. If I have to cut back on genealogy sites, Ancestry would be the last one I would ever give up.
When you live out in the middle of nowhere, but have access to the web . . . and you’re a genealogy buff, there isn’t a better site online. I prefer searching out the information for myself and spend many, many hours pouring over the records that are available. It’s a tad pricey, considering all the family trees that were done by ordinary people like you and me, but do appreciate the record transcriptions. If they lowered the price, I would be their biggest fan!
I have used Ancestry.com off and on for many years. I have found alot of wonderful information through this site. However, it is frustrating that even when you have a subscription to their service they “entice” you to view some other vital info then they tell you that you have to pay extra for this info first.
I have encountered the “bait & switch” from other sites and I hate it. If I wanted to see Ancestry.com ads I would go to their site. Time is wasted by going back and forth!
I am very grateful to Ancestry for putting images of census records on line, available at any time. That feature keeps me re-subscribing for a number of years. The closest library with census indexes and microfilm is almost 3 hours away, so it makes a somewhat expensive day trip and they close before 4:00p.m. They have a lot of other good databases.
The family trees on there are full of errors, (not their fault), but make a good “starting place” when trying to find someone - I don’t believe the entries until I check them out with better data.
I dislike Ancestry in other ways - I feel they are very greedy and unethical at times. We used to get some German and Canadian databases in the regular subscription but now you have to buy the World Deluxe subscription to have access to them. They ran a “special” last year and we scrimped enough to manage a world Deluxe subscription. However this year I decided I could not afford the $300 they now ask. My subscription was to expire last Saturday so called last week to cancel the World and go with the U.S. ($155 - still pretty expensive on our fixed income). (If you don’t cancel - they will charge your credit card) When I called they canceled the “World” early and started the “U.S.” early so missed out on some days I had paid for.
I really dislike being on a genealogy page and clicking on a link, and it takes me to Ancestry.com.
There have been a number of things that I have read about them doing that appear to be unethical also.
I have used Family Tree Maker since I first bouht genealogy software 10-12 years ago. I have only used about 4 versions through the years - didn’t buy every update. I am still using FTM 2006 and like it pretty well. The main thing it doesn’t do that I want is to make a report by “place”. If I am looking at the History of Smith County, I want to be able to run a report of persons I have in my data that have a connection with Smith Co. but it is difficult to do that in version 2006.
A lot of people have had bad experiences with FTM2008 and/or 2009 so I haven’t updated. It appeared that when they brought out the new version, it was not well thought out or programmed with the necessary reports. I am seriously thinking about switching to a different software.
I have used Ancestry for several years now and have found a lot good things on it and a lot of junk. I use their FTM program and have found it mostly satisfactory but have found the inability to enter baptismal dates vs birth dates a little problematic. If you have Dutch relatives, generally it is the baptismal date you can find not the birth date and FTM will not let you enter it as a baptismal date, at least my copy won’t.
For years I had all of my information in a not too transportable form, text files. A couple of years ago I decided to bight the bullet and enter it into a genealogy program. I finally purchased FTM and joined Ancestry. Since I had started entering information on line with Ancestry, I decided to enter it all on line and then down load the GEDCOM to my copy of FTM. That was all well an good, but when I downloaded the GEDCOM, none of my notes came down with them, All I got was the fact data like name, birth date, etc. I’m glad I didn’t wast my time putting pictures in. Now that may be a weakness of a GEDCOM record. So that was a disappointment.
One thing that frustrates me is the requirement to buy multiple subscriptions to get on the other Ancestry owned sites. I just recently did a search on Ancestry.ca and got some very probable hits on one of my great grand father. You guessed it, if I wanted to see the data, I had to take a subscription to Ancestry.ca in addition to my US subscription. I didn’t, and will have to find another source. Hey, one subscription should be enough!
Knowing how they nickle dime you to death, I was very concerned to find out that they had taken over several other genealogy data bases. I see two of my favorites, Genweb and Rootsweb have been added to their list. I just wonder when I’ll have to start paying through the nose to see stuff there. Oh well, I guess we can always do it the way we did it before the internet. Either that or put up with the multiple subscription bit. Granted it costs to maintain data bases and have servers that can handle the traffic, just got spoiled by the free stuff. Then again, a couple of extra subscriptions is less expensive than driving cross country on the chance you will get a positive hit in public records, that is if you can understand how they are arranged in any particular state. It was fun while it lasted,
.
For Fred Wilson — If you go to the individual’s page (in FTM) and click on EDIT (just beneath their info, Birth & Death, etc). In the dialogue box click on the FACTS tab, then click on the ADD FACT button, and a list will pop up, if christening or baptism is not included, you can add it to the list.
I have had Family Tree Maker since I started using a computer and haven’t used any other program. I did not buy every update, only when I saw something new I thought would be helpful. I like it, but I probably would also like some of the others.
As far as Ancestry, I’ve subscribed for several years and have found a LOT of info. I have the World Deluxe Subscription when I can afford it. I have physical problems and can’t travel far at all and live in the boonies, so Ancestry has been a real benefit to me. Even when I can’t afford to renew my subscription, I still think it’s a bargain.
Sure Ancestry has messed up at times and there are things I don’t like about it, but I would never have achieved what I have without them, even though they aren’t my only online source.
As for the the “sale of trees”, it doesn’t much matter if it is sold or not, once it’s online, people can copy it, and pass it on as if it were their work. It behooves us to think before we act. I have kept my main tree on Ancestry private, just for that reason. I do appreciate others making theirs public, though I don’t just accept it at face value it is good for clues.
I think Ancestry on the whole is a pretty good site. I got a 6 month free trial, got as much information as was offered through the free offer, and with that information went to the local National Archives branch to get more using the information I got from Ancestry. All-in-all it saved me at least 2 years of legwork.
Date: July 2009
Times are tight financially for everyone. I feel I am a specialist in genealogy research for cheap or free.
No one can touch ancestry.com for what they offer. Here are some thoughts if you are unable to purchase a personal subscription:
Major libraries across the country do have ancestry.com available for in-library use for people who cannot affort a personal subscription. That reaches out to many, many library patrons. Check out your library and see what they might offer. In addition, many, many libraries have subscriptions to Heritage Quest which has a lot of the same resources, although search strategies are different from using ancestry.com. Heritage Quest, if your library has it, is a database than can be searched from home. It does not have the coomplete 1930 or the 1850 censuses indexed but it is a great tool.
For years, I used the library exclusively for ancestry.com resources. When at home, I used Heritage Quest. Currently, I have a personal subscription to ancestry.com because I cannot get to the library regularly. Given the price of gas one year ago when I signed up, it was a no brainer to get the subscription. I have only the US subscription. If I need international records, I go to the library. Inter library loan is also a fantastic way to get hard to find resources and usually the charges are minimal. Talk to your librarian about how it works.
Compared to going to the National Archives, which is what I did 10 years ago, ancestry.com is worth the money. It IS expensive for me, don’t get me wrong. Try asking for it as a birthday, or Christmas gift. I know another person who gets only one month at a time. He saves up his research and then gets a one-month World Genealogy subscription and stays up late each night that he has it. He waits another month or two and does it again.
One more thought: Share your subscription with a friend. As long as you assign each other opposite days of the week and you are not attempting to use it at the same time, you are not violating any rules. For example, I am going to another state tomorrow. I will use ancestry.com from my laptop in a hotel room. Ancestry.com doesn’t care where I am as long as only one location is accessing it at a time. Try sharing a subscription with a friend and cut the price in half.
Ancestry . Com is too expensive.
The worst part is their search engine. With all the subscriptions out there one would think a better search engine would be offered. I have complained about this for years.
The search engine needs to be tailored to pick up the name that you want searched not pick up everything with that name in it. For an example: If I put in Morgantown, WV. I get everything from Morgantown, NC to Morgantown, PA and in between anything with Morgantown, and or WV in it.
Get a better search engine.
B.Herron
I have been an ancestry.com member for ten years and have been happy for the most part; mainly for the records I could check; and sometimes it was nice to find a distant relative and contact them and share our research but recently they have put up something new called “MemberConnect”you know the shaky leaf commercial that leads you to other records about your ancestors and public trees but here is the problem. That is not genealogy when anyone can just take all of your photos that you are willing to share with family members; or they change your data in their own tree to match what they have; in fact, some just collect everyone’s photos, info, etc. I, personally, have always been one to share, but a person started taking things from my trees and photos, so I e mailed them to ask the connection to their family so that we could share; well, it seems this person is just collecting basically anyone with a common Surname like Davis or Smith that just might fit into her tree. My gr grandfather had the same name as her father, supposedly, so she took the info, the only problem is, my family member was born in 1859 and her father was born in 1917 or there abouts. The info did not match. I also had another ancestor who had died during the civil war; another with a common name, and he died in 1864. That record is in his civil war record that I have and you can find the official record I am sure online somewhere but she made him die in 1870 because she found the same name and there was a death record for him ; well, instead of just checking the card that ancestry puts up to make it easier to read the info that someone transcribed I zoomed in and the actual first name was completely different than my ancestor. Now, I have made my tee private but I am afraid to even enter anything because of the fact that when I share with someone that I want to this person or anyone else can just take it from their tree. Clicking a mouse and taking other peoples photos and trees is not Genealogy research. I have boxes and boxes from thirty years of research and documents that I intended to put up on Ancestry so that other distant relatives and later my own descendants could find my research but not now; not until they fix the member connect issue and if they don’t I will no longer be a member and I will not ever recommend them to anyone either. This particular person has taken info from my granddaughter’s tree also because of my ancestors that are also on her tree but her mother’s side is in no way related to this woman and my seventeen year old granddaughter is actually going to archives and libraries and doing the real work that is involved. There seems to be some people on Ancestry member connect that just seem like they are trying to get into the guinness book of world records by taking everbody else’s info whether they connect to them or not. You will see people that have thousands of photos on their trees. If anyone can reccommend another good place for me to take my trees and my business I would appreciate it. I already have footnote.com and newspaperarchives.com; geneanet, so for the moment I am uploading my genealogy photos to a site where you have to be invited. Ancestry should have made the member connect so that a person would have to contact the tree owner before taking anything and see if they do connect for sure. I mean really do you realize how many people, named Johnson, Davis, or Smith are in the world and this woman seems bent on collecting all of them even if they do not connect. I emailed her very nicely and asked her who she connected to in my family because I would have been very happy to meet a distant relative and she just proceeded to tell me how member connect worked and you just click on it and then you get the information; no kidding, but you do not have to use it if it is not your family or you should contact the owner of the tree. Ancestry used to have a good reputation but with a feature like this there is no genealogy involved for some; just click, click, click.
Thank You
Berta
I used to like Ancestry a lot especially when I became disabled and could not carry the heavy books at courthouses etc, anymore. I liked it for the actual records you could see; not the family trees necessarily although if I saw a person that was researching my family I would contact them to see if we could get a relationship going and share. I also never minded sharing but now Ancestry is totally ruined the purpose it should be for; researching. They have set up their new member connect and people are just taking everything from everyone. I made my tree public and was uploading a lot of family photos so that other relatives could see them but one person started collecting every tree on Ancestry that had the name Davis on it, which is in my tree as is in many reading this, so if it is she probably has your tree. There are people that thinks that is o.k. and there is wrong information, she even had my gr grandmother m. to someone else because she took info from someone else’s tree; instead of doing the document research. When people have thousands of photos that are being taken from everyone’s trees there is something wrong. I was going to upload all the documents I have collected on my lines for the last thirty years but I have now changed my mind and after ten years with Ancestry I may be going to TribalPages. I want my descendants to find my research when they get curious and it isn’t that I am selfish but these people are only click, click, clicking their mouse without looking at a historical record, or even contacting the people. She is just ignoring the info. that doesn’t match what she wants and goes on. I advise anyone anymore to really think long and hard because Ancestry is not longer concerned with the records; they have a moneymaker with the computer age and people are just collecting trees and photos from many years of research. It is not just me this is happening too. Now, even when she took my tree and then took my granddaughter’s that basically have the same info she has photos and info on the other side that would not even matter to this person. I am sorry to go on and on but I am doing this as a warning to you all; and if you do go to Ancestry make your tree private or you will regret it if you have done genealogy research and not just taking someone’s word for things.
I agree with Elyse regarding their Empire mindset. Although Ancestry has data that we can all use it bothers me that they’re going into other avenues that they don’t really need or really have no knowledge in. I freelance on occasion for a service called Genealogy Freelancers that started quite a while ago and now wouldn’t you know it, Ancestry has copied it with their version of the service called Expert Connect.I won’t sign on with them since it’s a blatant attempt to take what they think is a good thing. I really like Freelancers business practice and Ancestry’s - not so much. Hopefully Freelancers and other sites that Ancestry tends to smash will manage to survive. And although I too use Ancestry.com I don’t have to proclaim that I admire their business practices - I do not.
First, kudos to everyone who makes time to volunteer, in any capacity-genealogy, school, firefighting, etc! It is a sacrifice to serve others without pay.
Ancestry.com is a business. They have a responsibility to make payroll, pay their bills, and make a profit. I can only imagine how many employees they must have to provide the services they do. Programming is extremely time consuming, so is research, and indexing is too.
We demand services and then complain when a business provides that service to us, as if we have a right to have it for free. There are too many records to rely exclusively on volunteers for everything. I am glad they were clever enough to come up with this idea and on top of things enough to continually try to improve. That costs them money to provide that and I should expect to pay for it.
I have noticed that some think the service provided is worth the cost, some don’t. That is great that we each can choose. I just think we need to remember that it takes a lot of money and constant innovation to run a good business. I wonder if it is empire building or just trying to provide a service we have requested from them? We complain if they don’t provide a feature or service then complain of empire building when they do.
I don’t have a subscription for Ancestry-but I will when I feel the value it provides me is worth the cost. I just hope they are still in business when I get to that point.
I do have to say that Ancesrty is great, but the Expert Connect service is awful to their providers. These people do not ever get paid on time. Expert connect holds their funds on paydates and they actually get paid 5 days later than what is stated in the contract.
I had mixed feelings about Ancestry.com until a couple of years ago when our credit card was compromised. Our bank blocked the card (I found out trying to get gas). It turned out one was a subscription to a magazine, the other was to Ancestry.com (actually two charges for the same amount - right around $100 each as I recall).
What really bothered me about Ancestry.com is that they would not assist me in finding out who had used our credit card number to order genealogy-related items. It was too small an amount to make it cost effective for the bank to pursue (I reluctantly understand that), since they simply did a charge-back to Ancestry.com and the magazine. But it certainly did irritate me to find out that Ancestry.com didn’t mind taking money on an illegal and unauthorized credit card charge, but then would not assist in not only protecting us, but others down the road who will likely be victimized by the same people who used our card number. They would not let me know who made the charge so I could pursue it through law enforcement.
Also, Ancestry.com recently ran a brief “free” search of military records. I tried it, got all the way to the results stage, but Ancestry.com required submission of personal information before they would let me see those results. We’ve been through that too often in the past - give ‘em info and they “give” us more persistent SPAM. They certainly have some wonderful resources available, I just can’t bring myself to send them my money to support their business practices.
We spend a little more at our automotive repair facility because of how they do business. We get the finest quality service, with total honesty and transparency - no “bait-n-switch” or misleading “specials.” Ancestry.com can do business any way they want - and so can we, because there are always other options.
Ancestry is a high priced scam…They have bought up many informational sites that used to offer genealogical data gratis. Nothing, and I mean nothing, aggravates me as much as going to a site advertised as “free” and then when I try to access the info, there is either doesn’t exist anymore or, more often, I am thrown into Ancestry…bait and switch…you betcha…I’ve blocked ancentry…a pathetic site for the lazy.
I have mixed feelings about ancestry.com. I love and hate it. I have to say that I would not have found so many long lost relatives without it. I was able to do a lot of research and especially the censuses from which I obtained many clues. This kind of research was not possible before the internet, unless you went to Salt Lake City, basically.
But here my love for the site ends. Because a) they are greedy and only into money (they are even advertising on tv and running contests) and b) the other users are taking my personal family photos to put on their sites for no apparent reason. It hurts my feelings when I shared so much to tell a story of my family history, only to have people copy and paste my work without even asking me.
I have met some wonderful people who are really distant relatives of mine, through having my family tree on line for 3 years or so. It takes time for people to just happen to be researching and then they find my listing and tell me they have some data they want to share. In turn I give them whatever I can. These are treasures indeed. It is only possible because they advertise so much and have most of the genealogy business. This is what is so aggravating. If they were not greedy and constantly advertising, there’d be less chance of someone finding a rare letter from my ancestor, going on line and seeing my listing and contacting me. So I feel I am forced to keep my family tree there, just so it will be seen. No one ever contacted me because of my rootsweb tree, in 5 years.
I wanted to find one thing on Ancestry.com and ever since I have not been able to get the emails to stop! I want NO MORE! This has become a real curse! I just want it to stop and have them unlatch their greedy claws off my in-box!
I also have a love/hate relationship with Ancestry.com. I am a relative newcomer to genealogy and was able to find a lot of information during the free 14 day trial. It irks me to think I might have found something only to “have to ” subscribe to see it.
I have gone the route of looking for free information. It is out there but it is hard to access. I too am not a traveler and would rather find information on the internet however I do agree with others that most of the information was donated and now we have to pay for donated information.
I rely on FamilySearch.org now for original census information. I am trying to get all I can that is related to me before that site becomes another subscription site. The census data is checked by volunteers with the premise that it will remain free. From what I read I doubt it will remain free for long. Many times I have thought about going ahead and getting a subscription to Ancestry until I found out by accident that much of the records are padded. I found a lot of duplicate records, records that would be indexed by all the individual information, etc. and thus adding many more pages to the search than should be added. This way they can advertise that they have ‘millions of records’ when in fact they do not.
I agree with the others that it is the best indexed site around. I hate the bait and switch that I run into often on ‘free’ sites. Beware and do not give in to this. Use the free sites, keep your information private and off Ancestry.com. Support the free sites and use them. Keep Ancestry from taking over all the genealogy information that exists which I believe is their goal. Keep your freedom by being selective on who you give your information out to.