Pat,  your post sounds a bit bitter and not in the spirit of "fun" and
"sharing" but purely business.

First off, Rootsweb / GenWeb sites were NOT hosted by Ancestry years
ago.  As to why Ancestry is doing well is because it is the largest
holder of databases and so almost constitutes a monopoly.  Those free
county sites we maintained use to have waiting lists of people wanting
to take them over.  Now you can't give them away.  What changed?  I
still say that technology is going to be the downfall of civilization.
Isn't technology supposed to make life easier and to get things done
faster?  Then why do people complain they never have time for anything?
Isn't that a bit anticlimactic?

And Ancestry isn't without errors itself given that in the early days it
was cited as scouting other websites and stealing information itself
including trees.  In fact I just yesterday ran across an error and the
person gave reference to the source on Ancestry!

And as far as posting to mailing lists and forums, I have and either
never get a reply because no one reads the posts there any longer or
when I do get a response it is many years later.  Good thing I still
have the same email address from 1999 or no one would be able to find me
to share!  How often do people change theirs?

No, the hobby isn't dead but in the original sense it was founder on the
Internet, yes it is dying!

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pat Duncan
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 10:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Genealgy Future

If I read your posting correctly, you basically feel that genealogy is
dying hobby because some people have stopped posting their family trees
on the Internet and older free genealogy sites are not being maintained.
You also feel that one is "paying through the nose to subscribe to
Ancestry which in itself is now becoming outdated as no new Family Trees
seem to be posted-uploaded" even though it costs less the $13 per month
to access Ancestry, which is probably less than many people pay for one
meal out.  Is one to assume that you are only interested in Family Trees
that individuals have uploaded to the sight, especially considering that
a fair number of those trees are the continued practice of copying
incorrect, unsourced information from other trees?  Yet Ancestry and
other paid sites also provides numerous scanned and indexed records
which they must pay to have produced for display on their site.
Considering the volume of business Ancestry does, genealogy does not
seem to be a dying hobby.

Free sites are wonderful and important to everyone doing genealogy.
Providing the website is generally not free and many man hours are
required to maintain and update the sites. Having hosted some GenWeb
county sites, you know first hand that it took several hours of your
time each month to maintain the site.  Users of those sites were no
doubt grateful for your efforts, but many people just can't spare that
kind of time to take on a similar venture.  And one reason those county
sites are available for free is that Ancestry provides the server space
without charge, using funds from its subscription service to cover the
costs.

Check out state libraries to see if they have an Interlibrary Loan
program.  Although usually not a free service, the nominal fee charged
to have books or microfilm delivered to your local library for a two
week loan is far cheaper than traveling to that state.  I have praised
the Library of Virginia before, and I will do so again, for their
outstanding ILL program of original county records.  Although I live
2,000 miles from Virginia, I can still access original records with
ease.

Contact local genealogical and historical societies to see if they have
any programs which would be beneficial to out of state researchers.  If
you have ideas to help them provide sources on the Internet, make
suggestions and work with them to see if in todays economic climate such
things are possible.

Continue to post queries on county and surname email lists and Rootsweb
and GenForum sites. It lets people know you are still searching and may
have found new leads since your much earlier posting.

But please, don't suggest that people who have spent hour upon hour and
countless dollars of their own money researching their lines should be
eager to display their work on the Internet "all in the spirit of
sharing information even if it means no strings attached ... It's a
family thing."  Many generously do so, but it is understandable that
abuse of their work leaves many not so inclined.

Pat Duncan
[log in to unmask]
Author of Loudoun County, Virginia genealogical references 
 
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