See, I am not exactly fond of your response that genealogy is an "expensive" hobby. It use to be the #1 hobby in the world but now... I seriously doubt it. The more people participating the cheaper it should be and the more information available for free. But that is still sidestepping the fact that yes, some people here, like on any forum, are passionate with their hobby but doing so with blinders on. A few people on an isolated forum don't represent the general population. How about the person who works 9-5 weekdays and can't get to local or out of state libraries? The elderly on fixed incomes? The handicapped who is home bound and doing this to pass time? Are they to be excluded because you say it is an "expensive" hobby? Again, even as recent as 2002-2004, there was a lot of Internet activity. Prior to that a waiting list for people to host county websites on RootsWeb GenWeb program. Now you can't seem to give the counties away to anyone who will keep it up to date let alone add new content. And yes, the volunteer sites I have already mentioned have plenty of dead links for those who had good intensions but you can wait until you are blue in the face for a response. In fact, I am still getting people asking questions to posts I placed online over 10-years ago! Of course I now have the answers or long moved on with that branch. But my focus is Volunteers either in offering lookups or hosting sites adding information to "share" with others. The core value of genealogy. Eric -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rondina Muncy Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2010 4:35 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Is Genealogy Dead? Eric, I don't believe that the type of sources you are speaking of are drying up. However you should be less dependent upon them because of the availability of digital copies of books and records. Genealogy is an expensive hobby and hiring a professional is not cheap. Although the availability of film varies from the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City and your local LDS Family History Center, this may be the best place for you to put your money and time. The pilot program that FamilySearch has is slowly making available all the records filmed on their web site. Rondina _______________________ Rondina P. Muncy Ancestral Analysis 4008 Linden Avenue Fort Worth, Texas 76107 682.224.6584 [log in to unmask] www.ancestralanalysis.com * * * This E-mail, along with any attachments, is considered confidential and may well be legally privileged. If you have received it in error, you are on notice of its status. Please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and then delete this message from your system. Please do not copy it or use it for any purposes, or disclose its contents to any other person. Thank you for your cooperation. * * * To ensure compliance with Treasury Department regulations, we inform you that, unless otherwise indicated in writing, any U.S. Federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state and local provisions or (2) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein. Disclaimer Version RS.US.1.01.03 pdc1 ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html