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Archiver > COOK-CO-IL > 2006-07 > 1152649674


From: "mtnspirit" <>
Subject: Re: Ancestry.com
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:29:46 -0400
References: <20060711165131.35978.qmail@web34604.mail.mud.yahoo.com>


<<<<But for me Ancestry
is a necessity. Alice Fluegge

Alice it was for me too, for nine years. Necessity is the mother of
invention. I guess I'll have to invent a new way. Maybe a call to all the
counties in the U.S. to have online access to the records. Our taxes are
already paying for the clerks , so why not hire a few to put them online.

I have found many mistakes in the Ancestry transcriptions which I have
original documents to prove my point. Ancestry has still not changed the
mistakes after 5 years of me trying. To be fair I have found a few
generations I had not been able to find, I figure it was only a matter of
time. I was paying for the convenience to search. Ancestry prices have
continued to go up steadily with more mistakes, more rude customer service,
and smaller packages. They will eventually lose enough customers they will
fail. This is the problem now they don't really care about helping others
find the families. It has now all become about the mighty buck$$. They will
eventually become an elitist organization where the common man can not
afford to have the knowledge. I'm sorry if I am sounding a bit paranoid
here, but this use to be the way it was, you know money and knowledge talk.
The common man was not privileged to information, and was kept out of the
loop. When the internet hit, any man then could have access even if they
didn't own a computer. Our library still has access to internet with
computers, but the demand is so high you rarely can get more than 15 mins on
one. Also the budget cuts have cut all remote access to records through
them.

Maybe if we all supported our county and state genealogical societies by
helping with transcriptions and either providing links to our home pages or
supplying them both copies for online resources and hard copy resource
files, we could better serve our communities and honor our families'
legacies. Ok, I am sending out a call for a grass roots effort to do this. I
know some will say that is what Roots Web is for but guess who runs
that..... Ancestry. How long before it is no longer FREE???? I don't trust
them anymore.

Alice, I don't begrudge anyone who wants to use and subscribe to Ancestry
but I can't do it. Just think in the beginning how it was different. I am
also a business woman, who has no problem with them making a profit, but I
refuse to do it on the backs of people who can't afford to pay for the gas
to drive to courthouses to research, and then illegally obtain subscriptions
from honest well intentioned folks. It is not right. Just be wary.

My best to you all.
Dara



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