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Archiver > LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS > 1999-05 > 0926278223


From: Betty Hearst <>
Subject: Re: LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-D Digest V99 #136
Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 12:30:23 -0700


Unhappily I am one of those who never got around to sending money. Would
you please do lots of us a favor and give us your mailing address here in
the newsletter, so we don't have to open up the web? I apologize, and hope
to do better in the future. It isn't nice to be taken for granted!
Betty

>
>"I wonder how many people were as appalled as I was, to read in the
>last Rootsweb review, that only 7% of the people who use Rootsweb, give
>it any sort of financial support.
>
>Rootsweb is FREE, I hear you say. Yes, the information is there and
>free for anyone who cares to use it, and lots of the information is
>given by volunteers who give of their valuable time because they want to
>help others and share what they know. BUT, the nuts and bolts and web
>space and all the rest which makes this valuable stuff available to us
>are expensive and someone has to pay. We are all adult enough to know
>that there are costs to everything and nothing is free, someone pays -
>the user, the taxpayer, whatever.
>
>Rootsweb was started with the idea that people who used it would surely
>be supportive enough to pay as little as $12 a year for something as
>good as this (there are additional benefits for those who want to offer
>more support) but you are left with the choice of whether or not to pay.
>
>Rootsweb is as good as it gets, folks, so why don't we rally round and
>do our thing. For those who can't afford anything or who just don't
>want to, OK it's free. But the rest of us, surely we can dig down and
>find $12 a year, at least.
>
>In order to overcome the deficiency, it appears that Rootsweb is
>starting a Hobbies community for which people will pay. These people
>will be supporting our habit. Do we really have to be supported by
>people swapping recipes and talking about their pet's problems (if that
>is what turns their crank, that's fine) but surely we can have a bit of
>pride and support ourselves?
>And Karen Isaacson and Brian Leverich and the rest of the fine people
>there, who have a dream of giving the very best, why should they
>support us?
>
>Please note that I have never met any of the above and have no axe to
>grind, other than I think we have a very good thing here and we really
>do want to keep it the way it is or even see it expand. The
>entertainment value of this one list alone is worth $1 a month, I should
>say, apart from the hits.
>
>I am very good at sitting on the sidelines and watching the action, but
>this has been bothering me ever since I read the review. So, Now I've
>got it off my chest, I wonder if I'll feel any better.
>
>Gillian"
>This was on another list I belong to and since it concerns our List
Sponcer,
>I felt it needed posting! This is so true!! I mean, $1.00 a month is all
>they're talking about and without Rootsweb, where are we?? Of course, we
>could join Ancestry.com, or a few of the others and pay lots more per
month!
>If you were to own Rootsweb, how long would you support it out of YOUR
>personal pocket??? Rootsweb is NOT owned by a company, it is owned by
>someone like you and me! - Shirley W.

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