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Archiver > SMITH > 1999-02 > 0919116244


From: Fred Skinner <>
Subject: [SMITH-L] Family treemaker comments
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 16:04:04 -0600


Dear Deborah and others who respond:
My feelings are that Family treemaker is not forcing any one to send in
their family trees. And public libraries are purchasing the CD's so
many people will be able to use them for free. The real value of Family
Treemaker is their ability to get the names indexed so that you the user
does not have to comb through 100,000 sources to find a name or tree.
And the index is online. Their indexing and sponsoring a web site does
not come free for them. So what if they use my tree which no one else
has offered any cold hard cash for it anyway. My tree really is not of
much interest to anyone who is not related to me and I want them to find
me. The only really finds I have gotten on the www are through the
county sites of GenWeb and through the Family Treemaker indexes to
sites. I subscribe to Ancestry and to the Everton site and have not
found these to be useful in general. I do not plan to renew the Everton
site and maybe not Ancestry. Family Treemaker does not charge but
supports their site through company profits.

I feel that if 1 or 2 people get benefit from my tree donation and my
work then what profit FTM gets was worth the cost of my research. It is
of no value whatsoever if it dies with me and is discarded or even given
to a local library to gather dust. And it is really a pleasant hobby
and not a money making venture for me. I have been amazed that most
genealogists have been outstanding in willingly sharing their work with
me for free. So I would like to give my knowledge to others who come
after me.

I think you are being selfish if you withhold information useful to
others just because you resent FTM making a little money. No company
can operate without a profit. Would we really be better off if FTM and
companies like them never existed? If it is really a problem and you
think it is such a good moneymaking idea why not buy stock in them?
Karen

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