Reported in the Daily Board Show this morning.
Two weeks after the sell-out of Rootsweb to
MyFamily.com
it was announced that RW is no longer accepting cash
donations!
In the annoucement at Rootsweb:
"RootsWeb has historically been supported by user contributions.
We would like to thank everyone that has generously contributed.
Without you, RootsWeb might have died long ago. Since our recent
merger with
MyFamily.com, we now have the financial security for
long term success. So we will no longer be soliciting cash
contributions. Again thank you to all of our past contributors"
http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html
And so the money tree ends! Years of soliciting funds for a
non-profit organization that didn't come to pass. Well, other
companies could have been built on the backs of the public trust!
However, you sell a product. The product in this case is information
freely contributed! Of course, this important portion of the
equation was not lost on the new owners. Also stated in the
annoucement:
"Even though we aren't accepting cash, doesn't mean you
can't support the RootsWeb community. Consider
administering a mailing list, volunteer projects, create
a MyFamily homepage, or even posting your own information
on RootsWeb."
I believe that there should be publicly available
genealogical data. The problem lies in the safeguards that
you donate your hard research and that it will be placed
where it was intended to reside. At this point in time there
are no legal protections for contributed data. Just promises
that can and have been broken in the past. Just be careful
and read the fine tiny print!