Free On Ancestry.com Closed Down by Legal Threats

If you go to the web site FreeOnAncestry.com, you will find the following sad words:

The website "FreeOnAncestry.com" was forced offline by The Generations Network, the parent company of Ancestry.com.

FreeOnAncestry.com was originally built with the approval of the previous affiliate marketing staff of MyFamily.com, the same company before the name change to The Generations Network. They felt a site like FreeOnAncestry.com was a great way to create a positive image and branding to the genealogical community by highlighting the free tools and databases available to the public. It was a way to show genealogists that Ancestry.com was not just a big greedy cash cow that everyone seems to think it is, but a site that does in fact give back to the community.

But the new marketing staff didn't agree. They threatened us with legal action if we didn't take the site down.

They claimed that the domain name, "freeonancestry.com" is a violation of their trademark, because it contains the word, "ancestry.com". AS IF they have rights to any and all domain names with the word "ancestry" in it.

Bottom Line

So, we've taken the FreeOnAncestry.com site down, because The Generations Network is still the primary source of income on our flagship website, Interment.net. We can't afford to jeopardize that relationship. There just isn't another source of income that can provide us with the funds that Interment.net requires.

  - Steve Johnson, Clear Digital Media, Inc.

Comments

[Miriam Robbins Midkiff]

Ancestry.com is shooting itself in the foot, here!

[Roger Beach]

I also agree, Ancestry.com is a greedy cash cow, I was thinking about joining them, but now I will just go the LDS church which is free, i would much rather do it at home but now i will do something else, but never join them,

[Happy Dae]

Although I'm inclined to agree with the above opinions, I will say that judging Ancestry.com by their übermeisters is a bit unfair. Ancestry provides VAST databases to search, among other excellent sources. These don't come cheaply.

The Generations Network, or whatever they call themselves, are really the greedy ones. And they DON'T understand the community to whom they are marketing. Take your complaints directly to THEM.

Now, for FREE Genealogy ideas, resources, forms, presentations and tips, you might want to visit MY web site. Not as large as theirs, but growing.

Happy Dae
www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com/ssg1.htm

[Upton Sinclair Lewis]

Awhile ago Dick Eastman posted a link to the Top-10 Genealogy Websites of 2050, a humourous list.

I believe that No. 10 was "Ancestry.gov" - perhaps the future is here!

[Valorie Zimmerman]

Sheesh! The suits seem to have gone mad. However, there is still lots of great stuff available for free on Ancestry.com, and so far, Rootsweb is still free too! I have a list of good free stuff on Ancestry on my my blog, Free Information at Ancestry.com: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/2006/03/free-information-at-ancestrycom.html

I'll remove the link to FreeonAncestry.com. ::sigh::

Valorie

[Sarah Harman]

Coming hot on the heels of Ancestry withdrawing their access from the Family History Centers, this news suggests either they have decided they don't care about appearing mercenary and moneygrabbing, or they are in trouble and need every extra dime they find!

[TL Sturgill]

I had already decided not to subscribe to Ancestry.com again because they have become SO temendously expensive. What I used to get a couple of years ago for a little over $100 is now priced at $300, and the choices on purchasing smaller packages has also faded into obscurity.

I do not believe anything they have at this point actually justifies the kind of pricing. Some of the information they provide is from their subscribers, which they actually receive free [and no pmt. or discount is made to the providing individual.] It would be very interesting to see a yearly cost statement for Ancestry.com, but they're not required to make something like that public.

Ancestry.com and their parent company are letting their prices and their greed lead them out-of-control and I speak only for myself, but I am going to stop giving them their LARGE subscription dollars. If enough others did, they would have to listen.

[Walter]

Much of what we find on ancestry.com is rife with errant information from well-meaning individuals who merely tax ones's precious time as we attempt to sort it all out. Too bad there is no means by which you or I can report these mistakes for the betterment of all. I truly find the ultimate source of concise, dependable data to be NEHGS in Boston. When you are studying their material you at least have a reasonable assurance that you are on the right track. Plus, you don't get raked over for $300 a year.

[Dave]

This article gave me the incentive to do some more work for the LDS Indexing project. Hopefully they will keep their promise of free access,

Dave

[Jessica]

I agree with the comment about LDS indexing (http://www.familysearchindexing.org)! I just started helping and it's actually very relaxing - it's become a "break" for me when I'm tired of writing genealogy reports. If you have about 15 minutes a day to spare you really should jump in and help!!

[Sylvia]

Does someone have a direct number that we can call at Ancestry and tell them how we feel? The 800# is a mess to get anywhere. Better to tell them direct than complain amoung ourselves. Sylvia

[Dave]

The best way to complain to Ancestry is to not do business with them.

[JSam]

$300.00 is about 0.85cents a day. So give up a coffee and donut and save money. I was going to go to ancesttry.com but I don't have enough time each day to justify even 0.85 cents and I can't eat doughnuts.

JSam

[WolfKat]

Frankly, I don't understand why Freeonancestry.com doesn't just change their name. Since the issue appears to be the "ancestry.com" portion of the domain, why not make it something else...like, Freeongreedycashcow.com?

[Em]

Re: Ancestry's "new" direction and calling to complain:

Rather suddenly this year, each time I tried to access Ancestry, it stalled. It's like jogging in Jell-O. It wasted SO much time, I called them. The technical support rep asked me about my operating system, computer, etc. "I am on a Macintosh, OSX," I said.

He told me that the site was *actually built to be used with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Microsoft does NOT offer a browser for the Mac OSX platform. I mentioned that I suspected the Flash ad situated in the right top column and that it might be conflicting with the Mac browser. I said, "I HAVE a Windows PC here on my desk, along with my Mac. I need to test browsers for the websites I create--so they WORK ON ALL PLATFORMS. I prefer my Mac and Safari browser."

He said, "If you have a Windows PC, use that." I guess in his mind, case closed--problem solved.

[CStan]

Let's put this in perspective. TGN is not stopping (or can they stop) anyone from listing free resources at Ancestry.com. Nor are they preventing (or can they prevent) people from using "ancestry" in a domain name where no confusion with Ancestry.com can arise.

This involves one affiliate who was clearly using the Ancestry.com trademark to drum up commissions. Even though the resources linked to were free, if anyone clicked on a link and subsequently subscribed to Ancestry.com the affiliate would earn a commission. The website in question was a "thin affiliate" offering nothing but affiliate links. TGN has expressed its intention to discourage such sites, which is good for genealogists in the long run.

If TGN/MyFamily.com is at fault, it is for allowing this website to exist as an affiliate site in the first place, and to allow their trademark to be misused. This was a poor business practice, as was allowing free access at Family History Centers (as Dick has pointed out).

Instead of complaining, just do as Valorie has done and create a webpage with non-affiliate links to free stuff at Ancestry.com.

[Margaret]

I am torn about ancestry.com. I believe in the free enterprise system, which has made our lives so rich and long. I know that people cannot afford to work for praise alone unless they have some other source of income, so the ancestry.com folks need to be reimbursed for their efforts. What is frustrating about their site, except for the census information which is great even though sometimes the indexes are often inaccurate, is that the headings of databases lead one to believe that they contain more than they actually do.

Their historical newspaper databases are skimpy with the exception of the NY Times, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. Other databases also turn out to be only good for limited number of years or only certain states or counties within the states. Where ancestry.com shines is providing actual images of newspaper articles and obituaries.

If you join hoping to find a treasure trove of information on particular areas, you may be very disappointed and out major dollars.

I too plan to join the LDS indexing pool to hurry their vast holdings onto the internet for the benefit of the whole genealogy community.

Increasingly, local genealogy and historical societies are creating local databases of great benefit for those who then can order documents from the vital statistic government bodies.

[Lawrence]

I realize this is getting off-topic, but the FamilySearch.org indexing project has been very satisfying to me. Yes, I pay for Ancestry.com's database access—and I use it all the time—but the LDS plan is going to put much data into the hands of many, and theirs is not a commercial enterprise. Sign up and volunteer; you'll be glad you did.

[Lorelee]

I owe alot of thanks to ancestry.com. If I had not put my gedcom on I would not of found 2 wonderful cousins that I did not even know existed. This year when my subscription was up I talked to a guy who wanted to sell me this $300 package. I guess he finally got tired of me trying to get the price lower and he just happened to have a special. I have everything but the British and Ireland information, and it only costs me $132.00. I have been with them for 8 years so guess they did not want to lose me. A little info for all of you. Many public libraries have a subscription to Heritage Quest that you can view at home just by using your library card. They also have census images but the index is only head of household. I heard that some libraries also have ancestry.com available.

[Dave Grow]

Ancestry.com used to be one of my favorite businesses--one that provided great value to the community, was profitable but did not "gouge" its members. I think Ancestry's revenue may rise in the short-term, as people who used to go the FHCs will give in and subscribe...but in the long-term, they will lose their grip on the genealogy community, as startups and the LDS Church provide more effective and economical options.

[Leroy]

Maybe Ancestry.com is becoming greedy, but they have dropped some of their prices significantly. For instance, I found out today that Ancestry.com has a deal where you can purchase The Source and The Red Book for a special discount price of $99.95 with free shipping if you call and speak with someone over the phone. It's a great deal since normally you would pay about $130 or so.

[judy bethel]

I can't understand Ancestory.com's failure to let customers know of their failure to support Safari. One week my Safari search was working fine and the next my pedigree stopped loading. Failure to support Safari also means that when I am doing my genealogical searches on State sites, for instance, the inevitable links take me back to ancestory for info...which I can't get because they don't support my browser. How irresponsible is that?! I heard a renowned presentor say recently that the ancestory people were "Nice folks who were trying". Are you sure? Judy B.