Get the facts about RootsWeb Mailing Lists and World Connect Trees shutting down soon!
Don’t look now, but THE SKY IS FALLING! Genealogists are pulling their hair and gnashing their teeth and the UNTRUE rumors that Ancestry has decided to shut down RootsWeb, a valued genealogy resource. And as has often been the case, there is lots of misinformation being pass along the way in emails and social media posts. Don’t you get irked when other researchers put erroneous information on your family tree at FamilySearch or create a tree on Ancestry and you just know some of the facts are WRONG?
Well then why do genealogy community members continue to pass along rumors as fact WITHOUT DOING THEIR OWN RESEARCH?
The Facts: Ancestry, RootsWeb Mailing Lists and World Connect Trees
So according to message banners in bright red color, Ancestry which took over the RootsWeb site in 2000, has decided to shut down access to the RootsWeb Mailing Lists on 6 April 2023.
In addition, access to the World Connect Trees will be terminated on 15 April 2023 and moved to Ancestry with access anticipated in late 2023.
What Can YOU Do?
If you want information on how you can contact Ancestry to protest their removal of these two genealogy resources, read the recent article Ancestry to Delete World Connect Trees and Shut Down RootsWeb Mailing Lists – Prepare NOW over a DNAeXplained.
What the Future Holds for Other Genealogy Resources
If you’ve been following me for some time you know what I always say about ANY genealogy site where you upload your information: ALWAYS HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY!!! I predict that NEXT ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK will be the many websites – personal and genealogy society – that are currently hosted at RootsWeb. And there won’t be a lot of notice.
If I were a genealogy society board member, I’d realize I have a fiduciary duty to the society and start planning NOW to make sure that there is a viable web presence BY THE END OF 2023! And if I had a personal website, I would research how to download the data and import it into a free site such as Weebly or Wix!
©2023, copyright Thomas MacEntee. All rights reserved.
