No, because always pay my memberships.
Why would you expect to use it without paying?

No pay, no workie.

It is no only this site, but many times I have tried to just get a bit of information and they try to make you sign in with all sorts of information. More and more companies are demanding too much from people, like address/phone, cell, face book etc. I try not to give out any thing, and will search for sites that do not request my Life.!!!!!
PS
Even if it is paid site, many times recently they will only release so much unless you upgrade to another level for more money.

This post was edited by marie-ndcal on Wed, Nov 5, 14 at 18:29

Why do you expect free access for information that really comes from both paid employees and paid members?

If you want the information for free...do the research into census records, state files, cemeteries yourself. Most records, except medical allow access for free.

I'm GIVING them a family tree which they will use. I am NOT taking anything. I've given them plenty of information both when I've been paid up and when I'm not. Having a tree on ancestry.com isn't all about getting. It's also about giving. My subscription expired Nov. 2. There is nothing there for me to get any more. I have everything they have that I need. I won't be paying again for a while; not until they get more data bases for the locations and times I need. I see no point in paying for places and times that don't have anyone in my family.

There are thousands and thousands of databases online at Ancestry.com, and more are being added nearly every day. They have records from all over the world. Many of the databases are available to nonmembers.

There is an ongoing project wherein Ancestry uses volunteers to transcribe records to be added to their online databases. I don't know if they still offer the discount, but it used to be that if you entered over a certain number of records within a 90-day period, you would get a discount on your membership fee.

AND, the records that are transcribed by the volunteers are available to everyone FOR FREE.

Lov_mkitchen, if you have a genealogy software program, it should be able to export to gedcom format. I realize you got a hard copy tree from your distant relative, but you should be able to enter everyone into the software without any issue. You can then upload the entire gedcom file to Ancestry.com, and you won't have to enter everything individually on Ancestry.

Lindsey_CA, What is the difference if I enter each person into my software program or enter each person into the ancestry web site? Much easier to do it on line except for the days that ancestry web site is overwhelmed.

I've never heard of ancestry giving any records away for free other than, I believe the 1880 and the 1940 census. You can search the site but you can not access the actual record. I'd be very interested in transcribing for a cheaper subscription. familysearch has volunteers who transcribe for them but everything there is already free. With the genealogical sites forming partnerships with each other for varying amounts of time, sometimes records are available and sometimes they aren't. If you find it somewhere, better save it to your computer.

I have exhausted everything ancestry has. I have a few brick walls but ancestry doesn't have the location/years I need. Maybe someday but not now. And I suspect there will be some people I never find the answers to. If documentation wasn't required or if it didn't survive I won't find it. Prince Edward Island has been a real problem. Ohio records for a death in 1834 have not shown up anywhere. Ditto for Ohio deaths after 1860. Ditto deaths in Dakota Territory. Ditto a death in N. Dak. 1922. I need a death somewhere in Arkansas around 1898. Not everything is on the internet :-(

lov - if you're an AARP member you can get a 30% discount from Ancestry.

I looked into the AARP special last year and it only applied to the DNA and maybe the other products they sell. I checked just now an it SHOULD apply to the subscription, too. I've emailed a friend who does belong and who does have an ancestry subscription to have her check the link to see if it really does apply to the subscription. It would be worth $16 to join AARP to get 30% off ancestry.

But I still don't know if I will pay again this year. Like I said, I've already gleaned everything that's there. I can work on my trees without paying. I'm giving right now and not getting anything. I wait a few months between subscriptions to give ancestry time to get more data bases. The good thing about that is I'm forced to look other places and that has always worked to my advantage. ancestry is great but there are other places; even a google search often finds something. The old books on google have had things for me.

"Lindsey_CA, What is the difference if I enter each person into my software program or enter each person into the ancestry web site? Much easier to do it on line except for the days that ancestry web site is overwhelmed."

Well, since you started this discussion by complaining that you are having difficulty uploading the information onto Ancestry.com, I thought it would be easier for you to enter the information into your software (presuming, of course, that your computer isn't the problem) and then uploading only one file (the gedcom) to Ancestry.

But go ahead and complain, since that's what you seem to want to do.

They've been fixing things that didn't need to be fixed. Again. Why do web sites do that? If it's not broke, leave it alone! And that feed back link. Like they have EVER changed anything that we've asked for. The ancestry forum community has been asking for the same things for at least 3 years. None of those things are ever changed. One more year of adjustment to be able to use the site quickly or to try to explain in an email to someone else where/how to do something.

Here is a link that might be useful: change for the sake of change

Agreed, on one point. If you have data, and it needs to be in your tree, and you have software, I would be spending the time entering it into MY OWN program for MY OWN benefit. Why bypass your own tree? Then if you choose to share the information anywhere you want, as mentioned, it becomes a simple operation. You're complaining, and avoiding, the easiest way to accomplish 2 goals. Ancestry is business. Big business. Big business like money. Business thinks their ideas is the best way to get it. You're not "forced" to look elsewhere, that's common sense to look elsewhere. No, Ancestry doesn't have everything, nor do the others. Correct, snooping the internet can find data. Or tell you where data can be found. You sound like you know what to do, so, do it.

I used my AARP and got a30% discount. You are entering info on your tree for yourself and those who may be looking for common ancestors, if your tree is public. I doubt that ancestry thinks that you are helping them. If your tree is documented with sources they don't have, then others have to leave ancestry and use those resources.

Ancestry has had a lot of issues the last few months. I have more issues calling up DNA matches. And using the message system than anything else. I do find that I get things to run faster if I routinely clear my caches and cookies. If I can't solve a problem, I call them. I have been very pleased with customer service.

I'm helping them to the point that I have made information available that wasn't on the site previously. In other trees I have found my information turned into an ancestry file.....what do they call them.......family data or something like that. And passed off as a shaky leaf when in fact it is not a documented fact at all. A family cemetery I did for findagrave, out in the middle of a farm field turned into Iowa Cemetery Index. My word only that those people were buried there and the facts I supplied were correct. How's that for a source! I had a person who I suspected died in a certain place at a certain time that I put as a fact with the disclaimer of "as much as I know now" that turned into an ancestry hint complete with her personal information. Anyone finding that would assume it was correct. ancestry has turned into a big hat with all sorts of bits and pieces thrown in. Stick your hand in, pull a fact out, add it to your tree. No research needed.

I forgot to say I have posted multiple documents on my persons' pages. No need to leave the site. There's a button to save it to your tree or do like BarbaraF did and save it to your computer and then upload it as your own. No need to cite a source or give credit to anyone.

Lov_mkitchen complains, "In other trees I have found my information turned into an ancestry file.....what do they call them.......family data or something like that. And passed off as a shaky leaf when in fact it is not a documented fact at all. A family cemetery I did for findagrave, out in the middle of a farm field turned into Iowa Cemetery Index. My word only that those people were buried there and the facts I supplied were correct. How's that for a source! I had a person who I suspected died in a certain place at a certain time that I put as a fact with the disclaimer of "as much as I know now" that turned into an ancestry hint complete with her personal information. Anyone finding that would assume it was correct. ancestry has turned into a big hat with all sorts of bits and pieces thrown in. Stick your hand in, pull a fact out, add it to your tree. No research needed."

From the Ancestry.com web site:

"The Shaky Leafs are Ancestry Hints designed to aid you in your family history research. They provide other records in our database that could possibly match the individual in your tree. These hints are automatically generated, and are there for you to determine whether or not the record hint matches the individual in your tree." [emphasis in original]

If you, Lov_mkitchen, see a Shaky Leaf and take it as documented fact, that's YOUR problem. If other people see a Shaky Leaf and take it as documented fact, that's THEIR problem. Some of us are not willing to accept everything that's out there as documented fact.

I never, ever, accept anything on anyone else's tree as documented fact unless and until I see the documentation for myself. Then, and only then, will I add it to my tree. I have well over 5,000 people on my tree. Not nearly as many as some, but many more than others. And every single name has been researched and verified before being added.

You've also said, "I'm helping them to the point that I have made information available that wasn't on the site previously."

And you have undoubtedly gotten a lot of information from Ancestry.com that wouldn't have been easily (if at all) available to you otherwise. Genealogy research is a give-and-take proposition. We take a lot more than we give (that's the nature of our research, after all), so we (YOU) really should stop complaining about other people taking our information when we post it to a public web site.

Bravo, Lindsey...well done.

You really shouldn't download other people's documents, save them to your computer then upload them as your own. That is no different than taking something from a web page, saving it and uploading it as your own. The "save to my tree" button will save it to your tree and cite where it came from.

There's been quite a discussion about plagiarism on a few of the blogs this week.

Enter the information into your own family tree program. From there, you can put it anywhere you want. Sheesh, wake up over there. Fufill your desire to get it on Ancestry. Keep your copy, then go ahead and give what you want to a public web site. Then start complaining that people can take your data and do what they want. Too bad, you were in a hurry to give it away, Ancestry fault.? No, YOURS.

Sheesh....unless you were present at the event you are claiming ownership, you are not the owner of that info...you are just copying what someone else recorded.
How can you claim that you are the owner of a birth date/marriage/death that took place 100/200 years ago? You yourself had to have copied it from a record someone else wrote down.

Kitchen, it seems that no matter what you _itch and complain about, if folks give a response that more than adequately rebuts it, you simply go on to complain about something else. Obviously you have a bug up your butt about Ancestry.com, but sooner or later you will realize that most of the rest of us DON'T.

As Monica pointed out, unless YOU took a photograph at an event, and then posted that photo to your tree, or unless YOU were present at an event and then wrote a narrative about what happened at the event and then posted that narrative to your tree, YOU DON'T OWN ANYTHING THAT ANYONE ELSE IS COPYING. Birth, marriage, and death certificates belong to the pertinent vital records office. Military records belong to the government.

In a very small way I sort of understand what you are saying --- I have taken some old family photographs and posted them to my tree, then other folks have attached those photos to their trees. Bugged me, but I got over it because I CHOSE TO POST THOSE PHOTOS TO A PUBLIC TREE ON A PUBLIC WEB SITE. If I didn't want anyone else to be able to see or copy what I attach to my tree, I would mark my tree as PRIVATE.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe someone saved something from your tree to their computer so that they could study it more closely when they had time, to ensure that the item should, indeed, be attached to someone on their tree? That by the time they got around to determining that it SHOULD be attached to someone on their tree they forgot where they got it, so they simply uploaded it from their computer to their tree?

If you are absolutely certain that it didn't ever happen that way; that the folks who have taken your stuff and attached it to their own trees did it with the intent to mislead others into thinking that they found this information on their own, then you have a couple of things you can do:

1. You can write a comment that shows up whenever anyone looks at the item on the other person's tree(s), stating that you took the original photograph with your own camera and film (or digital memory card), or that you wrote the original narrative while attending the event in question;

and

2. You can file a lawsuit for theft and plagiarism and name the other tree owner(s) and Ancestry.com as Defendants.

Edited to remove duplicate post.

This post was edited by Lindsey_CA on Sat, Nov 8, 14 at 17:06