![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dee_burrisIn the left sidebar of this blog, you will see links to five family trees I manage, and that I host at Rootsweb. There is now a sixth that I had not yet added.
And probably won't.
Rootsweb, the red-headed stepchild of Ancestry.com, has been down now for nearly a week.
I didn't make that discovery until last Friday, when I uploaded my GEDCOM for my own family tree. According to the message displayed at that link:
This database is currently being updated. It should be online in a few minutes. Please wait for the screen to refresh with the updated information. If it has not been processed in a few hours please try your upload again.
Since Friday. More than "a few minutes."
I sent Rootsweb an inquiry yesterday. This is the canned response I got:
Response (Kevin) (02/29/2016 10:49 AM)
Dear Dee,
Thank you for contacting RootsWeb in regard to the uploading and processing of a World Connect tree.
The site is currently down due to ongoing technical issues. This includes access to and the processing of any World Connect trees. We hope to have the issues resolved soon. We are sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
If there is anything else with which we might assist you, please let us know.
Kevin
RootsWeb Support Team
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Email: helpdesk-post@rootsweb.com
I stewed about that asinine response all day long.
I woke up this morning just as peeved as when I went to bed last night.
I just sent this response:
I'd like to thank you for this response, but find myself unable to do so.
Ongoing technical issues? Or trying to do away with the free Rootsweb services thousands of us use because we believe that our genealogy information should be freely available to folks who lack the resources for a subscription to Ancestry.com?
I fail to understand how a company as large as Ancestry.com, which has been systematically buying up other genealogy resources - including another free one, Find a Grave - does not have the wherewithal to get the free service back online. The $1.6 billion Ancestry got in 2012 when it agreed to be acquired by Permira Advisors, LLP has all been spent? All the tech team sent packing? My understanding is that as of 2011, Ancestry had revenue in the US alone of $399.7 million.
Surely a bit of that revenue can be used to get Rootsweb back online.
A note - I am currently a subscriber of Ancestry.com. However, that can change.
My GEDCOM is still processing...and after careful consideration, reading the blog entries of other geneabloggers about this ridiculous downtime and the post to your own message board which has been closed to further comment, and weighing my options, I have decided to move all six of my GEDCOMS to another service which thankfully is not yet controlled by Ancestry.com.
And I'll be telling the readers of my blog exactly why.
I am determined to keep the information in all six of the GEDCOMS I manage freely available to others.
As I move each GEDCOM, I will update its link in the sidebar.
With gratitude to Dr. Beverly Hofstadter,
Needy baby, greedy baby...
And probably won't.
Rootsweb, the red-headed stepchild of Ancestry.com, has been down now for nearly a week.
I didn't make that discovery until last Friday, when I uploaded my GEDCOM for my own family tree. According to the message displayed at that link:
This database is currently being updated. It should be online in a few minutes. Please wait for the screen to refresh with the updated information. If it has not been processed in a few hours please try your upload again.
Since Friday. More than "a few minutes."
I sent Rootsweb an inquiry yesterday. This is the canned response I got:
Response (Kevin) (02/29/2016 10:49 AM)
Dear Dee,
Thank you for contacting RootsWeb in regard to the uploading and processing of a World Connect tree.
The site is currently down due to ongoing technical issues. This includes access to and the processing of any World Connect trees. We hope to have the issues resolved soon. We are sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
If there is anything else with which we might assist you, please let us know.
Kevin
RootsWeb Support Team
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Email: helpdesk-post@rootsweb.com
I stewed about that asinine response all day long.
I woke up this morning just as peeved as when I went to bed last night.
I just sent this response:
I'd like to thank you for this response, but find myself unable to do so.
Ongoing technical issues? Or trying to do away with the free Rootsweb services thousands of us use because we believe that our genealogy information should be freely available to folks who lack the resources for a subscription to Ancestry.com?
I fail to understand how a company as large as Ancestry.com, which has been systematically buying up other genealogy resources - including another free one, Find a Grave - does not have the wherewithal to get the free service back online. The $1.6 billion Ancestry got in 2012 when it agreed to be acquired by Permira Advisors, LLP has all been spent? All the tech team sent packing? My understanding is that as of 2011, Ancestry had revenue in the US alone of $399.7 million.
Surely a bit of that revenue can be used to get Rootsweb back online.
A note - I am currently a subscriber of Ancestry.com. However, that can change.
My GEDCOM is still processing...and after careful consideration, reading the blog entries of other geneabloggers about this ridiculous downtime and the post to your own message board which has been closed to further comment, and weighing my options, I have decided to move all six of my GEDCOMS to another service which thankfully is not yet controlled by Ancestry.com.
And I'll be telling the readers of my blog exactly why.
I am determined to keep the information in all six of the GEDCOMS I manage freely available to others.
As I move each GEDCOM, I will update its link in the sidebar.
With gratitude to Dr. Beverly Hofstadter,
Needy baby, greedy baby...