mohawkmtn -

You're not paying for your tree. Your ancestors are your ancestors. Nothing can change that.

You're paying to do research to discover who your ancestors were.

No matter how you do it, it's going to cost you some money and some time. Ancestry does offer something worthwhile for a decent price, compared to searching these records for yourself. I live at least 75 miles from the nearest library that would have census microfilms, so it would obviously cost a lot more money and time to go search them myself at the library.

I do not like the other things ancestry does, and I have little respect for them because of it. I think they offer something good and don't need to muddy it up with slimy tactics to get more money from us.

Whether or not you want to "pay for your tree" in any way is up to you. Lots of people live their whole lives and never research their genealogy. Others find it interesting and pursue it for the enjoyment.

I do miss the spirit of sharing that seems to have disappeared from online. People used to share records they'd transcribed, people used to answer letters and help each other out. I'm trying to research records in other states and it's hard with nobody willing to even answer a question to set me in the right direction.

I keep finding usgenweb sites, which used to be very good, that are now nothing but dead links and owners who don't reply to emails. It's disappointing.

But it's actually encouraged me to put my site back online and add more info.