I saw a message below a couple of days on the RootsWeb website which mentions discontinuing its service on 24 October 2017… and was totally surprised by that. But on closer inspection I see that it is only two facets of RootsWeb are closing – not the entire RootsWeb website as I had initially thought.
So the parts being discontinued are …
Rootsweb Surname List (RSL) (http://rsl.rootsweb.ancestry.com/)
The RootsWeb Surname List (RSL) is a list or registry of surnames (at the time I write this, there are more than 977,000 surnames that have been submitted by more than 194,000 genealogists. The site goes on to say … “Associated with each surname are dates and locations, and information about how to contact the person who submitted the surname. If you are researching a family with the same surname, in the same area and similar time frame, then you might find it useful to contact the person who submitted the surname to share and compare notes.” To me this sounds rather like the Genealogical Research Directory (GRD) for those who are familiar with that. Submit research interests, and others with a similar interest can contact you – only this was obviously an online version of it.
Genealogy Forum (http://genforum.rootsweb.ancestry.com/)
This is another part of RootsWeb that I’ve never been to, and obviously never will, as the links on it already broken. So I won’t be missing this one.
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Anyway it’s good to know that the Mailing Lists and Message Boards are still there, even though I know they do get less traffic now thanks to Facebook Groups … still I do believe they are useful, as well as the World Archive Project. And if you’ve not discovered what the RootsWeb website offers, check it out, there’s a lot there … and it’s ALL FREE.
