When I was looking at an email I received from Family Tree Magazine Gen last night, I discovered that Ancestry was discontinuing five services that they have previously offered. Below I list the five services. Each has a link provided by Ancestry where a company representative answers addition questions about each service — as FAQs and within the Comments section.
Note that if you have data or content that you have added to any of these sites, you have until 5 SEPTEMBER 2014 to download, print, or otherwise save it. After that date, it is gone. Genealogy.com is the only one that they are saving. Message boards and Family Tree Maker home pages will be available in read only format. (In other words, you can’t change anything.) This allows Ancestry to keep that URL. Who in their right mind would make a web address like Genealogy.com available to the competition.
Ancestry’s title to this notice on their blog is “Ancestry.com Focuses on Core Offerings.” What exactly do they consider the core offerings they are referring to? Several people in the comments section of this piece asked that question and to this point in time it has not been answered.
Newton, Mass
Library website: http://www.newtonfreelibrary.net
Genealogy blog: https://thecuriousgenealogist.wordpress.com
Genealogy LibGuide: http://guides.newtonfreelibrary.net/genealogy
I received an email yesterday morning stating that MyCanvas was “retiring”. It also mentioned the cancellation of the four other programs mentioned above. There were no details about what “core offerings” ancestry is focusing on. I find myself angered and baffled by this decision like many other long-time ancestry subscribers.
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It is actually six services. At the same time the above closings were announced, we learned that Ancestry will no longer offer YDNA or mtDNA testing or support. Customers have until that same September 5 date to download their data or lose it. I received notice of the MyFamily closing and other family members have been notified of the DNA closings.
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