RootsChat.Com
Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: GAJM on Monday 21 December 09 08:13 GMT (UK)
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Received an email that my account on the IFHF has being disabled because i was doing too many free index searches. Most of these were for the benefit of fellow rootschatters.
So much for the index part being free.
The email advised me that i would need to start using their pay per view facility to continue.
Ger
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That's a disgrace!
What part of "free" do they not understand?
>:(
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They are not really interested in genealogy rather it is profit
and money at the heart of it all.
When the GRO and GRONI put their BMD's online in the next
year or two the IFHF will be hit hard.
Did someone give their name on the e-mail?
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they do mention this on the terms & conditions '..access will be limited at the discretion of the IFHF and its member centres. A high volume of searches without the purchase of any records will lead to disabling of your account..'
http://ifhf.brsgenealogy.com/terms.php
Shane
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No name mentioned just Regards IFHF
I just a bit annoyed because i had spent alot of money on my line of research on IFHF before and if they look at my account can see i have being a good customer.
Plus the amount of times i have suggested on here that people use the IFHF they will lose by doing this as i wont be able to use the index anymore.
Ger
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As with many sites, to use even the free facilities you have to register.
Login or Register and start finding your ancestors now for FREE.*
*The indexes, listing surname, first name, year and county of all records online is yours to search freely (subject to our terms and conditions).
Registration brings responsibilities as set out in the terms and conditions.
http://ifhf.brsgenealogy.com/terms.php
You are licensed to review, download, and print the content only for your personal genealogical and family history research. You may not publish material from this site in whole or in part in any electronic, print or other medium, ........
and
A high volume of searches without the purchase of any records will lead to disabling of your account.
By registering, an agreement was made to abide by those terms and conditions and therefore if the trust placed in the registered user is abused and if the material finds its way to a wider audience by being published on a public forum on the internet, one cannot really blame the administrators of the site for feeling upset. The warning is included that too many free searches will lead to disabling of the account. It would seem that someone does monitor usage. Much hard work and time went into producing the indexes and it is unlikely that it was done without considerable costs being involved.
RootsChat expects its own terms of use to be respected: we hope and expect our members would respect the terms and conditions of other sites.
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The same with me..I purchased quite a number of Wicklow and Co. Dublin records and have been able to do some index look ups - which I presumed they would be happy with, as they may make a couple of sales as a result.
It's a pity they dont give a number of index records you are allowed look up, per record purchased.. at least then we would know where we stand.
Shane
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I have suggested to hundred's to use the IFHF not just on rootschat but on other forums. Which i sure they have made a profit from.
I have withdrawn my membership and won't be using the website's again.
Ger
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Send them a STRONG letter of complaint!
My cousin has the membership and he uses it a lot. We buy a lot of certs too but all through him.
He also got the same response today:(
Now considering he has probably purchased 100 odd certs on our behalf and maybe looked at a 1000, it sucks, big time.
He is writing to them as we speak.
Annie
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I have spent at least 400 to 500 euro on the IFHF and from suggestions to friends family and other researchers they can probably count my contributions as at least a 1000 euro.
I have sent them a strong letter of complaint as suggested.
And i do respect rootschat policy on this. Just think it does not make common sense to disabled my account with my account history.
Ger
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To be honest guys I can't see where your grounds for complaint are, as pointed out in the post by Copyright-Editor... but hey that's just my humble opinion...
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I understand what you are saying but if all the searches are for personal use and say 10% are purchased, is that not ok?
I'd like to know what they consider "excessive"
I totally respect the terms and conditions but maybe they need to spell out what is excessive!
Annie
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I agree that they have a right to register their own terms and conditions but the question is what does 'excessive searching' mean?
I have used the database a lot and purchased quite a lot on the site, several hundred Euros.
Anyone with an interest in genealogy uses the indexes to determine whether to purchase or not as downloading the wrong details is expensive - 5 Euros per go! I have purchased several BMD's that were useless to me. Can I have my money back??
I will be e-mailing the IFHF also to ask what their definition of excessive is.
The IFHF people know how to shoot themselves in the FOOT as I will think twice about purchasing again.
Hopefully soon there will be a bit of competition when the G.R.O goes online with the all-Ireland BMD's.
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Hopefully soon there will be a bit of competition when the G.R.O goes online with the all-Ireland BMD's.
Does anyone have any information about this? The GRO website http://www.groireland.ie/ doesn't appear to have been updated since about 2003 and doesn't appear to have any indication that such a project is underway.
Thanks
Richard.
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Hopefully soon there will be a bit of competition when the G.R.O goes online with the all-Ireland BMD's.
Does anyone have any information about this? The GRO website http://www.groireland.ie/ doesn't appear to have been updated since about 2003 and doesn't appear to have any indication that such a project is underway.
Thanks
Richard.
I've heard nothing more about this - there were plans to carry this out, and I understand at least some registers were digitized, but I believe that the project was put on hold.
Shane
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I visited the GRONI a few years ago and they had plans to put the information on line in a 'few years' time and the material was being databased etc.
There appears to be no official word or line but I would be extremely surprised if this does not go online like Scotlands People within the next year or two.
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From talking to the local registrars office over last few months i believe they are still working on digitizing records nationwide for their own office use. Possibly eventually they may place this on-line but when talking to them they gave no indication it would be in near future more like 5 years to have it done for themselve and eventually might start thinking about doing an on-line system.
Ger
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The GRO in the Republic appears to be years behind the NI one.
I'd be amazed if they even had a plan to put records online.
Their website is desperate, no online ordering system (if Revenue can be online, why can't they?!), the forms are designed for getting your own vital records not historical ones. They do have email but it's hard to find.
However, I did hear mutterings that the LDS are going to put them online for free - they have microfilm copies of the registers, as well as the already published indexes, up to 1958 for the Republic and up to 1922 for NI.
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....However, I did hear mutterings that the LDS are going to put them online for free - they have microfilm copies of the registers, as well as the already published indexes, up to 1958 for the Republic and up to 1922 for NI.
that would be interesting ...
they would not need to transcribe the details - you could search the existing index to locate items of interest and then allow access to a register page image using the volume number and page. Using images would require quite a bit of disk space ... but hard disks are cheap these days!
Shane
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[they would not need to transcribe the details - you could search the existing index to locate items of interest and then allow access to a register page image using the volume number and page. Using images would require quite a bit of disk space ... but hard disks are cheap these days!
Shane
Well if they have room for all the Massachusetts and other American record images im sure they will have room for the Irish ones finger crossed.
Ger
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From talking to the local registrars office over last few months i believe they are still working on digitizing records nationwide for their own office use. Possibly eventually they may place this on-line but when talking to them they gave no indication it would be in near future more like 5 years to have it done for themselve and eventually might start thinking about doing an on-line system.
Ger
From what I have heard, they have no plans to release that database to the public. Some professional genealogists have asked officially and were told that it "wasn't suitable for public use". It is complete though - I mistakenly ordered a full copy of my great-grandmother's birth cert and it was a typeset modern copy that looks like any recent birth certs I've seen.
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For Cork and Waterford and Kerry (my own area) i believe they have digitized all the record's back to 1920 and are working towards having them all back to 1864 eventually.
Ger
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Gerard - Don't worry lad! Happened to me nine months ago. I simply told them to depart in haste and multiply!!! Remember there's more than one way to skin a cat!
Bill
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I contacted IFHF by email seeking clarification about excessive searching and here is their reply
'No user who has purchased records online has had an account closed. Each user accepts our terms and conditions of use on registration one of which states': etc ----- terms stated.
And also
'Users have the opportunity to carry out 1500 searches to locate their ancestors; if no record has been purchased the account is automatically closed'.
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They are not really interested in genealogy rather it is profit
and money at the heart of it all.
I agree entirely with that point of view
Whilst the IFHF have a right to make money, they in turn do not have a right to make excessive money out of genealogists.
They have acquired the records of many RC and C of I churches, to such an extent that many of those records are now no longer available to the public. I can no longer search a particular parish, I have to use this lot.
The original parish records do not belong to IFHF, hells bells they are my ancestors.
IFHF should be able to make a return on transcriptions , but they fail completely to understand that genealogy, as practiced by most of us here, entails extensive trawling of records to sift the right one, often it can take thousands of records to find the one we need. IFHF assumes we know the parish and the years, and hey presto they sell us that record.
I disagree strongly with the copyright editor here saying that a commercial organisation like IFHF can set any terms and conditions that they like, and that we have to comply. They are public records, my ancestors - I should have a right to consult the records. IFHF hide the originals from me - I have been in their Nenagh office, and seen the book I wanted on a shelf and they have refused to let me look at it
The sort of commercial franchise operation as run by the IFHF is an unacceptable use of public records. They have abused and continue to abuse the position of trust that they have obtained over these important public records.
As you may gather I feel strongly about this
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Totally agree with you corisande
My local parish records are no longer available in the local library or at the local church IFHF have exclusive rights to them and i believe they have refused to let them be transcribed for the new irishgenealogy website which has free records for Dublin and Kerry already. The local priest told me the only way to view them is at the IFHF office or online with their service. Up to the mid 1990's you were able to view my local parish records in the local community centre until the IFHF borrowed them and never returned them since. So my only option is the nation archieve's which i dont have the time to visit.
I have rang the local IFHF and they want a minimum of 100euro to do any advanced searches which will only give a few baptisms etc.
IFHF is controlled by a profit making organistation. Thankfully they dont have full control over the Civil Records and Census Records.
People have the argument that it cost them alot to transcribe the records. The fact is that most of the centres had people on FAS courses doing the transcribing and were paid by FAS and not the IFHF. I know this as i have a relative who did such a FAS course. So obviously large room for profit.
I obviously feel very strongly about this as well
Ger
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My local parish records are no longer available in the local library or at the local church IFHF have exclusive rights to them and i believe they have refused to let them be transcribed for the new irish genealogy website which has free records for Dublin and Kerry already.
You are right. That is the point, they are a Monoply who are, in my opinion, are abusing their monopoly powers.
Is the copyright editor here seriously suggesting that they can put anything they like in "terms of use" and deny people the chance to find their own ancestors. Because we want parish information from certain parishes in Ireland we have no choice which makes them a monopoly
The analogy that Copyright Editor draws with RootsChat is spurious, one does not have to use RootsChat, and if one does use it, one can use it without posting copyrighted material.
Even as it is with IFHF you either pay them absurd sums of money to "buy a pig in a poke" (you are buying blind) or you do not find out about your own ancestors.
I do not know whether the copyright editor knows the situation with IFHF as well as most readers of this particular forum on Ireland. This is not English records. Many of the Irish census records and parish records have been destroyed for one reason or another, so are not available. State records began for most people 30 years after English state records.
We need the national treasure that IFHF has removed from the public domain.
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What i would like to know is who signed over all the powers to them?
How can they legally say they have exclusive rights.
Surely these records are the right of Irish people and any of their descendants.
Ger
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What i would like to know is who signed over all the powers to them?
Have a look at this Article in The Irish Times (http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/column/apr6.htm) part of which I quote below
This pay-per-view system is designed to cope with the internal needs of the IFHF and to make the distribution of payments simpler, not to facilitate the researcher. The original databases behind the site have as much flexibility as it’s possible to imagine – searches can be restricted by place name, or mother’s maiden name, or godparents, or by using wild cards. None of this is possible on the site. At €5 per record, the system is impossibly expensive for precisely those users to whom it should be most useful. It is impossible not to feel that it exists to serve the producers, not the consumers.
And this is before bringing up the other controversies that have dogged the site. The databases were created with large doses of public money, infused through FÁS training schemes. Is there any return to the public purse from the money now being made from them? The rationale for the use of public money was to encourage tourism. But the present website conveys a very simple message: “Give us your money and go away.”
Sentiments that many of us would agree with. Compare the service of IFHF with Scotlands People - it just does not hold a candle to it in terms of either ease of searching or value for money.
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Yes well said corisande
People need to know more that FÁS had done most of the work in transcribing the records with money funded from the EU and the public purse.
The profit that they are making should be used for further FÁS training and other projects to improve Genealogy and Unemployment in this country.
I pay my taxes every week which fund these FÁS courses so i believe i should have an input into the "Terms and Conditions" i believe a petition would be a good idea.
Ger
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On the basis that it is an ill wind that blows no one no good, I took a look at the Irish Genealogy site that now covers the parishes in Kerry and Dublin
http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/
It is FREE and is searchable by parish. As was pointed out, it is still being worked on, and they aim to expand it with government funding. I commend it to anyone looking in Kerry or Dublin
I assume the Irish Government has just written off the money that was put into IFHF
Perhaps someone who knows could give us here the exact details of
- who paid for the IFHFs transcripts, was it in effect the Irish tax payer,
- How did each county IFHF get its "franchise". Did they buy it from the state, the churches, or just get it for nothing
- does the profit go into private pockets now - I am in the web business, and I can tell you that the cost of maintaining their site is very small, the majority of the costs were in transcription - there must be a lot of profit sloshing around today
- why do they not let us have all the info that has been transcribed and is on the data base, as that Irish Times article says.
- have they some sort of legal agreement with the churches that gives them the records in perpetuity
- is the IFHF a "charity" or a "company", it appears to be a company, in which case accounts will have to be filed.
- add any other questions you like - there are a lot!
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I had a relative who was doing one of the FAS courses and his wages were being fully funded by FAS funds and didnt receive anything from IFHF.
As far as i know (from reliable resource) that most of Cork will not be included on the Irish Genealogy website only around the City and West Cork.
The rest of Cork rights are owned by Mallow Heritage Centre/IFHF.
Ger
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I totally agree with the sentiments expressed by corisande and Ger. The IFHF is a national disgrace and must represent one of the worst "services" in Ireland.
Regarding the irishgenealogy.ie site, I may have a cynical outlook on this but........
From their website:
...Initially this database contains the church records of much of Dublin and Kerry Dioceses. Work has commenced to complete the computerisation of the available records for Dublin and Kerry and the remaining records for County Carlow. Records from the Diocese of Cork and Ross which encompasses Cork City and all of the parishes in West Cork will be added next....
None of the areas listed above are on IFHF.
Sorry if I'm not getting into the spirit of thanking the Dept of Tourism but I think it's a sad effort to bolster the failed IFHF project.
By the way, does anyone else think it would be a good idea for the Minister of Tourism to impose a nominal charge, say 5 Euro, to view the records on the irishgenealogy site? The money raised could be used to promote Tourism and Genealogy in Ireland.
Dara.
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By the way, does anyone else think it would be a good idea for the Minister of Tourism to impose a nominal charge, say 5 Euro, to view the records on the irishgenealogy site? The money raised could be used to promote Tourism and Genealogy in Ireland.
Dara.
Would that be a 5euro subscription and can view everything you want after that Dara?
Ger
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I am not saying that I do not agree. But look at this a different way. If someone buys a database of information, who does that database belong to, the people whose information is on there or the company who paid for it.? So it is theirs to sell or protect.
marcie
By the look of it I will have the same problem.
I think there was another posting a while ago from someone prepared to do lookups and help people. There was an answer from agadhowy? I think the person was Julian. Someone answered that records would be available from 2012 and that the Americans have bought some rights to records which they hope to digitize over the next 18 months. Mormons? Cannot remember the total content of the conversation.
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I am not saying that I do not agree. But look at this a different way. If someone buys a database of information, who does that database belong to, the people whose information is on there or the company who paid for it.? So it is theirs to sell or protect.
marcie
By the look of it I will have the same problem.
I think there was another posting a while ago from someone prepared to do lookups and help people. There was an answer from agadhowy? I think the person was Julian. Someone answered that records would be available from 2012 and that the Americans have bought some rights to records which they hope to digitize over the next 18 months. Mormons? Cannot remember the total content of the conversation.
Marcie,
They never bought these records.
1. They obtained them free of charge from the parishes and local libraries. Often not returning what they borrowed. Can only speak for my local area but the records borrowed were not returned. Was a local meeting in our parish a few months back about this so i am speaking from fact.
2. They used State funding via FAS projects to get people to do the work without expense to them.
3. They have charge excessive rates for a website with search criteria designed for people to spend more money than they have to in finding their ancestors. Its hit and miss finding the correct record at 5 euro ago. Where does all the profit go?
4. The database of information is a national treasure and no one has to right to claim it as theirs to make huge profits and lay terms and conditions over the people of ireland and their descendants.
Might be worth watching these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S484Me2MX8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NekbUfhZlY
He makes it all sound so good! Also claims no public/FAS funding
Ger
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I think there was another posting a while ago from someone prepared to do lookups and help people. There was an answer from agadhowy? I think the person was Julian. Someone answered that records would be available from 2012 and that the Americans have bought some rights to records which they hope to digitize over the next 18 months. Mormons? Cannot remember the total content of the conversation.
Marcie- have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Here's the thread Julian and I posted on-
www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,274775.0.html
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My mantra on this is very simple, all the Birth, Marriage and Death records belong to us, our parents and our children and should be free to look at.
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Ger, you aren't the first one to have this happen to them, have a look at this thread;
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,246509.15.html
you'll also notice that the IFHF have made a post at the end in an attempt to "clarify" some points raised in that thread. It was posted over a year ago but it might be of interest. If nothing else the post by them shows that someone at the IFHF is aware of Rootschat and perhaps they MIGHT take heed of the comments made on this thread and "catch themselves on". We live in hope anyway ;)
Tony
and while I'm here...A Happy and Peaceful Christmas to all :)
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Thanks everyone for the replies i think i have expressed my views which i think is important.
Thanks to the LDS and the National Archieve's and volunteer transcribers for all the great work over the last few years to make a large section of Irish Records free on-line. Amazing what can happen in a few years.
We dont need the IFHF!
Happy Christmas
Ger
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Thanks for that link Tony, I had not seen it before. Quite fascinating the reply from IFHF, that starts with
Having viewed the opinions/comments expressed on this forum re IFHF’s Online Research Service, we wish to clarify a number of points; no further replies to comments subsequent to this posting will be made.
An arrogance, if I might say so, that one would only get from a monopoly holder.! They really could not care less about genealogy or genealogists, it is all about profit with records that they have acquired monopoly right over, but are the nation's records.
It is interesting to see that the RootChat user, IFHF, (who I would concede may not be anything to do with RootsChat, I have no idea whether RootsChat has established that users' credentials) joined on 5 Nov, 3 days before that thread started, and was last online 27th Nov, the day they wrote that post. That is their sole post.
Make what you like out of that!!
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I have watched the videos on you tube a few times that i posted above and he really makes them sound like this great value service that will solve all our family tree's back to 1500's!
Ger
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"catch themselves on"
That is a lovely Irish expression that I do not think they use in England! :)
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In England we say catch onto.
marcie
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So what's the next step?
We seem to be in agreement that the way the IFHF treats its customers is a disgrace. A suggestion was made to write a strongly worded letter but given their attitude, as expressed on RootsChat, I really don't think this will get anywhere.
I'm living in Ireland so I can get to the NLI to view the records for free. It's a bit of a hassle but I can live with that. For researchers outside Ireland and indeed outside Europe, an online option is necessary.
So what are we going to do?
We all agree that the IFHF 5 Euro per view is excessive. But is it only the money? Personally I have no difficulty sending 4 Euro to Roscommon for a BMD cert. Thanks to the LDS site, which is totally free, I can be reasonably sure that the cert I order is the one I want. And for me, the value-added is the photocopy of the actual, hand-written entry from the registration book. Not a transcription that might or might not be accurate.
Ah yeah, but.....
On a conceptual level, I can see how a Government Minister and the Churches might have been taken in by the IFHF. In fairness, it was a good idea for training and experience purposes to have unemployed people keying in Parish Records on a FAS scheme. At the time it happened nobody said no. Unemployment was high and anything that might lead the way out of recession was welcomed. Potentially, somewhere out there in the future, it might lead to an increase in tourism. The Minister bought the story. It sounded good at the time.
Where are we now?
Since then, we have been visited by the Celtic Tiger and for a while we believed that money was heaven-sent. We learned that knocking down the old and building new is the way to bigger profits. We all had loads of money in our pockets and 5 Euro to the IFHF or a drive to the NLI or the NA was the only way to do things. Prosperity is new to Ireland. For the most part it seems that we spent our wealth on building roads. Any old stuff that got in the way could be (and was) bulldozed.
That's the attitude we are up against.
So what are we going to do?
We can chat about it here on RootsChat or other Genealogical sites. We can chat about it amongst ourselves until we get bored with the discussion and move on. Can we do anything to change what we all agree is a bad situation?
What's the next step?
Dara.
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Hi Oaks and Acorns,
I wonder would a petition to the Minister be of any value?
Ger
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What do you think?
Dara.
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Well i reckon a well worded petition statement with a couple thousand signatures would have to make some impact. At least would highlight people's point on view on this matter.
Ger
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Have you seen this petition and can you tell me what became of it?
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,337227.0.html
I'll sign the petition if it will help. So far over 2,300 people have signed the 1926 petition and nothing has happened.
Dara.
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I have suggested to IFHF in the past that instead of the current extremely 'unattractively priced' pay-view system, might it not be better to offer the service on a subscription basis like 'ancestry', 'findmypast', 'thegenealogist' etc. In fairness to them, I did get a response but it was rather non-committal. I would certainly buy a subscription EDIT - See further comment below
but (sorry IFHF) no more pay per views unless I was 110% sure that I would not be wasting yet another €5.00!
Merry Christmas!
HB
Re: Armagh Ancestry
« Reply #20 on: Thursday 27 November 08 20:32 UTC (UK)
Paragraph 8 of the IFHF response on this thread says that they hope to have a subscription facility available early in 2009. It would be nice to have an update from them about what is happening.
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Dara
That post of yours sums up the situation today very well. It has been clear to me for years that you are correct in saying
, I can see how a Government Minister and the Churches might have been taken in by the IFHF. In fairness, it was a good idea for training and experience purposes to have unemployed people keying in Parish Records on a FAS scheme. At the time it happened nobody said no. Unemployment was high and anything that might lead the way out of recession was welcomed. Potentially, somewhere out there in the future, it might lead to an increase in tourism. The Minister bought the story. It sounded good at the time.
The Celtic tiger has gone back to Dublin zoo or Bengal now by the way! The problem with "Heritage Centres" (well that is what they call themselves, perhaps they could be had under a Trade Description Act if Ireland has one) existed well before the Celtic Tiger roamed the bogs of Ireland!
We can chat about it here on RootsChat or other Genealogical sites. We can chat about it amongst ourselves until we get bored with the discussion and move on. Can we do anything to change what we all agree is a bad situation?
I think that there are an number of things here that materially effect the situation
1. The legal situation. Nobody seems to know exactly what rights IFHF have over THE NATIONS records. If, as I suspect, the rights have been signed away, we do not know whether that is in the long term or if the deal ends at some point. It might be an idea to find out, if anyone is able.
2. Nobody, either politicians, or the churches, wish to be shown to have made bad decisions in the past. To get them to change their minds would be difficult, even if they were free to do so from a legal point of view
3. I am not sure how you "educate" people who have not tried to work within the genealogical situation in Ireland. That is finding records in general in Ireland, not just with the IFHF. It is only really when you have that knowledge that you can see why people like us are getting upset. For example we had a post early on in this thread from the RootsChat copyright editor saying basically that IFHF were nice people doing a good job, and we were moaners not being prepared to put up with their terms and conditions. RootsChat copyright editor has presumably followed this thread and has avoided adding to their original post. If they do not understand why there is a problem, then what hope is there of convincing a politician or a cleric?
4. Letters certainly will do no good. I remember trying that route when I had problems with Nenagh Heritage Centre refusing to let me look at books that they had in their office. You end up sending lots of letters to people who think you are complaining about 5€, and who do not understand the implications.
5. A petition may work better than the 1926 petition. The legal constraints behind not releasing that - people still alive today, who were protected by a long release date when the forms were filled up in 1926 - are very strong. As perhaps are the moral constraints. I do not want to get into an argument with anyone on 1926 - just saying that the BMD records are different. I would certainly support a petition, if anyone organises it
6. My own view is that "salvation" lies in the new site that the government appears to be behind - the one with Kerry and Dublin parish records. It would be useful if someone could find out what their long term plans are with that site. I can see their short term plans are to add a couple more areas not covered by IFHF, and there are a couple more "red counties" on IFHF map that can be done. But fundamentally at some point they have to "take over" counties from IFHF or run in competition to IFHF (which would happily put IFHF out of business in that county). What are their plans in those situations.
Meanwhile IFHF are running a very poor service, and laughing into their socks all the way to the bank reading customer toothless gripes such as ours. If people like RootsChat Copyright Editor are not convinced that IFHF are exploiting public records, then it would be difficult to convince politicians or clerics!
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The copyright team were asked to make a comment early on this thread since it seemed that there may have been a possibility that the situation arose from the material from the site being posted on other sites like RootsChat. Since re-publication is against the terms and conditions of many commercial family history sites, this often brings the matter to the attention of the copyright team here.
The team do not have a public opinion on the scale of charges made by such sites: that is not their job. It is for the user to decide if they wish to pay the charges.
Any issues arising from use of these sites – whether financial or technical – should be discussed and hopefully resolved with the administration of those sites.
administration