| I have been involved in Family history for about | | | | almost illegible documents. These people are really |
| twenty years now, and have been on the family | | | | proud of the work they have produced and they |
| history circuit attending various fairs around the | | | | make it available at a reasonable cost which belies |
| country for about twelve years. | | | | all the effort it has taken. |
| In my time on the circuit, I have met lots of stall | | | | The 'big boys' or major players have loads of |
| holders, some are 'fly by nights' who think you | | | | money to spend on advertising. I am sure you |
| can shove anything onto a CD, flog it, make a pile | | | | have seen the full page adverts in the magazines. |
| of cash and then disappear, (they never last long, | | | | The major players (or wannabe major players) |
| thankfully) some are genuine folk who really want | | | | are prepared to pay a fortune to keep |
| to help people trace their ancestry, and then we | | | | themselves top in the pay per click bids, and buy |
| have the 'big boys' or those that intend to be one | | | | up any and all domain names that have anything, |
| of the big boys.' | | | | even vaguely to do with genealogy. |
| The 'fly by nights' have been known to pirate | | | | No, this is not 'sour grapes' from one of the little |
| information, (census records, parish transcriptions, | | | | guys. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not |
| etc.,) or download free information from the | | | | against anyone making a living. What I loathe is |
| Internet, copy it to a CD, put a pretty picture on | | | | the major players doing their best to force the |
| the front and sell it at a family history fair or on | | | | genuine, little guy out of business. Of course, if |
| Ebay. A quick buck is all they are interested in. | | | | they succeed in getting rid of the little guy, then |
| The genuine folk strive hard to make sure the | | | | the major players will get a larger slice of the |
| products they sell, whether it be parish | | | | cake. The problem is in the end, as always, it is |
| transcriptions or census, etc. are of first rate | | | | the customer who suffers. Limited records, not |
| quality. They spend hours, days and sometimes | | | | always good, and only available at the price they |
| months, transcribing hard to read and all too often | | | | want to charge. |