Sorry, but some of these posts have put my back up. I agree that Ancestry could have given advance warning that they were going to withdraw the free access. However, from another point of view, I think many subscribers were annoyed about the free access. I have a full subscription to Ancestry (US records as well), and given that for the last few months I've used the BMD indexes far more than any other records, I was beginning to wonder what I was paying for. The annual fee does not work out at good value for money if you apply it to records other than the full BMD indexes.
I know a lot of peope are saying that withdrawing the free services is unfair, but at the end of the day, what you are losing is a free service which gives you the ability to search records in the comfort and convenience of your own home. The indexes are still available to be searched for free. There's also the point that with the way Ancestry were running things, the cost of providing that 'free' service was being subsidised by paying members.
I appreciate that many people can't afford to subscribe to Ancestry, and I'm sorry. I have other interests where I have to restrict my involvement because of cost - but that's life. Genealogy is NOT a cheap hobby, but at the end of the day many records are available to access free of charge. Yes, there is an associated cost, either of paying to view those records online, or travelling to view the records themselves. Unfortunately, which ever option people are going to use, they don't have the right to expect those costs to be subsidised by other enthusiasts.
Silvilocks
