In case you were wondering, or even if you weren't, the family blog here at dnadropbox.com is still very much alive.

Having switched to a new version of software, we've decided the old approach to the family blog site was best. So, some things were put back that originated with the first design of the site.

Although moldy, they include recipes, photos, and more, that had been lost with the upgrade of dnadropbox.com more than a year ago.

So, it's back to the basics. And we'll stay with dnadropbox.com. Of course, we still have our new products, such as the family tree program at double-helix-geek.com and Robby's personal blog, called "In Focus" at the root of dnadropbox.com, but the family blog site is the bread-and-butter for all things family - from the Douglases to the Bells to the Carsons and to all other families who are part of the family tree. And all members of the family tree are welcome.

We've also noted a decline in participation on the MyFamily.com family site. Some folks, once they posted photos, were never heard from again. Others only rarely come anymore. Perhaps the last sparks of inspiration have at last faded that were first birthed with Alex Haley's movie, "Roots," a movie that moved at least one generation of people to dig into, and revel in, their own families' origins.

Today, our genealogical information has, sadly, landed in the hands of men in business suits, and no family's information is apparently beyond their reach. Perhaps outrageously, they charge us money to access our own family tree information having, in at least Ancestry.com's case, been alleged to have "harvested" it from our private web sites; or turned public documents, such as library records and Census records, into private-sector cash cows. How did we lose control over our family information? Who's to say?

It's just too bad.

So, rather than pour the majority of efforts into MyFamily.com, a site that no one hardly visits anymore, we will instead focus on the family blog site. Sadly, many people don't come to the family blog at dnadropbox.com anymore, either.

And that's too bad, too.

But we will continue to operate the dnadropbox.com site, and the other family oriented sites, which are paid for without requesting anything in return but participation, in the hopes that somebody, somewhere, will someday once again take an interest in a family tree that stretches back to at least the 1700's in Ireland and Scotland. Until then, we will be offline on MyFamily.com, but available, if needed, at the family blog and family tree sites. You can reach us via e-mail anytime we may be of service.

No doubt, the "Douglas Family Tree" will continue on MyFamily.com, and it is our hope it will not die a slow, agonizing death from non-participation. But if it does die, it won't be because there hasn't been a lot of effort put into trying to keep it from needing CPR.

And may we extend special thanks to, especially, Mary Ann Hay and Evelyn Long, without whom a treasure trove of content would have never made it to the pages of the MyFamily.com site.

You are welcome to join us here, and at the family tree site, and we would also encourage you to continue to patronize the MyFamily.com site, as well. Let me say that it has been a pleasure to have been among you, my relatives and friends, and we hope you will continue with us at dnadropbox.com.

Best regards,
Robby Douglas