RootsChat.com

RootsChat is a community of people who help each other with their family history. It has many millions of postings and hundreds of thousands of members worldwide.

The idea is simple. You ask your question, and others try and answer it for you. In a similar way, you may see somebody else's discussion and add to it in your own way. As RootsChat is a very busy site, you may receive your first response to your question in a few minutes. You will probably get several responses as more people try and help you.

It is a safe environment. Email addresses remain hidden, and you can contact others by private message. RootsChat is split into categories to give your questions the best chance of being answered.

Our RootsChat moderators are very special people, they have shown outstanding qualities and have gone the extra mile for a few of you. We would be lost without them and they try their best to look after all your posts to give them the best opportunity for an answer. All the moderators are volunteers.

Above all we believe that everyone is equal. What we all have to share is our own special talents, be it local knowledge of our home town, or running one-name study groups to perhaps being great with a digital camera - everyone can help!

RootsChat owns its own energy efficient servers which consume 50% less energy than the previous generation of servers. We support a local company by popping them in a datacentre Manchester. The datacentre is also very energy efficient. Our servers are powered by renewable energy.

The site is (and always has been) completely free of charge. It is sustainable, and self sufficient by raising funds by good old fashioned advertising - in the same way as your local free newspaper does. This keeps all the kit running and up to date, so that everything runs as it should do.

Sarah and Trystan started the site in 2003, and are still keeping the cogs oiled. They are a husband and wife team, and are still speaking to each other.