Genealogy's Star - Are Online Family Trees a Substitute for a Local Desktop Genealogy

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[Guy]

The answer to his question is no.
At least not if you value the work you have done over the years and don't mind losing everything.

In view of the recent denial of service attack on Ancestry and their notification of closing a number of sites perhaps this is a good time to remind everyone to back up their data.
Be aware that other website providers will close their door over the coming years.

I would remind everyone that it is not sensible to keep their primary tree or data on a website.
Best advice is to always compile and keep your data on your computer at home and only keep copies of the information on line (or in the cloud).
Never rely on the cloud or online sites to either keep backups of your data or indeed give you time to copy your data before they close.

Many people host data on Ancestry sites which are being closed down, and though they have until September to back up or copy their data to their own computers or other websites many are finding this is going to be an immense task, which they might not complete.

Cheers
Guy
PS I know James Tanner is not a subscriber to this forum but the advice may help some forum members.