BMDshare - will it come back? - alternatives?

[trystan]

It's good you got a reply - and thanks for coming back with the update too.

Trystan

[silvery]

A postem on freebmd is very handy.   I put on all the details from a certificate, names, relationships, dates, addresses, witnesses if a marriage etc. 
If someone is looking they can check and see if the information is useful to them.   It's a site that gets searched as a matter of course, and people are looking for specific names, usually in a county or place. 
Nothing lost by filling in a postem on there, as well as on rootschat, and anywhere else that might come in useful I always think.   

[hiraeth]

I think the postems are a great idea too.   I've ended up with sending off for so many death certificates for my Robert Roberts I decided to start updating the wrong ones for my own records.  It saved me from sending for another one a couple of times 

[Plummiegirl]

All my BMDs have had Postems added to FreeBMD

So
Births - I will add DOB and parents names (including mothers maiden name)
Marriages - if more than 2 entries I will add a postem to bride and groom, giving Date of Marriage and Fathers names
Death - DOD and name of informant.

And if during my research I find through another source a marriage or christening (normally via Parish records) I will add that data as a Postem too.

Postems are an underused source for sharing information.  I love 'em.  And love it when a record I am looking at has a postem added.  They are just so helpful.

[rosie99]

Postems are an underused source for sharing information.  I love 'em.  And love it when a record I am looking at has a postem added.  They are just so helpful.

I couldn't agree more. 
The good thing about putting them on freebmd is it is regularly used by lots of us for BMD lookups so you don't have to go looking elsewhere.  I have to confess that I had never heard of BMDshare before this post. 

[Jomot]

Does anyone know of any alternative websites where I can post and share BMD certificate details in a structured and searchable way?

www.rootschat.com/links/0yyx/  is worth a look.

[bibliotaphist]

Again, thanks all for the suggestions.

The Certificate Exchange site looks excellent - except that I don't want rid of my certificates (at least, not yet!); I just want a way of publishing the transcribed information in a way that will be most discoverable and useful to other people.

I've been convinced by everyone's arguments in favour of FreeBMD postems. So, I've added my first postem: for my great-grandfather's birth index entry. (His was the first certificate I ordered from the GRO.) I'm going to work my way through all my certs and do the same.

It's here: http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=RGjiylbZVan3dELVOdKFBg&scan=1

(Edit: for GRO certificates, these stanzas below will be my self-imposed format for postems, leaving out any sections or lines that don't apply. It's a shame not to transcribe the certs verbatim, but FreeBMD's 250-char limit means that isn't possible. Perhaps they'll fix that in a future database upgrade.

Births:

<Forenames> <Surname> [a.k.a. <Known alternative names>]
b. <dd>st|nd|rd|th <Mon> <yyyy>, <Place of birth>
father: <Forenames> <Surname>, <Occupation>
mother: <Forenames> <Surname> formerly <Surname>, <Occupation>
[N.B. <Noteworthy comment>]
[Postem: <my email address>]

Marriages:

<dd>st|nd|rd|th <Mon> <yyyy>, <Place of wedding>
<Forenames> <Surname>, <Age>, <Occupation>
father: <Forenames> <Surname>, <Occupation>
<Forenames> <Surname>, <Age>, <Occupation>
father: <Forenames> <Surname>, <Occupation>
witnesses: <Forenames> <Surname> / <Forenames> <Surname>
[N.B. <Noteworthy comment>]
[Postem: <my email address>]

Deaths:

<Forenames> <Surname>, <Age>, <Occupation>
d. <dd>st|nd|rd|th <Mon> <yyyy>, <Place of death>
cause: <Cause of death - only if noteworthy> / <Second cause> / <Third cause>
informant: <Forenames> <Surname>, <Qualification>
[N.B. <Noteworthy comment>]
[Postem: <my email address>]

All of that also means that I can retrieve all of my postems by searching http://www2.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/ShowPostems.pl by searching for my email address.

Cheers, all.

Paul

[bibliotaphist]

All my BMDs have had Postems added to FreeBMD

So
Births - I will add DOB and parents names (including mothers maiden name)
Marriages - if more than 2 entries I will add a postem to bride and groom, giving Date of Marriage and Fathers names
Death - DOD and name of informant.

And if during my research I find through another source a marriage or christening (normally via Parish records) I will add that data as a Postem too.

Postems are an underused source for sharing information.  I love 'em.  And love it when a record I am looking at has a postem added.  They are just so helpful.

I forgot to say thanks Plummiegirl particularly for your good advice here. This is what I'm aiming to do; keeping the postems as structured as possible.

There are some good eccentric postems out there! Some of them make for interesting and slightly surreal reading...

Paul

[bibliotaphist]

(I'm aware that I'm just replying to my own replies now, effectively talking to myself. I'm OK with that if you are.)

I've just read this:

"Getting back to the postem point, which I've seen promoted elsewhere, and a minor note of caution. FreeBMD operate with the blessing of the GRO. I expect this policy is to encourage the sales of certificates. Postems which might reduce the need for the purchase of a certificate might well not be regarded with unbounded joy in Southport, making life more difficult for FreeBMD if taken up to any great extent."

(http://forums.lc/genealogy/index.php?threads/freebmd-adding-postems.384/#post-5835)

What do people think? Am I queering the pitch for FreeBMD by transcribing my certs into postems, potentially damaging future GRO certificate sales revenue and damaging FreeBMD's relationship? Or is that paranoia and irrelevant now the index cat is out of the bag?

And while I'm being paranoid, I'm a little bit concerned that FreeBMD don't have a clear statement of terms for user-submitted postems. Effectively, I'm gifting my transcriptions to the FreeBMD project ("All rights in data submitted to the site are now owned by the charitable trust.") as an anonymous IP address user, with no agreement about how they will be used now or might be used in the future. That doesn't seem like good practice. I'd prefer a clear statement about ownership and licensing of user-submitted content.

On balance, I'm happy to take the risk. But I'm surprised FreeBMD are happy to rely on such sparse T&Cs as these: http://www.freebmd.org.uk/terms.html

Paul