The new Findmypast (Part 2)

[JenB]

I knew about search by address, but the only way I knew how to use it was to enter the target address with a wildcard e.g. Beresford*, and then a placename or reg district etc in the relevant fields.

It did not occur to me to use it speculatively to find all possible addresses in a town.

You could in fact go further than that use it to find all addresses within a given registration district.

I found this facility most useful when trying to answer enquiries about unusual place-names, because, as Barbara F said, it enabled you to look for unusual variations of names, since it recorded them as written by the enumerator at the time.

[deeiluka]

It's very frustrating that when I choose to search just Australian and New Zealand, I get results for other parts of the world as well.

I'm also getting frustrated by pages that download blank.


Dee   

[lisalisa]

Ive just gone over and October is my renewal

That's interesting as my renewal is October as well, and I received the email today telling me I'd been changed to the new site (as yet I haven't as I can still access the old one). I wonder if they are changing people over depending on which month their subs runs out?

My renewal would have been late September, and I got the email moving me about 6pm on Tuesday.

Lisa

[Parmesan]

My renewal was June.  Fortunately due to many people's disenchantment with the new site it became apparent that there was an 'auto renew' button that was defaulted to 'yes'

Er, not so fast!  I have now unticked the box and I never thought I'd say this but I'm off back to Ancestry!  So sad.

I think as much as folk are unhappy they are never going back to the way it was.  I just wish they would explain the reasoning behind such sweeping changes.  Its not as if its a tweak here or there.  They keep saying they listened to us?  Who? How many out of the thousands of subscribers emailed to say 'you're site is rubbish please change it completely'?  Not one I bet.

Cor I'm mad!

[LizzieW]

I didn't even get the e-mail advising me that I was being moved over.  One minute I was using the old site, the next there was the new site. 

I've given up using the site now and just use Ancestry.  I'd been using their new site for many months so am used to it, but even so it was never so difficult to use after their old site, unlike FindMyPast who have shot themselves in the foot.  Ancestry must be rubbing their hands with glee.

[spof]

I'm stuck with them until the end of January next year. 

I got the dreaded email last night while I was busy getting some newspaper items before I got downgraded. Logged in this morning and did exactly the same search and went from 106 items to 3 (2 of which are irrelevant as well!) but at least now I know there are over 15 million other newspaper items around the world with the same phrase.

I've emailed asking for a refund and a request they stop making themselves look stupid by using words like "improved" and "easier" but I suspect that if I ever get an answer it will be January 2015 by the time they wade through the many emails they must be  getting.

And, mentioned earlier but worth repeating, go to My Account > Personal Details and even if you don't uncheck the auto-renew option, make sure the option to allow data sharing with Google is cleared. It may claim to be anonymised but I don't trust Google and I now no longer trust FindMyPast.

Glen

[locksmith]

Don't know if this has already been posted but it would appear the Northamptonshire FHS's Wills and Admons index is now missing from the site.   Well I can't find it anyway so we'll see if their Contact Us form brings a reply this time.

There is a set called Northamptonshire and Rutland Probate Index. Is this the one?

They have put a big box on their home page entitled what's new. If you select that and then select 'A new way to browse every single record set available on the site, available here' under new things added on Tuesday you can search for any record set. I typed in Northampton, and up came the above set.

Simon

[Gaie]

There is an address search facility but it is beyond ploddy. It seems to be accessed via different methods and one which "sort of" works is......

home page, search all records, then scroll down to census land and surveys, choose which census...

Then you can choose the filters. If you start to type in a town it recognises what you're doing and so you can select from their list.  I haven't tried a specific road that way but did find a village.

As Gadget says, that isn't the result we're looking for.

If I do a search on a specific town the only result I get is the names of all the people living there.

So for Lanchester in County Durham I get over 38,000 results!

I don't want to search on a specific street name either!

I am looking for the simple list of place names/street names only which came up on the old address search.

Hi
I seem to have the old site still 

Is this what you mean?  Sticking Plumstead in the residential place box brings (Added: or perhaps I should say brought  ) up all the streets etc in Plumstead:

[LizzieW]

Gaie - Lucky you.  If you read all the posts on here, on FindMyPast's forum, on FindMyPast on Facebook, on Trustpilot, on Reviewcentre and probably lots of other sites, there is no-one who is happy with the new site.

One telling comment in their own Terms and Conditions is

Changes to the website or records: We reserve the right to make changes to the website, including the records and services we offer, without notice; however, we would not be in business very long if we suddenly took things away that you've paid for without offering you a decent replacement.

They've obviously already forecast the end of their business.