The new FindMyPast (Part 4)

[keyboard86]

Hi again no one in particular, as tree fairly straightforward post/pre 1911, just cannot work out why 1911 is so different in both layout and results, but my main bugbear is birth place birth town and the stupid spelling variations they give you when you finally get a response to search their filter system it is nonsensical and over elaborate in my opinion, ie Liverpool is Liverpool, if no result try Lancashire, worked before, trial and error now!

Keyboard86

[Ibbo2000]

Just like to say thank you for this thread (and the others)

Hardly used findmypast much over the last couple of months (other commitments) so I am a little late in finding out how bad it is. Tonight not being able to find the Lincolnshire parish records and also print out from the newspaper archives prompted me to search further to see if I was doing something wrong and the reason for finding this thread (and many others).

As a result of this thread it has saved me money, as my renewal is due in the next couple of weeks and thought I had to log on to renew, how wrong I was and have now unchecked the automatic renewal option. Will keep an eye on the various threads and wait for improvements before trying Findmypast again.

Cheers
Kev.

[andrewalston]

Here are a few useful facts I have found about the new FindMyPast.

If you are trying to find records, DO NOT CLICK on the obvious places. If you are trying to find someone in the 1881 census, for example, you MUST NOT use "CENSUS LAND AND SURVEYS" as you would have previously. That only leads to a search form where it is impossible to narrow your search enough to locate anybody. You can't even pick a particular census. Likewise, all the GRO entries are mixed in with parish records if you use the "obvious" route, and you can't separate them.

What you need to do is head for the alphabetic list of datasets and use their tailored search form for the set you want to look at.

"Name variants" now seems to include all names beginning with the same letter. If you search for "DUNN" and tick that box hoping for "DUN" and "DUNNE", you will have to wade past "D'ARCY", "D'ARTAGNAN" and the like before you reach them. Use wildcards instead.

Address searching works for censuses before 1911, ONLY IF YOU USE THE TAILORED SEARCH FORMS. The 1911 has an "Address" box, but you are wasting your time if you put anything in it.

The viewer for newspapers is broken and can not do half the things we paid for.

[groom]

Will keep an eye on the various threads and wait for improvements before trying Findmypast again.

Cheers
Kev.

Sorry, Kev, I don't agree with you there. You need to "play" around with it. For instance all the Lincolnshire records are still there and are easy to find. As Andrew said, just go to the A-Z drop down menu and start typing in Lincolnshire, they all appear. I didn't like it at first, but now that I' m finding my way around it, I'm finding some records that weren't there before.

[lisalisa]

As has been mentioned before, I think that using the new FindMyPast is just like using any new subscription site. I've had to take a long hard think about how things need to be done now step by step and forget about the old FindMyPast which has gone forever.

I've had a few tries of approaching it like that, having read from one or two people that they'd been able to find stuff that they couldn't before,  and to be honest it is still proving a nightmare.

I had search results which stuck on page 76 (which I wrote about on here), the same page kept reloading, so in effect it wasn't giving results beyond surnames beginning with T - I reported this and apparently it has been passed to the 'tech dept'.

I always use the form for the records I want to find (not the one form for everything), but find that on the census forms entering a county is ignored, the drop down menus for birthplaces etc are impossible to fathom out.
If I enter anything more than a name and dob it is a problem.
(I've also found that names that were there before, now come up as a blank followed by the surname.)

If as a new subscriber I tried the site on a trial, and for example found that the search ignored any county or town I entered, then I wouldn't be subscribing afterwards.  I would expect it to be better.

Lisa

[dawnsh]

apparently there's an email from FindMyPast doing the rounds offering a months' sub for a £1

"This weekend only, get a one month Britain subscription for just £1.

Get 1 month for £1

Your discount will be applied automatically, but should you have any trouble, simply type the code MAYOFFER into the promotional code box at the bottom of the payment page and click 'apply'.
Don't miss out - this offer expires at midnight on Sunday, 11 May 2014. Get unlimited access to our UK records and start the journey into your family's past."

[Gadget]

Like Dawn, I'm now finding most of the records that I search for - using various different routes. I'm still not happy about the lack of the Address Lists for each place in the censuses  though.

Gadget

[LizzieW]

apparently there's an email from FindMyPast doing the rounds offering a months' sub for a £1

"This weekend only, get a one month Britain subscription for just £1.

Get 1 month for £1

Your discount will be applied automatically, but should you have any trouble, simply type the code MAYOFFER into the promotional code box at the bottom of the payment page and click 'apply'.
Don't miss out - this offer expires at midnight on Sunday, 11 May 2014. Get unlimited access to our UK records and start the journey into your family's past."

Do you think they're panicking at the number of regular subscribers leaving them?

[rosie99]

It would be nice if you could add it on to your existing subscription