May I just state .... this is the best £1 I've ever spent.
I agree, StanleysChesterton.
I'm working on an extended family tree for one of my lines, so as I learn more about the various branches and their descendants, I'm able to positively identify them in records. It's great to have this opportunity to look for these folks, particularly in the military records.
I have subscribed to FindMyPast for longer periods in the past and will again if they add record sets that pertain to anyone in my or my husband's lines.
Re. changes to websites. I don't have any insider knowledge, so this is all speculation, but in my experience, companies hire software specialists to do the work of redesigning websites and rewriting/coding programs. The executives who make the decisions aren't usually computer programmers and don't usually understand the nitty-gritty of what's involved. In some cases, the people in suits tell the programmers to do something that won't work out well; in some other cases, they trust coders who don't/can't do what they've promised.
If the programmers don't deliver the product that they promised, and can't fix what they've broken, the company has to deal with the mess/whatever's left behind, and potentially angry/dissatisfied consumers.
Most companies will have either an internal communications expert or they will hire a company to advise them on what to say when things go wrong. Again, executives rely on other experts to help them shape their messaging. This is an art, not a science, and it isn't always done well.
I am 100% certain that the executives at FindMyPast didn't set out to make their website worse: they doubtless hired people whom they believed would improve their services and therefore enhance their business. No matter whose idea it was or who thought these changes were a good thing, they probably paid a huge chunk of money for work that, in the end, made their website clunkier and ticked off a lot of users (at least some of whom left and won't be going back).
Yes, one might think that people who make important decisions about changing their company's software programs/search engines would actually be conversant in the use of those programs/search engines, but such is not always the case.
This might be used as one of those scenarios given to web-based companies on what not to do. Only time will tell if FindMyPast can recover from their mistakes.
I guess the crux of what I'm saying, though, is that none of it was personal and I'm sure most (if not all) of it has been sorely regretted by FindMyPast, no matter what their messaging might say.
Regards,
Josephine
