ScotlandsPeople (New website now live).

[Annette7]

Today I had a reply to my last email to SP - the last paragraph reads as follows:

'I hope that you have found the recent extension of the search filter for saved searches and images a useful amendment. Thank you again for flagging up this issue in your earlier correspondence.'

Now, I had been regularly doing a check in 'saved images' for a birth certificate I knew was there i.e. James Horne (born Grangemouth 1882).  After reading the email I tried again, just entering James Horne - once again, zilch!   Then I suddenly noticed that when I go into 'saved images' it shows the most recent I'd saved and they are in the format 'surname, comma, Christian name' so I did a search for Horne, James and voila - everything I ever looked at for a James Horne was there. 

So, they have now amended the filter so that it will work under a name search BUT only if you enter it as surname, Christian name and not if you enter as Christian name surname.

Thought I would let you all know as until I received this email I was unaware that any change had been made to the filter in saved images.

Annette

[Gadget]

I did the same thing Annette (no e-mail, just read something on FB) and was pleasantly surprised 

[Rosinish]

As long as it's just not SO BAD that it's unusable they will bump along fixing the bugs as they get reported. It's called Permanent Beta.......

  I think they BETA fix it soon before we're all on BETA BLOCKERS with HPB 

Annie

[pharmaT]

As long as it's just not SO BAD that it's unusable they will bump along fixing the bugs as they get reported. It's called Permanent Beta.......

  I think they BETA fix it soon before we're all on BETA BLOCKERS with HPB 

Annie

Love it!

[ecksdochter]

Hello,
     Noticed this today while searching for a way to DELETE an unwanted (credit wasting) Death Certificate. When you bring up the 'Saved Images' page, a message at the top of the page reads,
   
     "Welcome, your saved images are stored here for easy access. Personalise an image by adding your own description.
     When using the search filter, please note that record headers are listed in the format 'Surname, forename', so if you are searching for a full name, you should list the surname first and include the comma".

     I might personalise my unwanted images with the car number plate I saw today which is probably too rude to print here! Time to take a break from SP until the 1916 births come on-line in the New Year. If things aren't any better by then, then I can replace my rickety garden fence or upgrade my equally rickety car next year, because I won't be wasting money buying credits on SP.

               Regards,     Dod.
     

[sugarbakers]

I wrote to SP expressing my disappointment with their decision not to offer subscription options. I stated that some researchers wished to browse their records, which was prohibitively expensive using pay-per-view. I suggested that SP was not getting full use from it's records.

The answer came back this afternoon ...
<i>"The website was initially intended for those who wished to undertake their own personal family history however since its launch in 2002, we have seen the site evolve and with that evolvement, there has also been a difference in the reasons why customers use the site.
However, there are no immediate plans to include subscriptions but this is an area which is always open to review and should that change, we will advise our customers."</i>

[Tom Huygens]

I wrote to SP expressing my disappointment with their decision not to offer subscription options. I stated that some researchers wished to browse their records, which was prohibitively expensive using pay-per-view. I suggested that SP was not getting full use from it's records.

The answer came back this afternoon ...
<i>"The website was initially intended for those who wished to undertake their own personal family history however since its launch in 2002, we have seen the site evolve and with that evolvement, there has also been a difference in the reasons why customers use the site.
However, there are no immediate plans to include subscriptions but this is an area which is always open to review and should that change, we will advise our customers."</i>

This is the main reason why I don't use Scotland's People - even though a large portion of my family is from Scotland... I don't want to end up paying to look at 50 records that are wrong just to find one which is maybe the one I need. SP is great if you already know names and dates, and you know which record you need. If you are searching, it is useless (or, better, usefull but way to expensive).

I hope they change their minds one day...

[Forfarian]

This is the main reason why I don't use Scotland's People - even though a large portion of my family is from Scotland... I don't want to end up paying to look at 50 records that are wrong just to find one which is maybe the one I need. SP is great if you already know names and dates, and you know which record you need. If you are searching, it is useless (or, better, usefull but way to expensive).

You cannot research a Scottish family history without using SP. It is, quite simply, impossible because there is nowhere else you can get access to all the necessary certificates. Sure, you may be lucky and pick up the odd one somewhere online, but without going back to the actual sources you run the risk of duplicating sloppy research by others.

See http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=714261.0

As for it being expensive, have you tried researching in England and Wales (£9.25 per certificate, no way of knowing it's the right one, and you have to wait for it to arrive by post, compared with £1.50 per image on SP)? Or Australia where certificates in some states cost anything up to $40 or more each? Or one of the places where you can't even view a historical certificate unless you can prove that you are already related?

I hope they change their minds one day...

Don't we all. But none of the official government web sites anywhere in the world offers a subscription option for viewing original certificates as far as I know - and if I am wrong I'll be delighted to know which they are.

If SP would just restore the search options their old site had, that would be a great first step. Using the old search it was usually possible to home in on most certificates without wasting too many credits unless you are researching a very common surname.

[sugarbakers]

SP is great if you already know names and dates,

I agree ... no name, no search.

You cannot research a Scottish family history without using SP.

But none of the official government web sites anywhere in the world offers a subscription option for viewing original certificates

... and these are two of the problems. SP has been designed around those certificates, which they clearly regard as the be all and end all of family history research. England and Wales are certainly expensive but are totally separate from PRs and Censuses ... we are not being asked to pay the same rates for those, we can browse page after page for a small sub.

I'll spend the free credits I can glean occassionally, that's all, but my Scotland research will not be 'completed' in the foreseeable future.