1939 register, changes, transcribers & FindMyPast

[emeltom]

It is also worth remembering that transcribers are told to write what they see and not what they think the word might be.

[phil57]

We don't get to see the right hand pages of the register, which were used by the NHS and registration authorities. They have not been released into the public domain. But normally, the crossing through of an individual entry and annotation to "see page nn" means that the columns on the right hand page have all been filled, leaving no room for any additional entries, so the record for that individual is "moved" to the end of the register book and continued from there.

There's a lot of information on the National Archives website about the register, and the additional information and annotations that can be found in it.

[coombs]

I have done transcribing and was told to transcribe what I see. Just following orders from the top so it seems.

[BumbleB]

If I remember correctly, and don't quote me on this!  When the 1939 register was being transcribed, the transcribers did not see the complete page - they were given a column, rather than an image of the whole page, to work with.  I believe the reason was so that illegal copies of the Register could not be produced and so deprive FindMyPast, or whoever were the owners, of revenue. 

[Jebber]

If you read answer #2, it was for data protection, to prevent the transcriber from seeing the full entry of living people.

[BumbleB]

Oops - not my day today 

[KGarrad]

Just because I am an annoying pedantic old git:

1939 National Register was transcribed by BrightSolid, the owners of FindMyPast. 

[teragram31510]

Thank you all for your replies especially Pheno, Jebber, Copper1 for your explanations at the start of the thread.

Like so many things these days unfortunately, haste seems to have taken priority in some cases over accuracy and checking/rereading, either in the actual transcribing or in putting the information back together.
I understand the need to protect privacy - but, as in translation from one language to another (I speak as a former professional translator), context is paramount ! 

[dublin1850]

From personal experience, transcribing Irish documents for a very large Family research company, they overruled my decisions so many times, I stopped doing it.
With quite a bit more than a little familiarity with the Irish language and placename elements, it really annoyed me to be overruled by someone sitting in an office in Utah.