Findmypast Sub

[Sloe Gin]

AND if you find an error in transcription then it is easy to contact FindMyPast, who will acknowledge receipt AND invariably amend their mis-transcription.

Yes - but they will only amend if they agree that your reading matches the original, even if the detail in the original is wrong.

Ancestry's approach is much better.  They add your interpretation to the index.  They don't remove the first transcription, but show that there is an alternative transcription.  All the alternative transcriptions are in the index so, whichever one you follow, you will arrive at the original and can make your own judgement.

It's not always a matter of mistranscription.  Sometimes we KNOW through our research or personal knowledge that something has been written down wrong, and Ancestry is open to this.

[BumbleB]

Ah, come on - no-one is psychic physic, are they>   

[rosie99]

Surely a true transcription is what the original says not what it should have said or what we would like it to say.

I regularly submit errors to FindMyPast but only where I can see that the transcript does not agree with the original.  I hate all the suggestions on Ancestry, they are almost as bad as their hints.

[BumbleB]

Exactly rosie99.

[melba_schmelba]

AND if you find an error in transcription then it is easy to contact FindMyPast, who will acknowledge receipt AND invariably amend their mis-transcription.

Yes - but they will only amend if they agree that your reading matches the original, even if the detail in the original is wrong.

Ancestry's approach is much better.  They add your interpretation to the index.  They don't remove the first transcription, but show that there is an alternative transcription.  All the alternative transcriptions are in the index so, whichever one you follow, you will arrive at the original and can make your own judgement.

It's not always a matter of mistranscription.  Sometimes we KNOW through our research or personal knowledge that something has been written down wrong, and Ancestry is open to this.

The problem with Ancestry corrections, is that I am not sure they are searchable. Whereas if findympast decides you are correct that their transcription is wrong, they will completely replace the original data and it becomes searchable. But I am not 100% sure of that, I just know when I have submitted corrections and checked some time later, it still didn't appear under the corrected spelling. I think an exception might be corrections officially submitted i.e. I think I have seen corrections made with no user stated for London Archives content and possibly Dorset content where I assume the archives have been so annoyed at the transcription quality they actually corrected it all themselves .

[Sloe Gin]

All that happens on Ancestry is that submitted corrections are added to the index, so yes, they are searchable, and nothing is removed.

If you click on the submitted name you are taken to the panel that gives details of the correction. You are of course free to disregard it if you do not think it is right.

Here's an example. I found one of my families under the wrong surname. I know it is the right people as everything checks out down to the address.  Eliza's husband was Edward Rudge. John Wood was her father (by then deceased).  She was not literate, and I guess someone helping to fill in the form asked her for "Father's name" meaning the father of the family, ie her husband.  So her husband was erroneously entered as John Wood, and the whole family were entered as Wood instead of Rudge.

[Biggles50]

FindMyPast has one MAJOR drawback, no DNA.

If you don’t do DNA then your tree could be a work of fiction in whole or in part.

If that is what you want then that is up to you.

I’ve given FindMyPast a good run but I simply do not like the Searching or the lack of effective Filters.

To each their own.

FindMyPast is IMO certainly not worth the huge annual subscription, even the cut price £140 that I got it for is well overpriced.

[KGarrad]

Ancestry has 2 major drawbacks:
1. Irrelevant Hints
2. Badly researched trees

If you use Ancestry then your tree could be a work of fiction in whole or in part.

If that is what you want then that is up to you.

[BumbleB]

I have to disagree with you, Biggles50.

OK - I don't do DNA and have no intention of ever doing so.  I have no intention of adding a tree either here or on any of the sites.  99.99% of my searches are England based.  I like the search facility, very easy to use.  AND new records are added EVERY week, plus there is the Newspaper search facility.  Also FindMyPast accept and acknowledge corrections to transcriptions.