Genealogy Chat

I have a 1911 sub, which has been very useful, don't get me wrong. But I find the searching can be very tricky. I often find myself using the free search first as it seems much better, then using that to find what I want in order to see the transcript!
Am I the only one who finds it a real pain at times?
Jan

No Jan...I`m with you on this one..

I bought a FMP sub, so am accessing it through them.....I still have trouble finding people i have found before!!

At least on the 1911 site you can save all your searches....on fmp there is no such facility, and though their transcriptions are better than Ancestry the search facility is very poor.....

Nicky

Well, thank goodness for that! Not the only one then. I have even found now & then that it won't find someone if I put 1st name, but leave it out and there they are!
Jan

What do you mean by "their transcriptions are better than Ancestry"? The 1911 isn't available on Ancestry is it? Or have missed something?

Madmeg

No, it isn't on ancestry

They mean the 1911 site itself as against accessing it through findmypast


I've seen several similar complaints over the last few weeks.


Lots of people are saying that they are doing the free search first, and then going to findmypast to use their subscription to look at the images.


I didn't take out the sub ........ I like the fredom to buy credits AND the way in which the 1911 site saves ALL images that you have looked at, or remembers that you had looked at it already.


This means that that one that I looked at but discarded as mine, but now I want to look at again 6 months later is still there, and available for me to look at. On findmypast ............ unless I had saved it over to my computer, I have to pay all over again.




sylvia

Yes thanks Sylvia...thats what I meant.......though I can`t save images of any census to my computor from FMP.......I have emailed them, they took a week to reply with what to do....Did the procedure as I was told, managed to save 1 image, but now unable to save anymore as I have same problem again! emailed them again, to date no reply.... have told them if they can`t sort it I want to cancel my membership and get a refund!!.


Nicky

Even though both of the 1911 sites are now operated and managed by FMP, and whilst the underlying records are, of course, one and the same, the search engines are completely different and use separate and unconnected data indexes.

Imagine it like a book. When you search for something, you don't go through each and every page from cover to cover, you look at the index which then tells you the page you need.

It is just the same here, the search engine looks at its index, which then tells it where to find the census page. it is just that there are two indexes, and they are not identical.

Apart from ease of use, and the consensus seems to prefer the 1911 pay per view site, it seems that its index is the more accurate of the two.

The 1901 census was just the same. Ancestry did a rush job and as a result, its index was riddled with errors when first launched. The original 1901 site, which was taken over by GR a while back was far more accurate.

snap! I bought a sub when they were offering a discount, its invaluable but hard to get into!

Margaret, I have the same issue as you - timing out in what feels like 20 seconds.

I find the best results come by starting with a forename and surname, ticking the box underneath each, plus a dob plus or minus two. I then click "refine search" and go into the advanced search after that.

If I get no matches from the first method, I often drop the forename but tick the box underneath it, and take the tick out of the surname (does that make sense?).

But I agree, the 1911 census site seems more intuitive and can often find things the sub site cannot.

Unlike Nicky I have had no problem at all saving images.

Glad it's not just me then with the timed out..... Bought the subs because I thought it would be cheaper than looking at "maybe's" on the official site...I have one family who I have found all his siblings but no trace off him. The idea was to try mistranscription spellings using the variant button. Ahh well try, try, & try again as they say.

I've found the mis-transcription option of limited use - the free search is much better!
jan

Hi
i have not yet subscribed to the 1911 census on findmypast but will be doing in a few weeks time.
Has anyone emailed the site re the diffculties as described above.as i hav noticed with other sites I have been on that they seem to improve them due to "popular demand".
i have been on The Genalogist site quite a few times and thay have improved their searching format over the last couple of years.
If I have any difficulties when I finally subscribe in a few weeks time i will try emailing andlet you all know the result.
Norma