Re: Findmypast errors

On Fri, 30 May 2008 17:17:32 GMT, Jeff <jorg826@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

eve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
This 1911 census is a chance to do it properly, not repeat the ill-
constructed shambles that was the 1901 census. If a commercial firm
is charging for access to an index, then it is up to them to make as
good a job of transcribing that index as is humanly possible. It should
not involve such known recipes for error as employing non-Brtitish
nationals, whether they be cheap labour from the third world or
American schoolchildren.
You could forgive freebmd if there were errors, since the service is
provided free and by volunteers,. Yet they go to a lot of trouble to get
it right. A commercial organisation ought to do just that, or not take
the money.

I totally agree.

In thee 1881 the LDS "normalised" counties etc which did improve search
capabilities (e.g. Oxon got changed to Oxfordshire and birth counties
were added when only a place name was provided.

I'd be interested in your views as to whether that is a desirable
pprocess. I'm not arguing either way, I'm just interested in your views.

"Normalising" variations which are standard and obvious should solve
more problems than it causes but inserting otherwise unstated county
names (i.e. excluding "ditto") has a higher degree of error available
due to the possibility of the same placename existing in more than one
county. In those cases it might be better to add a marker to the
assumed county to allow for the possibility that they came from
<samename> somewhere else rather than the local <samename>.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Findmypast errors
    ... constructed shambles that was the 1901 census. ... If a commercial firm is charging for access to an index, then it is up to them to make as good a job of transcribing that index as is humanly possible. ... In thee 1881 the LDS "normalised" counties etc which did improve search capabilities (e.g. Oxon got changed to Oxfordshire and birth counties were added when only a place name was provided. ...
    (soc.genealogy.britain)
  • Re: Findmypast errors
    ... If a commercial firm is charging for access to an index, then it is up to them to make as good a job of transcribing that index as is humanly possible. ... In thee 1881 the LDS "normalised" counties etc which did improve search capabilities (e.g. Oxon got changed to Oxfordshire and birth counties were added when only a place name was provided. ... But that one is work of volunteers and double keyed. ...
    (soc.genealogy.britain)
  • Re: Findmypast errors
    ... capabilities (e.g. Oxon got changed to Oxfordshire and birth counties ... feasioble to standardise the county names, ... So the indexer could at least standardise county names, ...
    (soc.genealogy.britain)