Genealogy Chat

The difference between a transcriber and a searcher is that the searcher knows what they are looking for. The transcriber can only put what they see, your John Smith may well look like Joan Amite to the transcriber, so thats what he puts. Doing look ups on these boards, often it is only because I have been told the correct name that I recognise the entry, if I was transcribing the page I would not have been able even to make an aproximate guess at the name. I transcribe for FreeBMD and FreeCens, and on the grounds I may well have been responsible for sending some here barking up the wrong tree because of a few errors amongst the thousands of names I have entered, I offer my humble apologies. :-) dave

Margaret appreciate your comments, but it's the slap dash of some of the transcribers of Ancestry.com that is the thorn in my backside. Pulling a few tricks and using wildcards I know about, but when you are looking for an individual like Peter Campbell and find that it's been transcribed as Pet Camoshell but quite clearly from the original it states Peter Campbell all logic flies out of the window or was that were it went in the beginning. Seems like the transcribers are being paid by the line and thank god for soundex. Lin

Anyone who has been doing their family tree for a long time (pre Internet) will remember visiting local studies libraries and county record offices all over the country. Holidays were arranged around where your rellies lived!! Trawling for hours over microfilm for each census. None were indexed, neither name or address. Even with its errors, Ancestry gives us the best way of finding people from all over the country without the expence of fuel and hotel bills. If your determined enough and use a few tricks, leave out age or just use surname or search first name and use wild cards, you will usually find people eventually. Some pages are bound to be missing in the original format so cannot be filmed or transcribed. Are we really nieve (spelling?) enough to think that these documents have survived over 100 years intact? How were they to know back then that silly sods like us would want to spend hours searching for dead people? Margaret

i have to say that the transcribers do a good job with the info that they have, and most of then do it free of charge.Please keep up the good work

i would rather have Ancestry with all its Faults, than not at all, i would like to see them upload the 1851 and 1841 images,and stage the upload of the index, at least if you have half an idea were sombody is you can trawl, was not that long ago i sat in the library days on end looking at 1871 film, no give me ancestry any day.

I was looking on the 1861 census and put in a name and Berkshire - I got Harrow, Berkshire - Hendon, Berkshire and quite a few other places that I know are not in Berkshire. I found my g grandad's family, he was living with wife, children and parents - he was put down as unmarried when it clearly stated on the original that he was married, Elizabeth Ann was put put down as Ann (christian name) and Elizabeth for the surname, and a totally different surname that bore no resembelance to anything on the cenus form, was put for the daughters - it was quite obvious to me who was who on the original, and I'm not that hot on old writing. But for the fact I could see the original, I would never have known they were the same family. No wonder I can't find my other g grandad, he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth in 1861. Jackie

Hi Marnie Thanks I'll do that. Sarah

Hi I was just reading the replies (I totally agree about ancestry there's a relative of mine called Lawrence Thompson who's name wasn't spelt the same way twice on 5 different censuses) and saw that some people are transcribers for freebmd. I will always adore that site and it's transcribers for the (FREE) help they have given me and was wondering how I could go about becoming a transcriber. Can anyone tell me? Thanks Sarah

I'll stand correction, but I suspect that the reason Ancestry manages to reproduce indexes so quickly is that they use a good many abbreviations which then get expanded in the final index. Counties of birth are particularly susceptible to error. Why else would Bath be somewhere on the continent and Prussia appear as Preben? This goes against the 'transcribe exactly what you see' but Ancestry is simply a commercial organisation and will have far too many subscribers to bother changing its working practices.

I've just started transcribing for FreeBMD and we have very strict guidelines to type what we see, even if we know that it's incorrect. I think that what you've all said about Ancestry transcribers being paid - and foreign - makes sense; those of us who are transcribing voluntarily are probably far more careful because we know how frustrating it is to find errors!! Mandy :)

Hi Girls! Have to say I totally agree with what you are saying. Ive wasted lots of time going by the transcribed info. then looked at the original census, to find a blatant careless mistake. 1) looked for a Carmon family, then on original was Curnow 2) looked for 2nd marriage, and death of first wife only to find the age was 20 years out for the same wife!!! Hey I wouldnt mind being paid to be a transcriber for ancestry!!! Any jobs going???? x

Chloe That's my point! They are paid - for how much they turn out. The more they transcribe, the more money they earn. And as I said, they are more than likely foreigners as their labour is cheaper. Not like us good old FreeCen transcribers that do it for love! lol Jeanette x

Hi All I know you are not having a dig at the transcribers and I thank you sincerely for your comments. I personally havent looked at the census sheets on Ancestry but I have heard alot of bad things about things being mis transcribed. Someona a while ago on another thread said that they get their info off another site? Im not sure which. I am not at the stage yet with my searches, that I need to go on Ancestry to look at actual census sheets but, when I do need that sort of info I will ask around on here first. It must be very annoying and frustrating to say the least, if the info you have been looking at is wrong! Perhaps they need bombarding with complaints? Vikki xx

I am thankful to those who volunteer their time to transcribe for things like FreeBMD etc, BUT I can't stand the obvious mistakes that transcribers for Ancestry make. They are paid! Get it right! It doesn't seem that they go through a checking system at all.

Hi Vikki, no it's not about things being spelled wrongly on the images and transcribed that way, that's totally understandable, you type what you see. What I have seen is transcriptions which are blatantly NOT what is on the image. It's very frustrating and annoying and negates all the good work that so many transcribers do. If there are people who manage the transcribers they must have a responsibility too, to ensure what is transcribed is not total nonsense. If something is transcribed totally wrongly then people will not necessarily look at the actual image for themselves in some instances and may therefore miss an ancestor just because the transcription isn't what is written on the image. I've done that myself, ignored something because it's not one of my names, only to find at a later date that the transcription actually isn't what is written on the image. Hope that makes sense LOL. Jan

I agree, i have been looking for an Abraham and Hannah on the 1871 census and the only name i could link Hannah to was a James, because of this i didn't bother to look at the actual image for ages because i thought i couldn't be the same one. One night last week i thought i'll just have a look anyway and you can guess what it said....Yes Abraham, as clear as day!!! how on earth anyone could have read it as James is beyond me!! At least i got there in the end.

Vikki I hope you do not think I am having a slight dig at transrcibers - on the contrary my thanks go out to you all, but unfortunately the more I use Ancestry.com the more I find their information slap dash expecially the 1861-1901 uk census. So Vikki carry on the good work - Ancestry.com need to re-think. Lin

I am also a transcriber for FreeCen, they even send a Genie with a lot of places and where they are so if u are unsure u can check if what u think u are reading actually exists or not. AL

Lin You hit the nail right on the head! 'What's the point of putting words in when they don't mean a thing in English'. The fact is they were probably transcribed by foreigners working on piece rate. That is to say, they probably don't even speak English and they are getting paid for the amount they transcribe. Do you think they care if it makes sense - as long as they are getting maximum pay! Jeanette x

Hi I am a volunteer transcriber for freecen. I dont know about the other sites but we have a strict format of what to put on the transcription pages. If its unreadable then we have protocol for that too. But, if something is quite clearly spelt wrong on the origional, then we have to still spell it wrong on the transcription we do. That said, we are supposed to put a note in to point any errors out to the checkers and validator. If that isnt done properly then yes, its the transcribers fault. We do try to do it as 100 % as possible, but I like many others im sure, are not perfect. Vikki xx