Ancestry and the neighbour search

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:32 pm

Muriel I agree with Anne. As you live in Edinburgh I'm wondering just how much you would really get out of Ancestry. I suppose it depends how many of your relatives moved about a bit. On the other hand I bought a laptop and would hate to be without it now. I take it whenever I go to record offices and find it very useful

Andrew C. · Post by **Andrew C.** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:58 pm

All my relatives are either Scottish or Irish I have dipped into Ancestry when they have had freebies however I wouldn't think I would take out a subscription to search for my relatives. My wife has English relatives and I did think it was good for that. So in my opinion if your relatives on the whole are Scottish I would give it a miss allthough some one may have a better idea than me.

Post by **Jean Jeanie** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:09 pm

Talking of Ancestry Freebies.

Is there any rhyme or reason for these?

It's a wee while since we had one and I wonder, as they add more and more data, if the Freebies will become a thing of the past.

Best wishes
Jean

Post by **Anne H** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:49 pm

Hi Jean,
Possibly the long term aim might be to eventually entice more paying subscribers...give a few freebies, then stop them completely so that they have no option but to pay

How long the freebies will be available, is anybody's guess

Regards,
Anne H

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:29 pm

I think you've solved my problem for me - a laptop it shall be. I'm lucky in having a very good computer guy locally who does 2nd hand laptops so I'm not too worried on that score. I've also recently become the "looker up" of records for one bit of the family (the previous searcher has had a stroke but still does some of the searching of the indices online). As there are over 12000 names on it I think having access to check where the inevitable "he must be one of ours" you stumble across when looking for something else fits may be best - have you any idea how many James Manns were born in the 1880s

- & at least 3 of them are mine

from different sides of the family

I always keep a look our for friendly TSers noting Ancestry freebies so the odd ones who have strayed furth of Scotland can, hopefully, be mopped up that way. Thanks for the views

Muriel

Post by **Anne H** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:28 am

Hi Muriel,

Glad to hear that problem is solved! Enjoy your new laptop when you get it, and hopefully, the person who had the stroke will regain full health and be able to get back to all that searching that I’m sure she/he loves.

Regards,
Anne H

Post by **Anne H** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:31 am

Sarah, Carol, and everyone else interested!

Since I didn’t receive a response to my email of last night, I decided to give Ancestry a call…was on hold for over an hour before anyone picked up.

While I was waiting, I decided to take a look at all the Scottish census records and discovered that you can still view the “other people on the same page” for 1841 and 1851, however, the ability to search for others on the same page is no longer there for any of the other Scottish census years 1861 thru 1901.

Anyway, finally got through to a representative and asked for an explanation, advising him that the indexing and transcriptions on Ancestry leave a whole lot to be desired and that the “neighbour” search sort of made up for what was lacking…at least a little bit, and that if it wasn’t brought back, I would be unlikely to renew my subscription, along with a whole lot of other people that I’d been discussing this problem with…that got him a little concerned.

He checked it out and confirmed that the search function was no longer there and tried to find the answer and the result was that he didn’t know. So off he went to the manager in the international dept for help, and she will be looking into it.

He will call me back on April 7 (which is when my sub expires) to let me know what’s going on, and in the meantime, has noted on my account that it is not to be automatically renewed and even gave me a confirmation number and his extension. I must say, he was a very nice young man and really wanted to help (Of course, he did make reference to Scotland’s People being their competition, so we know they want to take care of this problem), so let’s see what happens.

Regards,
Anne H

Post by **SarahND** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:25 am

Hi Anne,
My subscription renews April 18th, so do let me know what they say!
Thanks for getting on their case and scaring them a wee bit

Sarah

Post by **Anne H** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:35 am

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for getting on their case and scaring them a wee bit

Let's hope it does scare them into action. I'll let you know what transpires

Regards,
Anne

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:40 pm

At least they do seem to take note of the feedback they get