Voters lists, Fife on Ancestry now

[Alan SHARP]

Hi Alan

The index to the Fife voter list is available without a subscription
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1984

No records for Lawnson. Many for Lawson - is that a possibility?
Some for Lamond - mainly from Dunfermline - 1856 onwards

Trish

Sorry Trish, but I have issues with ANCESTRY's 'FREE' online records. Thought this one might be different, but it's not. They get all my details, including CREDIT CARD info, before I get to see anything worth while, and if I do not understand, or transgress just a little, past the terms and conditions, IT'S DEFINITELY NOT FREE INFO.

I class the sales pitch just like the sales that proclaim NO GST to pay [VAT] who are they kidding, they are legally obliged to pay the tax, so all they are doing is reducing the asking price by the GST % factor in the original asking price. Slight of hand.

Alan SHARP.

[StewL]

Hi Alan
I agree totatly with you about Ancestry. I will not touch it with a barge pole. Thank goodness I really don't need to use them either.
I have been tired of getting caught with the so called free access only to find I need to provide my credit card details. As far as I am concerned, doing that no longer makes it free. Explanations about cancelling card details before a certain time does not wash with me either.

[trish1]

I am at times critical of ancestry but the data provided has led me further with my research than any other genealogy site (for Australia & England, SP and TS are, of course, the oracles for Scotland). What I mentioned to Alan in a pm given that I thought this was rather off topic - there is a difference between a 14 day trial and indexes available free of charge. Usually the "free" indexes relate to data that is available elsewhere on the net (e.g. 1881 census) & they are available without having to give credit card details.

If you wish to see more detail/images then you need an account and/or trial subscription. As I am a member of ancestry I had to log off & search the Fife index without being a member to check that a credit card was not required. I was requested to become a "free" member and a name & email address were requested. I use hotmail or similar email addresses for such requirements. They do not have to be valid/existing if this causes concern.

Trish

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings again.

Like Trish I felt that we were running away with the thread a bit, so I further expressed my concerns about what I see as underhand pressure, or by default selling, in a PM.

This company has done a lot to further the knowledge base available to clients, and I'm all for that, what I am against, is being locked into subscription services by DEFAULT.

If it is advertised as FREE it should be just that, commons material for all, no questions asked, no personal details need be provided, and no automatic debiting of your BANK account at the expiry of the FREE period. The technology today, is such that your unique identifier, from whence you came, is automatically logged.

Further access could be deigned and a pop up could be triggered, enquiring if a paid for subscription would be liked. All open and above board. Margin adverts, along side the FREE search results, advising of the benefits of subscription being quite acceptable. We have come to expect that, in the print media.

To day on RootsChat, I read of similar concerns posted there, to what StewL and I object too.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.ph ... 634.0.html

Alan SHARP.