Stephen The figure comes from the 'Distinct' category in the FreeBMD entry totals for 27 Dec 2004. The definition of these reads as follows: "... the number of records counting multiple keyings of a record only once (i.e. this is the number of records that would be returned from a search)." It is these records I assume Ancestry holds as they clearly would not want millions of duplicates. Regards Barry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Rowe" <stephen@racetime.com.au> To: <FreeBMD-Admins-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 9:28 PM Subject: RE: Ancestry database > Barry, > > Where did you find the figure of 92 million for Dec 2004? FreeBMD's site > gives the number of records at 24/8/2004 as 100,000,000 - although, if you > plot the growth of records, this figure is out of whack with the growth in > record numbers both before and after. > > Either way though - given the number of records as at Dec 5 2005 was > 134,984,907 - this is more than twice the number Ancestry are stating. > > > Stephen Rowe > RaceTime / RaceNews > Melbourne Australia > Family Web: http://rowe.racetime.com.au > web : http://www.racetime.com.au > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Barry Callaghan [mailto:BarryC@dsl.pipex.com] > Sent: Friday, 13 January 2006 11:23 PM > To: FreeBMD-Admins-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: Ancestry database > > Allan > > As a comparative newcomer to the transcriber ranks, my first uploads were > not until March 2005, but I can confirm that none of my transcriptions > have > yet made it onto Ancestry. > > However, you are correct to say that their total is much higher than 62 > million. Taking Martin's date of 24 Dec 2004 as a guide, it seems likely > that Ancestry's version of the database dates back to FreeBMD's update of > 27 > Dec 2004. At that time there were 92,560,889 distinct records on FreeBMD. > So FreeBMD currently has 19 million more entries than Ancestry, > representing > 17% of the total. > > Regards > Barry Callaghan > > > ==== FreeBMD-Admins Mailing List ==== > Need to get a fast answer to your transcribing problems? Go to the > Transcribers Knowledge Base at http://FreeBMD.RootsWeb.com/vol_faq.html > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >

Barry, OK - thanks for that. Any idea where the August 2004 of 100,000,000 comes from then (as this is the figure quoted on the FreeBMD site? If it is inclusive of 'total' records rather than 'distinct' records it tends to give a false impression of what has been done. I was already aware that incorrect records appear to be retained in the FreeBMD database even when the errors have been pointed out and corrected (I have already been bitten by this 'problem'). Stephen Rowe RaceTime / RaceNews Melbourne Australia Family Web: http://rowe.racetime.com.au web : http://www.racetime.com.au email: stephen@racetime.com.au -----Original Message----- From: Barry Callaghan [mailto:BarryC@dsl.pipex.com] Sent: Saturday, 14 January 2006 9:23 AM To: FreeBMD-Admins-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: Ancestry database Stephen The figure comes from the 'Distinct' category in the FreeBMD entry totals for 27 Dec 2004. The definition of these reads as follows: "... the number of records counting multiple keyings of a record only once (i.e. this is the number of records that would be returned from a search)." It is these records I assume Ancestry holds as they clearly would not want millions of duplicates. Regards Barry