Greetings, One of my great band of transcribers wrote to saying that he felt that there was a lack of kinship in our enterprise and suggested a fortnightly newssheet. Amongst other things he said: " I thought when I subscribed to different lists that I would get an update of how we are getting on but unless I look at the total on the home page and remember the old total then I have no idea of progress. I would love to know how we, that is The X Incorporated syndicate, are getting on, although I really know from my allocations, and how the other syndicates are getting on. Without putting too much load on syndicate leaders, as we all know you are "volunteers", I believe there should be an update newssheet on say a fortnightly basis, the information need not be strictly accurate. This is not just for nosey parkers like me but as a freebmd kinship forming thing to encourage those who tend to drop not out but off. One should not have to subscribe, it should be automatic, but one can unsubscribe." I wrote back as follows: "I like the idea of the newsletter as long as I don't have to do it. When I started doing the coordination job I thought I would still have time for transcribing, so far this has not been the case. When this project first started there was a lot of pressure for a league table showing those who transcribed the most at the top. I fought against this, I confess that I was in part motivated by the fact I was transcribing handwritten material and I was painfully slow. Type set material is much easy, and therefore quicker. I took the view then and keep it now that all contributions are valuable. If we could get someone from HO to do a fortnightly bulletin without figures but with perhaps totals that would help. It could have any funnies we have come across, tips we have discovered and new additions to FAQ's, as well as progress in WinBMD. We could even have a personalities corner." He came back and said: "I see the newsletter as a management incentive tool. All "workers" in industry need to know that someone is interested in them, not necessarily personally but as a group; it's a basic management fact. There was a famous experiment, the Hawthorn Experiment, where they split the workforce and altered the lighting level for one half, the workers were told of the experiment. The result was that the output of both halves increased, the conclusion was that the lighting had little effect but the management interest did have a positive effect. I assume there is a syndicate controller somewhere in this wired together mob, someone who knows all the syndicate leaders and knows what they're doing. That is the person to initiate the list of syndicates, the quarter they are doing and roughly how they are doing John Smith 1881B4 25% John Slann 1890M4 95% 1846B1 0% He/She sends that "newsletter" to all syndicate leaders and they forward it on to the volunteers, which wouldn't put much load on the leaders. I certainly agree that there should be no comparison of transcription rates. And for the human side funny names etc can be added by volunteers sending them to sin leaders who forward them to the fat controller. It can contain anything that management want but it's prime reason for being, should be remembered, is to be a kinship forming exercise to retain moral. I can't do it, I'm an engineer with no imagination, an artist is required, not for layout purposes but for .... I don't really know. Sorry about the length of this, but what do you think? I do not think our overworked HO staff would want to take this on they have enough to do, but is there someone out there with the skills to do this it the 2000 of us feel we would like a closer kinship. John

Dear John and List Lots of very good stuff snipped........ John Slann wrote: I assume there is a syndicate controller somewhere in this wired together mob, someone who knows all the syndicate leaders and knows what they're doing. That is the person to initiate the list of syndicates, the quarter they are doing and roughly how they are doing John Smith 1881B4 25% John Slann 1890M4 95% 1846B1 0% If you want a syndicate controller look no further than Allan Raymond who works incredibly hard on scan allocation, setting up new syndicates and the like. I don't want to step on Allan's toes or put words into his mouth but I seriously doubt that he could fit a newsletter into his spare 15 seconds. However.....those of you who have dealings with me will know that keeping the family feel among transcribers is a pet subject of mine. I will take on the role of distributing a 'state of the project' summary every two weeks if the majority would welcome it. I don't promise any more than a summary for a start, but who knows how it could grow. The mechanics. To avoid putting greater load on the fabulous four (as they have been dubbed today) or the admin team, how about getting each syndicate leader to send me an e-mail once a fortnight. Doesn't have to be chatty - just has to say something like: John Slann 1890M4 95%. I am willing to put all the e-mails together and distribute the combined information as required. We could even have percentage last time and percentage now columns to highlight the growth in records transcribed. Distribute to the list and to each coordinator? Let me know what you think. As Dave M has pointed out today, database updates are going to have to be at longer intervals. This 'state of the project' idea serves an additional purpose in giving us all a between updates boost - we won't know exactly how many records will be added at the next database build but we will know growth is taking place and we can have fun guessing. And if anyone wants to volunteer for chatty artistic bits, feel free - I am a scientist, not an artist! Best Wishes Virginia Gretton FreeBMD Volunteer Coordinator

Gaz Are you able to justify this totally unwarranted remark? There are no owners of FreeBMD, please see our FAQ at: http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/FAQ.html#10 I have also transferred this message across to the DISCUSS list as that is the appropriate list for this thread. Allan Raymond [email protected] http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe.htm FreeBMD - putting birth marriages and deaths on the Internet http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hotmail" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: 24 June 2001 23:26 Subject: Hand in pocket - expensive equipment - ADS | I trust from the comments you make that you are now going to put your hand | in your pocket and help to _pay_ for the expensive equipment required for a | _free_ project. My reading of the site is it's a very commercial entity. This site will earn big money for the 4 OWNERS of FreeBMD, just look at how many ads we're being smacked with already. The number of hits on the FAILED SEARCH page is probably in the millions weekly, what a good selling point. As a volunteer I am doing my bit for my own benefit in the future, the cost of equipment SHOULD be met by the owners as they WILL reap the rewards in the future. Is my reading false??. [settle down now, settle....](:> Gaz ==== FreeBMD-Admins Mailing List ==== Want to help FreeBMD? Go to http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/Signup.html to find out how. ============================== Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & Celebrate your heritage! http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog

Archer Barrie wrote: > > Hardly a week (sometimes a day!) seems to go past without someone finding an > entry with a new format of page number. The TKB says to nag Ben/Dave/Graham > to get the upload routine changed ;-) > > I wonder if the time hasn't come to consider a different strategy, that is > to permit any format of page number to be accepted. > > The objective of having the page number is presumably (a) to allow > researchers to order certificates and (b) tie up marriages IYKWIM. For (a) > what is in the index should presumably be given to GRO for them to sort out. > Searching for entries with the same page, i.e. (b), would presumably only > work if the page number was "canonical". > > Allowing any format would also allow "see ..." to be entered which would > help researchers. I'd rather find a way to add comments in general to entries. It would also be nice if people could do that via the search interface. Cheers, Ben. -- http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html In Boston 'til 1st July.

Hardly a week (sometimes a day!) seems to go past without someone finding an entry with a new format of page number. The TKB says to nag Ben/Dave/Graham to get the upload routine changed ;-) I wonder if the time hasn't come to consider a different strategy, that is to permit any format of page number to be accepted. The objective of having the page number is presumably (a) to allow researchers to order certificates and (b) tie up marriages IYKWIM. For (a) what is in the index should presumably be given to GRO for them to sort out. Searching for entries with the same page, i.e. (b), would presumably only work if the page number was "canonical". Allowing any format would also allow "see ..." to be entered which would help researchers. Two options come to mind, give a warning if the page number is not canonical, or use an escape sequence to force acceptance of a non-canonical number. I think I would favour the former. Of course, if "reference to scan" is implemented this would allow (a) to be achieved but in the meantime... Thoughts? Barrie

On Thu, 21 Jun 2001 21:06:47 +0100, you wrote: >Forwarding to list, cos it came to the request address > >Chers > >Graham > >[email protected] wrote: >> >> I understand that a proposed future search option will be the updating by email >> of new entries of >> paricular names.... >> When it comes to marriages, will it be possible to request an update when a >> particular Volume, page, >> and year has a new name added to it? >> I'm sure there are many people who, when they see that FreeBMD has been updated >> with new entries, >> request searches on the same old marriages in the hope that new 'match-ups' >> can be found. Given the design that I'm working on - yes, this would be possible! -- Dave Mayall

On Thu, 21 Jun 2001 22:42:27 +0100, you wrote: >Good day all. > >The piece below was copied from Missing Links from rootsweb. Is this our >very own Graham? It is our very own Graham :-) -- Dave Mayall

Hi, Anne Cruise wrote: > > Good day all. > > The piece below was copied from Missing Links from rootsweb. Is this our > very own Graham? Yes, this is me .. I keep forgetting about it ! ... I must remember on the day :) > Good luck, mate. I think "How to manage answering on > three maillists without losing your cool AND effecting major repairs at the > same time" would be nearer the truth! :) > I hope you realise how much your > efforts are appreciated. Thanks :) Cheers Graham > > Best wishes > > Anne Cruise > [email protected] > > 30 June 2001, 10 a.m. The Society of Genealogists will present > INTERNET FOR GENEALOGY, A STUDY DAY at 14 Charterhouse Buildings > off Goswell Road, London EC1. Jeanne Bunting, Peter Christian, > John Hanson, and Alec Tritton, all former members of the SoG > computer sub-committee will look at the Internet from different > perspectives. Tim Powys-Lybbe will compare what a family > historian can expect to produce from a family history program > and Graham Hart will discuss how to manage a large multiple > input Web database. Fee: 16 pounds (for members); 20 pounds (for > non-members). To book, telephone 020 7553 3290 or e-mail > [email protected] for more information. > > ============================== > Create a FREE family website at MyFamily.com! > http://www.myfamily.com/banner.asp?ID=RWLIST2

Good day all. The piece below was copied from Missing Links from rootsweb. Is this our very own Graham? Good luck, mate. I think "How to manage answering on three maillists without losing your cool AND effecting major repairs at the same time" would be nearer the truth! I hope you realise how much your efforts are appreciated. Best wishes Anne Cruise [email protected] 30 June 2001, 10 a.m. The Society of Genealogists will present INTERNET FOR GENEALOGY, A STUDY DAY at 14 Charterhouse Buildings off Goswell Road, London EC1. Jeanne Bunting, Peter Christian, John Hanson, and Alec Tritton, all former members of the SoG computer sub-committee will look at the Internet from different perspectives. Tim Powys-Lybbe will compare what a family historian can expect to produce from a family history program and Graham Hart will discuss how to manage a large multiple input Web database. Fee: 16 pounds (for members); 20 pounds (for non-members). To book, telephone 020 7553 3290 or e-mail [email protected] for more information.

Forwarding to list, cos it came to the request address Chers Graham [email protected] wrote: > > I understand that a proposed future search option will be the updating by email > of new entries of > paricular names.... > When it comes to marriages, will it be possible to request an update when a > particular Volume, page, > and year has a new name added to it? > I'm sure there are many people who, when they see that FreeBMD has been updated > with new entries, > request searches on the same old marriages in the hope that new 'match-ups' > can be found. > Kevin... (kevinsutton & FellowListers)

Brian In support of what Dave has mentioned below and in a separate email. Although I approached a number of co-ordinators a couple of weeks to see if they would be willing to do double keying due to lack of scans, I can confirm that at the end of the day no double keying slots were actually allocated. I have checked the database and believe I have identified 2 individuals who have uploaded files for Marriages Sept 1890 and who don't appear to be in your Syndicate. I have just emailed these two individuals to see if we can sort out the problem. You will also notice a number of other files from one name studies have also been uploaded for the above quarter, this is normal practice but is not considered to be part of the formal allocation of slots to Syndicates. As soon as I get a response from the two volunteers I will let you know the outcome off list. Allan Raymond [email protected] http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe.htm FreeBMD - putting birth marriages and deaths on the Internet http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Mayall" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: 20 June 2001 15:28 Subject: Re: Second allocations of scans Brian Smart wrote: > > Hello all, > As a coordinator I like to be able to check if the files of my syndicate > members have been uploaded OK. I am finding this difficult due to volunteers > outside my syndicate uploading files to the quarters I am still working on. > Is this the result of quarters being reallocated due to the shortage of > scans? > If this is the case I believe it needs to be stopped as soon as possible. > Reallocating quarters should only occur with the approval of the first > coordinator. The normal process is that the project management will not issue a range for second keying until it has been returned as complete by the first co-ordinator. See http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/process.html for details of the transcription cycle. Shortly before the disk crash, as all co-ordinators are aware, we were desperately short on scans. In order to cope with this temporary hiatus, it was agreed in principal that ranges that were very nearly ready would be released for second keying as soon as all new ranges were exhausted. In the event, the disk crashed, and all scans became unavailable before we had gone very far down this road, and the new Ancestry scans became available fairly soon afterwards. Whilst some provisional allocations of ranges for second keying may have been made (I'm not sure if we got this far); 1) The syndicates should all have replacement ranges to issue instead by now. 2) It is unlikely that a range that was still being actively worked on would be re-allocated in this way. If you let me know which ranges are affected, I'll take a look. -- Dave Mayall ============================== Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp

Brian Smart wrote: > > Hello Dave, > Thanks for the answer. The Quarter is September 1890 marriages. Right at the > start are some entries that are not from my syndicate. IIRC 1890/M/3 was originaly allocated to another syndicate, which withdrew early on. It was then re-allocated to me (the rest of 1890/M was already allocated to me) When scans were in short supply, I released the whole of 1890/M back into the pool to help tide people over (I hadn't started using them). These entries are simply the left-overs of an abortive syndicate. I knew about them, but when the crunch came, and everybody ran out of scans, I had to fix everything in about 20 minutes before I went away for a week, so they just went clean out of my head. -- Dave Mayall

Hello Dave, Thanks for the answer. The Quarter is September 1890 marriages. Right at the start are some entries that are not from my syndicate. Regards Brian Smart -----Original Message----- From: Dave Mayall [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 20 June 2001 15:28 To: Brian Smart Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: Second allocations of scans Brian Smart wrote: > > Hello all, > As a coordinator I like to be able to check if the files of my syndicate > members have been uploaded OK. I am finding this difficult due to volunteers > outside my syndicate uploading files to the quarters I am still working on. > Is this the result of quarters being reallocated due to the shortage of > scans? > If this is the case I believe it needs to be stopped as soon as possible. > Reallocating quarters should only occur with the approval of the first > coordinator. The normal process is that the project management will not issue a range for second keying until it has been returned as complete by the first co-ordinator. See http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/process.html for details of the transcription cycle. Shortly before the disk crash, as all co-ordinators are aware, we were desperately short on scans. In order to cope with this temporary hiatus, it was agreed in principal that ranges that were very nearly ready would be released for second keying as soon as all new ranges were exhausted. In the event, the disk crashed, and all scans became unavailable before we had gone very far down this road, and the new Ancestry scans became available fairly soon afterwards. Whilst some provisional allocations of ranges for second keying may have been made (I'm not sure if we got this far); 1) The syndicates should all have replacement ranges to issue instead by now. 2) It is unlikely that a range that was still being actively worked on would be re-allocated in this way. If you let me know which ranges are affected, I'll take a look. -- Dave Mayall

Brian Smart wrote: > > Hello all, > As a coordinator I like to be able to check if the files of my syndicate > members have been uploaded OK. I am finding this difficult due to volunteers > outside my syndicate uploading files to the quarters I am still working on. > Is this the result of quarters being reallocated due to the shortage of > scans? > If this is the case I believe it needs to be stopped as soon as possible. > Reallocating quarters should only occur with the approval of the first > coordinator. The normal process is that the project management will not issue a range for second keying until it has been returned as complete by the first co-ordinator. See http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/process.html for details of the transcription cycle. Shortly before the disk crash, as all co-ordinators are aware, we were desperately short on scans. In order to cope with this temporary hiatus, it was agreed in principal that ranges that were very nearly ready would be released for second keying as soon as all new ranges were exhausted. In the event, the disk crashed, and all scans became unavailable before we had gone very far down this road, and the new Ancestry scans became available fairly soon afterwards. Whilst some provisional allocations of ranges for second keying may have been made (I'm not sure if we got this far); 1) The syndicates should all have replacement ranges to issue instead by now. 2) It is unlikely that a range that was still being actively worked on would be re-allocated in this way. If you let me know which ranges are affected, I'll take a look. -- Dave Mayall

Hello all, As a coordinator I like to be able to check if the files of my syndicate members have been uploaded OK. I am finding this difficult due to volunteers outside my syndicate uploading files to the quarters I am still working on. Is this the result of quarters being reallocated due to the shortage of scans? If this is the case I believe it needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Reallocating quarters should only occur with the approval of the first coordinator. Regards Brian Smart

Dick Jones wrote: > > Having just started on transcribing the hand-written Dec 1845 Births > starting with scans 1845B4-A-H-0002.tif, 1845B4-A-H-0003.tif etc., I > find that these are of page 2, page 4, etc., of the actual index, > i.e. the sequence of scans are not of consecutive index pages but of > the even or verso pages of the index. > > Where are the recto pages? With such a system isn't there the > possibility of 'mislaid' pages or is this how they appear on > microfilm? > > On FRC microfiche the index pages appear consecutively. This was news to me, and appears to affect the A-H of 1845 Q4 *only* I suggest that we stop allocations from this range until we can resolve it with Ancestry. -- Dave Mayall

Having just started on transcribing the hand-written Dec 1845 Births starting with scans 1845B4-A-H-0002.tif, 1845B4-A-H-0003.tif etc., I find that these are of page 2, page 4, etc., of the actual index, i.e. the sequence of scans are not of consecutive index pages but of the even or verso pages of the index. Where are the recto pages? With such a system isn't there the possibility of 'mislaid' pages or is this how they appear on microfilm? On FRC microfiche the index pages appear consecutively. -- Regards Dick Jones Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. U.K. <[email protected]>

Hi Mildred, I am assuming you are a 'searcher' as opposed to a 'transcriber'. If you can sent me any GRO references you have found, in the format: SMITH,John Peter,Sep,1848,Great Ouseburn,XIII,54,M BROWN,Mary C,Jun,1881,N Aylesford,1c,140,M FLYNN,Errol,Dec,1899,St Geo Southwark,1d,10,M (No spaces except between 'given names' or Registration District names as above) I will get them uploaded. They will be 'double-entered' later by those who are transcribing year by year but this is no problem as I understand plans are in hand to filter out 'doubles' later. Kevin. > > Sorry to bother this list but although I subscribed to the Discuss-L list > five days ago, I have had nothing from them. > Problem is that I cannot find ANY of my names on FreeBMD. Both before and > after the General Crash, I submitted names for which I already have birth > certs, just to test the system but it has found none of them. Their years > were 1847, 1849, 1850,1865, 1866, 1868. > Marriages in the 1840s were also unsuccessful but they may not have been > transcribed yet. > Can anyone help please? > Mildred Nasmith >

Thanks Allan, Having had a second, third and thirtyninth look at the scan, I've come to the conclusion that what I was seeing as an underscore is most probably some extraneous "noise" that coincidentally happens to be in the blank space in "Willia m". Consequently I've entered the name as such (i.e. with a space), but I do have some reservations about the concept of "typing what you see" if it happens to be an underscore, question mark, asterisk or square bracket. Wouldn't this lead people to misinterpret what an entry actually contains? Steve >Interesting dilemma. >The correct procedure is to type what you see, in this case you type the >underscore if this is definitely what is in the index. Allan Raymond ********************************************* Original message Sent: 18 June 2001 08:05 Subject: Underscore in first name Sorry, just can't think what would be the correct procedure for this........ As a first name I've encountered the following:- "Charles Willia_m". The underscore is not something I've used to denote one uncertain character, but what appears to be on the index itself. If I type "as is", then it seems to me that it will be interpreted as an undecipherable character when it seems to me that it is actually an underscore, or else a blank space. It appears in 1883 March births; surname Vincent. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 2:00 PM Subject: FREEBMD-DISCUSS-D Digest V01 #53

Hi Steve Yes, individuals carrying out a search may possibly misinterpret the result in the short term. However in the longer term, all extraneous records of this ilk will (or should) be weeded out as part of our quality checking as detailed in http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/process.html. I seem to recollect Graham stating in a response some time ago that our efforts at the moment is in the transcription of the index whereas the search element will be improved at a later date. This still shouldn't distract from the excellent search facilities which are already available or the fact that Dave is looking at the procedural aspects for the quality control of our records. Allan Raymond [email protected] http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe.htm FreeBMD - putting birth marriages and deaths on the Internet http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: 19 June 2001 09:44 Subject: Re: FREEBMD-DISCUSS-D Digest V01 #53 Thanks Allan, Having had a second, third and thirtyninth look at the scan, I've come to the conclusion that what I was seeing as an underscore is most probably some extraneous "noise" that coincidentally happens to be in the blank space in "Willia m". Consequently I've entered the name as such (i.e. with a space), but I do have some reservations about the concept of "typing what you see" if it happens to be an underscore, question mark, asterisk or square bracket. Wouldn't this lead people to misinterpret what an entry actually contains? Steve >Interesting dilemma. >The correct procedure is to type what you see, in this case you type the >underscore if this is definitely what is in the index. Allan Raymond ********************************************* Original message Sent: 18 June 2001 08:05 Subject: Underscore in first name Sorry, just can't think what would be the correct procedure for this........ As a first name I've encountered the following:- "Charles Willia_m". The underscore is not something I've used to denote one uncertain character, but what appears to be on the index itself. If I type "as is", then it seems to me that it will be interpreted as an undecipherable character when it seems to me that it is actually an underscore, or else a blank space. It appears in 1883 March births; surname Vincent. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 2:00 PM Subject: FREEBMD-DISCUSS-D Digest V01 #53 ============================== Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp