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The reason there is much information available on the net is that 'someone' has given their time willingly and above all- freely- There is so little that is totally free in this world.
Many of the societies who have to try and keep their financial heads above water possibly do hang onto their information, but many still don't have it all available in a format that can be downloaded as yet. I belong to one society where there is an ongoing update of parish records for free which I benefit from but when they ask for volunteers so that more work can be done I don't volunteer, so I don't complain.
I also belong to another society who could download information but don't because they have to try and keep the society going financially and selling transcriptions, which personally I prefer to study in book form, is one way of keeping the society available for people who aren't that knowledgeable about tracing family history- or even don't like a computer.
I understand where the rant is coming from but for all those volunteers who are not working fast enough to satisfy the addictive needs of the family historian all I can say is - have patience or offer to help some society so that future generations can have it all at their fingertips. -jl
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Shall I post here?
How long will the rant remain? ;-)
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Welcome to Slartibartfast’s weekly rant.
Rant No. 1
This is my new year’s resolution – stop worrying about becoming a grumpy old man and embrace it. (Who knows, I might even get a response from someone who agrees with me!)
Isn’t it time we all gave up our little empires and stopped being so possessive about our public records and started to embrace current technology for the greater good?
What I am referring to is the hundreds of family history societies up and down the country clinging onto their transcriptions like a dog with a bone, reluctant to share.
I recently went to a county records office. The round trip took me three hours and cost me money to park. Once in the records office, I was directed to a little old lady who was a volunteer from the local FHS. There was a database held on a computer that only she was allowed to use, that spewed out all I wanted know in about three minutes flat. I asked the obvious question, “could this database be put on the Internet?” To which I got the standard answer from someone who knows nothing about 21st century technology “I don’t think so dear, it’s very complicated!
My point is this, most transcripts are done by volunteers who would love to see their handy work published on the Web for all to use freely. So why isn’t it happening?
Look at the IGI, free and easy to use, FreeBMD is used by everyone including professionals, again free and easy to use. The only organisation that is trying to address the problem is FreeREG, another free and easy to use website but has vast gaps that could be easily plugged if only all the local family history societies were to donate their transcripts. Thanks to FreeBMD I doubt if anyone pays to look at the GRO indexes anymore. In time, I hope this will be the same for parish registers.
There are too many genealogy companies out there trying to make money out of us. That’s fine if they have a unique set of records but to my mind, parish registers are public documents and should be available for all to see at little or no expense.
Finally, there are people who offer look-ups. There is one lady, who will remain anonomous, that appears to have copies of nearly every parish register in the country. Put them of FreeREG so we can all have a look and not have to pester you with endless emails begging your indulgence.
Rant over.
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