Genealogy Chat

All this talk about the cost of membership just wondering if anybody actually has a Platinum membership and the add on.

Who actually uses the records for their research

I do - it was a 'reward' for giving an opinion last year. It includes the British Newspaper Archive.

Do I use it? Sometimes for the Newspapers, but not really for anything else although I have tried. Although I do have a tree on here, the most up-to-date version is on another site and my PC.

Like many, my research on-line was started before GR held records.

NanaSue ......................

do you not use the GR records for research????????



I do not, for the very simple reason that GR did not have records when I first joined, and it was not until 2007 that a change in ownership meant that records began to be added, and more expensive memberships became available.

Byt that time, I had subscriptions to other sites, and had the information that was becoming available on GR.


The membership levels, in case you are unaware of them, are ..............

Free

Standard

Gold .............. now discontinued, except for current Gold members

Platinum


plus ..........

........ purchase of credits at all membership levels to access records not included in the cost.


Free and Standard members can access the records, search them, and see if there are any connections. Then they can purchase credits if they wish to see the details.

Have membership to Findmypast which also has Newspaper records - never found much of any use on there and whar did come up was pretty useless or gobbledygook.

So at the weekend I bit the bullet and went for 2 days access (6.95) on the Archive Site ( which is run in conjunction with Brightsolid/Findmypast) a far better search engine and easier to find what I had hoped I would find and more. Best £6.95 spent for a long time and sadly I did not use all my credits, but what I found was invaluable.

Yes I am a gold member and use some of the records. I mentioned it some time ago in another thread I like the 1911 census because you can sort records like a spread sheet. Found many missing families just by sorting using a childs name with a 2 year + or -.

I also like the BDM which are now individually listed not like the old records which were in qtr searches.

The miliary births overseas is another good one. Not a great list but I've been lucky in finding people. Best way of sorting is just to put in the surname only and check one by one.

The shipping records also are easier/quicker to use if you sort by the surname and see what come up. Easy look at those just having intials instead of a first name.

Before anybody shouts. I do have access to other site records

I have a platinum membership as of last week. I have only really used this site so far for researching my family tree, and I didn't really know how else to start.

Sharon welcome to the boards - any advice or help we are there to assist
:-D :-D :-D

Hello Sharon,

It may be an idea for you to look at the Find Ancestors board where you will find some very helpful advice from GR and HeatherPosi.

Also, there is some advice in the Help Clinic (under Tools) on the left.

Hope this helps. Cx.

Hello i have platinum membership because i do so many lookups as I have 5 family trees on the go at the moment. i also do lookups for a few friends down south which i dont mind doing. So i use it a lot and truly get my moneys worth out of it. i dont belong to any other sight as most of what im looking for i have found on here.

I have tried pay as you go on FMP but found i wasted a lot with fruitless searches that didnt find anything.
So for me Im sticking here unless the fee dramatically increases. I have a 6 month automatic renewal and havent had any problems that some others seem to have had.

Florence in the hebrides. :-)

Thank you NanaSue and Cynthia!

I like your advice note Cynthia, I have been struggling to find my replies for a while now and have only just come across these ones!

Am now off to read the help notes you mentioned :-D