General Chat

Is anyone else a little let down by genes reunited for not allowing the gold members to view the 1911 census?
i feel that we are paying a fair membership fee and should not be excluded from viewing it because we dont want to upgrade to a platinum membership, which would cost me an extra £36 pounds.

Aah, I wondered what the "platinum" membership was about......

How I agree, I was expecting i to be available without having to pay extra. I shall not being paying the extra. However I will remain in the gold memebrs.

Mabe they will have another think about this if sufficient numbers voice their vew.

Bridget

I am also a gold member, but wont be upgrading to platinum

Is there another website where we can get more info from the 1911 without going into deep debt?

Huia.

You might well be upset that you misunderstood what was available on gold membership.
Upgrading to Platinum is still cheaper than 1911 on FMP.

actually, it's more expensive to upgrade to Platinum than it is to subscribe to the 1911 on fmp



and if you are surprised that it is not included in your Gold membership, then you haven't been watching or reading anything at all about the 1911 .. there's been plenty about the 1911 over the last year on these boards on GR


First it was released on the 1911 site only, and you had to buy credits, very expensive credits to view it


About 6 months later, findmypast was allowed to also have access to it ...... but you have to buy a subscription to it through fmp. Even if you had an fmp sub, you still had to pay the extra for the 1911.



You can bet your bottom dollar that the only reason that it is now accessible on GR is because GR is now owned by the company that also owns FMP and Scotland's People



And the reason that it is so expensive is because the British GOVERNMENT agree to release the information early (it wasn't due to be released until 2011), and then paid big bucks to have it all transcribed AND to have the census pages digitised.

Now they are trying to reclaim some of the tax dollars that it all cost.




I am actually getting quite sick and tired of reading all these threads complaining because you're not getting something for nothing .......... this must be about the 6th thread I've seen in the last few days!




sylvia

Huia


I go to the 1911 website itself, do the free search, which can show you who is living in the same hosuehold if you work it right ................. then you have to buy credits to look at the actual transcript or census image.


www.fmpbsol.1911census.co.uk/

£6.95 - 60 credits - £0.12 per credit expire 26 August 2010
£24.95 - 280 credits - £0.09 per credit expire 28 May 2011

It costs 10 credits to view a transcript and 30 credits to look at the actual image.


If you have only a few people to find, this is the cheapest way



On FindMyPast

Full Subscription (Explorer + 1911 Census)
6 Month £94.90
12 Month £149.90

Explorer Subscription (fmp only)
6 Month £54.95
12 Month £89.95

1911 Census Only
Subscription
6 Month £39.95
12 Month £59.95


GR Platinum

6 months £64.95




There is nowhere yet where you can it for cheaper than that ...................... and there won't be for at least one more year. There is still some information blocked from release (mainly the columns that state the health of the individuals) because it is not yet 100 years since the census. It is apparently anticipated that that information will be transcribed, and the full census released in early 2012 ........ and that we may expect to see it on ancestry some time after that.




sylvia

I agree sylvia
I have premium on Ancestry £100+ gold membership GR waste of money and 1911 FMP £40 for 6 months...Oh to have it all for £35 would be nice but not complaining lol

jax

GR Platinum is actually the cheapest as you also get all census years but I personally wouldn't use it.

Christine

As a new member,I was very disappointed to find I would now have to pay extra to view the 1911 census..I would say it is an imposition to expect people to shell out that amount for just one census.Never mind though..I shall keep plodding on without upgrading.
Wendy

And my first question was going to be...... how much?
Ah well.
Deanna X

I did mention this before but in case no one noticed, if you do the free search on here, it gives you slightly more than on the 1911 site, for example my gt grandfather...on 1911 just has his place of residence as Fulham (free search) ...on here the free search throws up that he lived Fulham, but also has his place of birth, Cahirciveen , Kerry, Ireland...

worth checking here too then.

Angela


I fail to see how it is an imposition to expect people to pay out more money to view one census


The 1911 census was not supposed to be released for transcription until 2011 because of the 100 year rule. That meant it would have been at least 2012 or even 2013 before it would have been available for use.


The British government gave into pressure from genealogists and agreed to release most of the information early


The British government paid a lot of money to have the records transcribed


Previous censuses were transcribed by private companies ............... and everyone has had to pay extra to see those. Private companies have to make a profit.


The government also now wants to recover at least some of the money spent so far. Not least because there are a very large numbr of people who would fail to understand why multi millions of pounds were spent on something for a relatively small number of people.


You're actually very lucky to be able to see the census 2 years ahead of time!



Anyway, please do remember that GR does not carry its own records or official documents .... they just transfer you to other sites that GR has paid to access ............and GR has to recoup those costs!


In my opinion, paying the extra for Gold (let alone Platinum) on GR is the most expensive and least successful way to do your research.


Looking for a bmd ... sends you to the Index of b, m or d. Then you have to search that index. It doesn't tell you the spouse for example in the marriage Index.

Using the free www.freebmd.org.uk sends you to the registration details, gives you the names of possible spouses which you can then identify with some certainty via the next census ....... or by buying the certificate

Using bmd on ancestry.co.uk sends you to the same type of information as freebmd, and as recently as 2005


Looking at a census on GR only allows you to look at one page. What happens if the person you have entered is either at the very top of the page or the very bottom?? How do you find out if there are any other family members?

On ancestry or FMP you can move back and forwards.


Looking at the neighbours can also help your research.




sylvia

Sylvia, I do understand why these things cost so much, I was just wistfully thinking it would be nice if I had the money so I could see everything I want to see, but I have other priorities for my money at present.

Huia.

Sylvia, I am afraid it was not the government that had the 1911 census transcribed, it was FMP, that is why only they (Britesolid) have the right to charge so much, they have to recoup their money.

After 1912, the other companies (Ancestry and co) will have the images made available to them, but they to transcribe them themselves.

Hi Keith


my understanding was that the government agreed to have the census transcribed, and that it did cost them money, but you are quite correct in that it was FMP that paid for everything. Thank you for correcting me.


Looking at the 1911 Census site www.fmpbsol.1911census.co.uk/, this is what it says:-


The National Archives and the 1911 census

The National Archives has entered into a licensing agreement with brightsolid (formerly Scotland Online) to provide online access to the 1911 Census records. The following series are included under this heading:

RG14 - 1911 Census Schedules RG78 - 1911 Enumerators Summary Books

Digitisation of the filmed records was undertaken onsite at Kew by contractors working for brightsolid and it is envisaged that the entire indexed series of records will be available online during 2009

Associates like brightsolid are providing a value added service making our records easily searchable and more widely available to our readers in their own homes worldwide, and so are permitted to charge a reasonable amount for the service

The Associate is required to fund investment in digitisation, cataloguing, indexing, hosting, delivery, technical support and marketing of Online Services of National Archives-held records. The National Archives does not pay for any part of the development of the service, but receives a royalty based on a percentage of net invoiced revenue from the Online Service. This is retained by the Archives and used to fund other projects

The costs involved in implementing and maintaining online services are not inconsequential and this approach fits in with our e-Business Strategy, in response to the government's target to enable citizens to have electronic access to government services. Online access to digitised images of our documents over the Internet is a very important element of this commitment

The reality is that digitising these documents and making them available on the Internet has always been a task beyond the resources of The National Archives because of the vast size of the archive. We therefore sought Licensed Internet Associates to help us achieve this vision by participating in the commercial digitisation of genealogical and other records

Our agreement with brightsolid builds on the success of existing Licensed Internet Associateship deals with Ancestry, GenesReunited and findmypast.co.uk and will allow these popular records to be made accessible to the general public for the first time





so, in summary ........... it seems brightsolid controls access to the 1911 census for the foreseeable future, probably around 2012, when presumably ancestry will pay them an amount to use the information OR undertake their own transcription.



the question is debatable (or academic!!) as to what constitutes charging a "reasonable amount" for access.



sylvia

Just to let you know that FMP have Pay as you Go credits which gives you access to everything on their site including 1911 census 6 Pounds will buy you 60 credits and you have 90 days to use them. Also 24.95 pounds will buy you 280 credits with 365 days to use them.

As the majority of my family had already migrated to the colonies prior to 1911 I have only needed to look for a few, so have found these credits perfect for what I want and for an extra 4 or 5 NZ$ depending on the exchange rate I can get a far better deal than GR'S one where I can only buy 50 credits for 7 days use. Also the census records in general on FMP are much better than Genes.
And are you aware that GR are charging for viewing not only the original transcripts but also the copied transcripts which are available for free viewing on FMP and the LDS SITE.

Hi there Kiwibird from another Kiwi bird.

Huia.

National Archives staff advised that, once FMP had had the full census online for six months, then others, such as ancestry, could apply to transcribe the census.