Author Topic: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **  (Read 65826 times)

Offline bibliotaphist

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #18 on: Monday 15 February 16 12:39 GMT (UK) »
Yep, I do this for all my certificates except for very recent ones.

E.g. http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=d4RtZNXqLAXIwrwtCjgo9g&scan=1

I always include my email address in case other people want to contact me to share info.

I'd rather it were possible to record the information in a more structured format, but in the meantime this is a good way of sharing.

Offline dawnsh

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #19 on: Monday 15 February 16 14:45 GMT (UK) »
From freebmd

"FreeBMD is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records."

By adding postems you are possibly helping someone out in the future or finding someone else researching your family but storing other information in a standard format is not the purpose of the site.
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Offline Janelle

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #20 on: Thursday 18 February 16 12:57 GMT (UK) »
I do like this practice. I have collected quite a few certs and have added a couple of postems, especially of brickwall breakthroughs and of when I have bought the wrong guy.

Must add this to my to do list, again.  ;D

Would it be fair to offer this forum as a point of contact if a RC'er did not wish to leave their email address in a FreeBMD postem?

Salute,

Janelle




Offline LizzieL

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #21 on: Thursday 18 February 16 13:28 GMT (UK) »
Postems are a very good idea, as long as they are accurate, i.e the poster has actually seen the certificate and is augmenting the information on the index with accurately transcribed information from said certificate.
Some time ago, I came across a postem attached to a record for an Eliza Livermore birth registered Royston district Q3 1848 which said "I think this is Ruth Livermore, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth". Clearly the postem was put on by someone who had never seen the actual Certificate and was just picking a female with the same surname born in the same year in the same county, not even same registration district!
Fortunately it was possible to add a second postem with the correct information about Ruth Livermore and a tentative possibility for the Eliza Livermore based on census information. As she was a Barley / Chishill Livermore and not one of our Chesterford Livermores, I haven't fully researched her.
Berks / Oxon: Eltham, Annetts, Wiltshire (surname not county), Hawkins, Pembroke, Partridge
Dorset / Hants: Derham, Stride, Purkiss, Sibley
Yorkshire: Pottage, Carr, Blackburn, Depledge
Sussex: Goodyer, Christopher, Trevatt
Lanark: Scott (soldier went to Jersey CI)
Jersey: Fowler, Huelin, Scott


Offline Beeonthebay

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #22 on: Thursday 18 February 16 14:14 GMT (UK) »
Whoa that is not good!   I'd assumed the person posting the information would be copying it from an actual certificate in their possession.   :o
Williams, Owens, Pritchard, Povall, Banks, Brown.

Offline bibliotaphist

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #23 on: Thursday 18 February 16 14:45 GMT (UK) »
Whoa that is not good!   I'd assumed the person posting the information would be copying it from an actual certificate in their possession.   :o

There are effectively no rules on what can go in a postem. There's nothing to say that a postem should or will relate to information derived from the certificate that the index entry relates to, and there's no quality control or review process at all.

From FreeBMD:

Quote
"A Postem is a note left by someone about this record - the content of the postem is determined by the person who left it. FreeBMD can offer no assurance about the postem and will not enter into correspondence about it."

That said, they do seem to be mostly used to provide information from the certificate or corresponding parish marriage register, or to give hints about someone's knowledge about a family.

As a finding aid and potentially a tool for contacting other researchers, 6 out of 10.

As a citable document, about 0.5 out of 10  :D

Offline LizzieL

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #24 on: Thursday 18 February 16 14:56 GMT (UK) »
However I would add, that I only cited an extreme example. Many others I have found have been very useful and do have information obviously transcribed from the Certificate. Maybe because it takes a little more effort to add a postem, they tend to be used by more serious researchers who want to give information to help others.  Quite different from those who just want to take from other trees to expand their own with as few mouse clicks as possible. 
Berks / Oxon: Eltham, Annetts, Wiltshire (surname not county), Hawkins, Pembroke, Partridge
Dorset / Hants: Derham, Stride, Purkiss, Sibley
Yorkshire: Pottage, Carr, Blackburn, Depledge
Sussex: Goodyer, Christopher, Trevatt
Lanark: Scott (soldier went to Jersey CI)
Jersey: Fowler, Huelin, Scott

Offline clairec666

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #25 on: Thursday 18 February 16 19:10 GMT (UK) »
Agreed, the best use for a post-em is when someone has used the volume/page numbers to order the certificate, and can share the content with others.

Connecting a BMD entry with information from parish registers or censuses could help someone with their research,  but there's no proof it's related to that particular entry.
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Offline pinefamily

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Re: ** POSTEMS on FreeBMD **
« Reply #26 on: Thursday 18 February 16 19:12 GMT (UK) »
However I would add, that I only cited an extreme example. Many others I have found have been very useful and do have information obviously transcribed from the Certificate. Maybe because it takes a little more effort to add a postem, they tend to be used by more serious researchers who want to give information to help others.  Quite different from those who just want to take from other trees to expand their own with as few mouse clicks as possible.

I have no idea what you're talking about, Lizzie.  ::)
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