Hi Carol
I think this discussion has become a little bit overwhelming unfortunately
I think sometimes when people try to comment on their experience and you have many people doing this, new people may indeed find it indeed a little bit scary, understandably....and that is actually the opposite of what this post is trying to do. I think that is a pity really.
This post is meant to be really about tips and help for people coming to SP for the first time:
- The use of the wildcard '*' to replace characters is essential often. Given spellings in those times, spelling variations are always a bit problem. When searching on SP, which is rigid on its spellings, how you write it is how it will search....
- On the issue of spelling variations, in respect of first names, there are a number of first name variations that are worth considering if you have a problem finding what you are looking for. www.whatsinaname.net is a great site for checking on first name variations. In respect of surnames, you also have to be creative on the use of the wildcard. For example, always search for Mac/Mc names as M*c.
- Golden rules on SP such as: use the minumum number of letters, use widest possible age/year range - all to keep you within 25 entries per page...1 unit! Cut back on years, add a few more letters to get you to that 25 entries per page if required. This is all about maximising your unit(s). If you make an error on viewing an entry, you then have a wider search result list to try again (without having to pay another unit..!)
- When you are using any pay to view site, you always aim to maximize you money! On SP you buy units - £7GB gets you 30 of them. You search first (even if you know what you are looking for with certainty) and this costs 1 unit. You then view an image for 5 units. So as you can see, if you were very precise and exact, you could view 5 BMDs or census images for £7/30 units. This fares well with the current £9.25 cost of ordering a single BMD cert in England or Wales, and viewing is instant
- The reality is that you will have problems sometimes finding the right BMD entry. In the main though, this would happen also through the GRO for England and Wales and in Ireland. A lot of the issues here are no different to what happened in the rest of the UK: people were vague sometimes about their age, spellings were fluid, and you sometimes/often don't find people where you are expecting. Just a few of the issues that get in the way...
The tips and guidance are already on this thread.....
People sometimes do get frustrated and annoyed about not being able to find the right entry for a BMD and make comments here about their frustrations...not sure though whether this is necessarily to do with SP or just frustration overall which is understandable
Without going over the top, Scotland have a fantastic resource with Scotlands People. It does have it quirks and pitfalls (for me, mostly when searching for census entries and the search field options). In respect of BMDs, we are so lucky to have SP at our fingertips and being able to download instantly, at a very reasonable cost, BMDs up to acceptable time frames (due to data protection/privacy issues).
Carol, ask for advice and help in the early stages as often as you need. RC members here on the Scottish boards are very experienced and comfortable on the SP pecularities and can offer advice along the way always.....
Monica
