Who's in Charge of this Genealogy Shenanigans in the UK

[snowqueen]

Quote "it is virtually impossible to do your ancestry here".  Many of us have managed to - just takes a lot of hard work.

[rosie99]

Quote "it is virtually impossible to do your ancestry here".  Many of us have managed to - just takes a lot of hard work.

Perhaps nowadays people expect to find everything easily accessible. 

I am like many on here who have spent hours at local record offices, LDS family history centres and going to TNA (Kew) and offices in London to get BMD certificates, Wills etc.  I am sure that many people new to family history would not bother if they had to trawl through census and parish registers to get the information that is now so readily available.  However it was enjoyable and the sense of achievement when you found something was far greater than you can get now by just typing into a search engine.

I wish I had kept a record of how much I have spent on this hobby over the years 

[JenB]

started my family tree in September last year. 

I've discovered I descend from Leod, son of Olaf The Black cant tell you how cool I am finding this

That is pretty good going to get back to the 13th century in 5 months of research. Particularly as, apparently, almost nothing is known about Leod and he doesn't appear in any contemporary records
https://dbpedia.org/page/Leod

[Forfarian]

not only do you have to pay Ancestry for next to no information, to put the icing on the cake you then .. cause you'll probably find damn all on Ancestry.

D..... right you won't find anything on Ancestry because (In spite of what they claim) they don't have the basic Scottish information but here's a bit of advice: you don't have to cough up to Ancestry. You can just ignore them altogether, and I strongly recommend that you do just that.

See https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=714261.0

Does anyone think, as clearly I'm not going to get as far with Scotland as France, am I better off actually going to Edinburgh? Can you actually physically look through the books there?

No, you no longer get to handle the books because the books were at risk of damage from too much handling, but in Edinburgh you can look through digital images of all the births, baptisms, banns, marriages and deaths held by Scotland's People for a modest daily fee.

I hope that one day someone will index these records online, not for a company such as Scotlands People to get hold of and fleece the general population to get a glimpse at a page, but so they are online on the likes of My Heritage and Ancestry such as they are in Europe.  Talk about daylight robbery and the absolute height of ineptitude. 

If you had bothered to take the trouble to find out, you would have discovered that someone HAS indexed the Scottish records online. You can view ALL the indexes online, free of charge, at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. You only need to pay if you want to view the original records online. Something you don't get at all at Ancestry and MyHeritage.

Scotland's People is not a 'company'. It's an arm of the Scottish government, and it is they who decide the charges. And the income is reinvested in digitising more and more original records. Why should I, as a Scottish taxpayer, expect the public purse to pay for my hobby, when they have other and more pressing matters to address like welfare and education?

And when it comes to fleecing customers, Ancestry and MyHeritage are leading trailblazers. These are private companies who would have you believe that they have everything, and at the same time are peddling arrant nonsense in the form of fantasy family trees going all the way back to the Dark Ages. I am certainly not about to waste my money to access all these loads of tripe and claptrap, or to pay my money over to boost the profits of a foreign company.

I can't really comment on the availablility of French records except to say that the ones I have been looking for for about 35 years have so far eluded me. And it's not a language thing because I happen to speak, read and write French fluently, so I wouldn't have any problems finding the stuff if it were as readily available as you claim it is.

Next time you plan to explode as a newbie with a rant into an established community of mostly helpful people, I strongly recommend that you make sure you know what you are talking about before you let fly.

[mac77782]

not only do you have to pay Ancestry for next to no information, to put the icing on the cake you then .. cause you'll probably find damn all on Ancestry.

D..... right you won't find anything on Ancestry because (In spite of what they claim) they don't have the basic Scottish information but here's a bit of advice: you don't have to cough up to Ancestry. You can just ignore them altogether, and I strongly recommend that you do just that.

See https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=714261.0

Does anyone think, as clearly I'm not going to get as far with Scotland as France, am I better off actually going to Edinburgh? Can you actually physically look through the books there?

No, you no longer get to handle the books because the books were at risk of damage from too much handling, but in Edinburgh you can look through digital images of all the births, baptisms, banns, marriages and deaths held by Scotland's People for a modest daily fee.

I hope that one day someone will index these records online, not for a company such as Scotlands People to get hold of and fleece the general population to get a glimpse at a page, but so they are online on the likes of My Heritage and Ancestry such as they are in Europe.  Talk about daylight robbery and the absolute height of ineptitude. 

If you had bothered to take the trouble to find out, you would have discovered that someone HAS indexed the Scottish records online. You can view ALL the indexes online, free of charge, at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. You only need to pay if you want to view the original records online. Something you don't get at all at Ancestry and MyHeritage.

Scotland's People is not a 'company'. It's an arm of the Scottish government, and it is they who decide the charges. And the income is reinvested in digitising more and more original records. Why should I, as a Scottish taxpayer, expect the public purse to pay for my hobby, when they have other and more pressing matters to address like welfare and education?

And when it comes to fleecing customers, Ancestry and MyHeritage are leading trailblazers. These are private companies who would have you believe that they have everything, and at the same time are peddling arrant nonsense in the form of fantasy family trees going all the way back to the Dark Ages. I am certainly not about to waste my money to access all these loads of tripe and claptrap, or to pay my money over to boost the profits of a foreign company.

I can't really comment on the availablility of French records except to say that the ones I have been looking for for about 35 years have so far eluded me. And it's not a language thing because I happen to speak, read and write French fluently, so I wouldn't have any problems finding the stuff if it were as readily available as you claim it is.

Next time you plan to explode as a newbie with a rant into an established community of mostly helpful people, I strongly recommend that you make sure you know what you are talking about before you let fly.

WHO in the absolute f do you think you are talking to people like that?  The absolute gallll of folk.  I'm psychic as they come and I know your type actually boke worthy.  You cretin of a human being.  Away and find some manners in that overfilled bag of superfluous bullshit you have just spouted.  I did BOTHER to check actually and the sh*t aint on Scotlands People.  I am APALLLLED at the posts on here and have requested the immediate removal of my account. 

I dont mix with the likes of you thanks. 

[snowqueen]

Thank goodness for that!!  Actually, if you are as psychic as you claim, you won't need any records at all to find your ancestors, they will come to you in the night!!

[KGarrad]

I did BOTHER to check actually and the sh*t aint on Scotlands People.

Maybe the problem is with your research techniques?

[Little Nell]

mac77782,

Congratulations on managing to trace your family history back to the 13th century in such a short period.  Not everyone is so lucky, certainly not me.

Manners are an important part of the community of RootsChat.  There is a wide range of opinions expressed here.  We may not always agree with each other, but that is no excuse for abusing those with whom you disagree. 

You mention that you are appalled at the posts on here.  But you did choose to join.  What a shame that your first and only contribution so far was to have a rather impolite and discourteous rant! 

Best wishes
Nell
Gobal Moderator