1. Ancestry.com: for abandoning Family Tree Maker clients without ensuring the availability of an assured path forward.
2. Findmypast: for releasing the 1939 National Registration for England and Wales on a pay per view basis rather than as part of the subscription package.
3. The General Records Office (England and Wales): for a long-standing record of gouging for birth. marriage and death records, and continuing to do so despite findings that a restrictive policy is unnecessary.
4. The Ottawa Public Library: for neglect of the Ottawa Room and failing to give it a meaningful virtual presence.
5. Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections: for inability to proof-read, spell and grammar check.
Your nominations are welcome.
I agree with your #1 choice, Ancestry.com, just for the way they treat their customers in general. They have become a huge business only concerned with the bottom line. I'd like to know how many people purchased FTM as a Christmas gift for a friend or family member, only now to discover that they should have chosen another software product. Ancestry didn't just decide on Tuesday morning to announce that they were discontinuing FTM. They should have made the announcement long before the holiday shopping season began. That's just the most recent example of how they treat their customers.
ReplyDeleteI think you can take #5 off the list, John. It's extremely difficult to proof-read one's own writings. You're human... :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with #1. Ancestry, in all its guises, is just a huge billion dollar business, taking over smaller not-for profits for their own gain. Their transcriptions are laughable, worse than most.
ReplyDeleteThey made a business deal with the last Cdn govt to stall the 1921 census. Year ago they published little books call "The 'Reid' name in History", or "The 'Smith' name in History", or "The 'Jackson' name in History. All these books had the same cover, same year and month of printing and within 10 pages of each one. Bogus completely, filled with American charts and graphs, and all sources attributed to, wait for it, Ancestry --- not the original parish records, just themselves. I got into a dispute with Ancestry.ca and then Ancestry.com about this, and to mollify me they mailed me two, gratis, from Provo Utah. I chose two of my more rare 'family names' and compared notes. Close to identical information in both.
Might be fun to look those little booklets up to see if they still exist. Holiday fun. Cheers
I also agree with #1 Ancestry. I could not believe the email that I was sent regarding Ancestry not supporting Family Tree Maker anymore. They have made it almost impossible to continue using Family Tree Maker with Windows 10 as they are not supporting Family Tree Maker in any other version than 2014. They will not ship the software to Canada, only a yearly download with more expense being charged to have support on 2014 for more than one year. I would have to purchase the 2014 software and the extended support and a subscription to Ancestry.ca.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your continuing blog. Merry Christmas