Australia, Victoria—Wills and Probate Records, 1880–1998 [Part A] Index both the Cover & First
Ok folks, next issue,
I have been reviewing Project Australia, Victoria—Wills and Probate Records, 1880–1998 [Part A] which has been sitting stagnant for ages.
I come across many batches like this one where there are many documents marked as NED and not indexed.
Australia, Victoria—Wills and Probate Records, 1880–1998 [Part A][M39B-G6H]
In this example I have marked what I would consider needs to be completed based on the project instructions
Will and probate documents often continue from one page to another and from one image to the next. Index only the will or probate cover page and the page of the probate or will on which the name of the deceased first appears. Any image that shows only additional pages of the same document should be marked in Step 1: Images as No, No Extractable Data.
(Bold italics are my emphasis)
So the cover is to be indexed
And the first page of the actual document is to be indexed using all pages to complete the information required
I will eventually return this batch for reindexing because I am getting tired of fixing them myself
This is clearly an issue with project instructions as there have been so many cases I have come across (and fixed) and the project has been stalled for so long
Answers
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Thank you for your time and effort reviewing records for FamilySearch. Because of people like you we are able to make more records available to our guests.
Many of our indexers are new to indexing and may not understand the instructions like our more experienced indexers. We appreciate their efforts.
This is one reason every record that is indexed is reviewed. Even experienced indexers make mistakes so it is great that every records has 2 sets of eyes to view it.
It is totally your choice to send it back to be re-indexed or you can correct it yourself. We appreciate your service which ever decision you make.
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Dear @Ontymay,
I'm not sure I see a question in your statement above. It sounds like you are following the Project Instructions and you do not want to make all the changes so you are going to return the batch for re-indexing. That is totally fine.
If you have suggestions for changes in the Project Instructions, please click "Ideas" on the left side of Community, then choose Indexing as your category, then click New Idea and give your suggestions.
Thank you for indexing, reviewing and providing feedback and ideas. We appreciate your service!
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@886EZL This thread is from August 31st. The project has been taken down since it was fraught with problems in the project instructions and examples. This wasn't an Idea. This is an indexing issue and hopefully it is being resolved. Are we really supposed to report problems with the Project Instructions as an Idea? In the past these issues were quickly resolved in the now defunct Indexing Chat. What is the avenue to get these project instruction issues reported to the project managers or to Indexing Operations? There needs to be a something done so when project instructions and examples are incorrect they can be quickly addressed - not wait for three months like this stagnant project.
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Thank you, @Melissa S Himes . We are checking with our leaders to find out the best answer for you and @Ontymay . We appreciate your patience. Thank you for reporting the problems with this project.
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Thank you, @886EZL. I appreciate you for trying to get an answer. But, this is not just an answer for me and Ontymay about this singular project. Hopefully, the best answer from your leaders will be useful for all the indexers and reviewers who find errors in the Project Instructions or experience technical problems with the program.
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@886EZL thanks for your response, @Melissa S Himes has explained the situation perfectly.
It would not have occured to me to post this as an Idea. It was neither an Idea nor a question.
I was reviewing batches, most of which had errors arising from the vague or incorrect Project Instructions. The goal of the post was to a) raise the issue and b) provide some information to any indexers who might have looked on this forum for help. The project was stalled for over 3 months.
As Melissa has pointed out the issue is now moot as the project has been removed. But, as she also points out, the real problem is how indexers and reviewers raise issues with the program.
Thank you for your assistance in getting some answers
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