How do I find out if an indexing project is complete and follow up reported problems?
I just found that, helpfully, a note has been added to the relevant Wiki page, reading:
"Please note: The England, Northumberland Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1920 collection contains also includes records relating to established (Anglican) churches in County Durham. It is anticipated that once indexing of this collection is complete both collections will be combined into one, single publication."
I just came across a record (see https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6DMD-J48C) which remains under this wrong heading - although it seems certain the individual was buried at Sunderland, County Durham, where he lived throughout his life.
I would like to follow through on the point made about records (Anglican and non-conformist, for both counties) being eventually combined under "one, single publication". Effectively, this is the case already - what is required is that the records be either split (sot they appear under different headings - up to four), or retitled to reflect the true nature of their contents.
The current, ongoing situation is misleading many users into believing events involving their ancestors / relatives took place in another county than was actually the case and that they were non-conformists, when they were members of the established, Anglican Church of England.
This is an example of FamilySearch indexed records not acting as a useful finding aid. Other examples have been reported in connection to other English counties, so one would hope FamilySearch is applying the necessary effort in order to correct this poor categorising of many of its records.
The origin of such problems appears to be twofold: firstly, care should be taken in not indexing records under incorrect project headings and, secondly, the post-indexing process should be ensuring records are assigned to correct categories before they appear on the website, and then cause unnecessary confusion to researchers.
Answers
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Paul, have you tried using the report an error in the catalog option? I have used it infrequently, but the errors I've reported have eventually been fixed. The most recent one I recall having reported was for a description/collection title in the Images section.
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