Facing the Corona Challenge

LegacyUser

Volker Kriester said: Due to the CORONO situation we have a lot of European countrews do have a corfew, which also means were are not allowed to go elsewhere for ancestry. Instead we basically have to sit at home and organize our extra sparetime. Maybe it is possible to suspend the encryption of the church records for the time being, so that we can proceed with our ancestry at home at these challengibg days.

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: All restrictions are due to contracts between FS and the record custodian. To change the restrictions on access for non-LDS, FS would need to negotiate a new temporary contract. This may be feasible for a few large record sets- e.g. UK censuses (the 1841-1881 censuses are FHC/Affiliate Library only for non-LDS), but would take years of work to include very minor record sets. And this at a time when record custodians- the archives, libraries, museums etc that own the records have more pressing issues.

FS has not indicated that any contracts include provisions for relaxing access in times of crisis like this. Maybe it is something they could consider for the future.

Unless this situation continues for many weeks or even months, the chance of access restrictions being relaxed is zero.

See the official response from FS here: https://getsatisfaction.com/familysea...

LegacyUser

Brett said: Volker Kriester

Firstly, "Welcome" to this "FamilySearch" ( "GetStaisfaction" ) 'Feedback' Forum.

Secondly, "Official 'FamilySearch' Representatives", do monitor; and, sometimes, participate in, this Forum.

Thirdly, I am just another User/Patron, just like yourself (and, happen to be a Member of the Church).

Many Users/Patrons who regularly participate in this Forum who have a great deal of knowledge and experience with "FamilySearch", like to assist/help other Users/Patrons like yourself - as evidence in the previous "Reply", by 'A van Helsdingen'.

Finally, short answer: 'No'.

You are not alone.

The request to lift the "Restrictions" on the viewing of Records due to the worldwide situation with the COVD-19 Virus has been requested a number of time in this Forum alone.

Here is a response (and, the 'link' to that response), in just one of those previous posts, from an "Official 'FamilySearch' Representative" on the matter:

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Relaxing Restricted Access due to FHC closures
https://getsatisfaction.com/familysea...
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Quote
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FamilySearch Moderator (Moderator) 3 days ago
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Thank you for your inquiry and suggestion. We have had several requests in this regard as a result of the temporary closing of our Family History Library and family history centers due to COVID-19 precautions. Due to contractual obligations, we unfortunately cannot offer expanded external access to records restricted to family history centers and affiliate libraries. We apologize for this inconvenience.

In the meantime, we encourage you to explore the vast record collections that are available on FamilySearch. Millions of new indexed records and images are added weekly. And if you haven’t used our new Explore Historical Images tools, you might be surprised at the potential discoveries you can make in our growing unindexed image collections.

We appreciate your patience, loyalty, and support,

FamilySearch Support
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https://getsatisfaction.com/familysea...
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I know that this does not help; but, I hope that this puts things into perspective.

Brett

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LegacyUser

FamilySearch Moderator said: Please refer to: 
https://getsatisfaction.com/familysearch/topics/requests-for-access-to-records-during-temporary-clos...

LegacyUser

S. said: Volker you could always help index so it will help put even more records on line,
Their is many things you can do on the down time, I hope you can find a great way to use it.