Flagging Errors found in Source Material Transcriptions
It's frustrating to find an error, many times very obvious, when going through records. It would be extremely helpful to the whole community if there was an option to flag that entry so that an authorized FS member could review and make corrections. I do extensive research and have found that many records are transcribed incorrectly, volunteer transcribers, bless their hearts, are human afterall. And, I{m not talking about mispellings and such, but rather the sex of the individual, actually centuries in which events occur, and sometimes dozens of entries in a volumne not indexed at all.
Not asking for the right to edit, but rather a simple way to flag and report errors. I believe this option would vastly improve the service FS offers the whole community.
Comments
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It would be really useful to be able to comment on an error. I found the marriages of two sisters and they did not make sense and tally with census records. An Elizabeth Holderness married Frederick Hopwood at Pocklington, 27 April 1826. Family Search has Elizabeth as Hopwood.
Maria Holderness married William Dodsworth 4 Dec. 1826, but Family Search has Maria Holdsworth.
I was able to check the images at the Borthwick Institute, but cannot persuade Family Search to change their data.
If I could add a comment to the record, anyone researching the family could make their own decision..
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Again I believe the FamilySearch response for not allowing errors to be flagged would likely be that it does not have the resources to implement such a proposal. However, it is not only the major commercial websites (e.g. Find My Past) that deal with reported errors satisfactorily, but free to access sites (that presumably rely on volunteers) like FreeBMD / FreeREG, too. These sites quickly review such reports and corrections are often made within days.
If FamilySearch is to continue to emphasise that it right up there with the major commercial sites, it must find a way to stop confusing / misleading its users with errors (many of which apply to whole collections, not just individual entries) that it stubbornly refuses to correct.
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July 4th My problem concerns my grand uncle whose name was transcribed incorrectly in the 1920US Federal census. how can I link him to the correct person on the family tree?
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I support the idea of being able to flag transcription errors. My greatgrandfather's younger brother was Solomon baptised 30 May 1852 (according to the baptism register, and confirmed also by his birth certificate). His entry appears as 30 Mar 1852, and I can understand how that error may have crept in. I'd think that auto-complete was enabled, and Mar probably appears before May. However I can not imagine how Solomon has turned into Elmer!! I've already seen one tree who has included this Elmer. That seems to be enabling "fake history", and that's sad.
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One error can affect many entries. On a single page of an immigration manifest the date was incorrectly transcribed as 1825 rather than 1835. That error carried through for all on the page, about 40 people. There is no way to report or correct the error.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-P34N-Q?i=730&cc=1849782
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My grandfather, Silas Patrick Taft is listed as the son of president William H Taft. He is NOT. He is one of the sons of another William Taft. Please correct.
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Here is a further thread (posted today) on the same type of issue:
From FreeBMD to Find My Past correction requests are easy to make (and do get acted upon), but FamilySearch does not seem to view this as a priority issue.
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I guess most people commenting here are interested in finding a way to help FamilySearch to correct any, in most cases, quite easily verifiable errors, so these error do not propagate further. Definitely if there were a place to report any errors, in appropriated categories, that users, after a reasonable check, can pinpoint, then the next step would be to see if FS has enough resources to help fixing those errors. I am sure many FS users are ready to help, as I am, if we can be of any value.
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Flagging an Error: John Larkin in 1901 Census Son 22 Clerk Not Married Birth Place Ballybofey should read Ballybrophy. Please check original Census document.
Regards
Kenneth Devine
devine.kenneth@gmail.com
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There must be a way to report errors such as the 1910 census for Grout Township, Gladwin County, Michigan is transcribed as "Grant Township" - there never has been a Grant Township in Gladwin County, but one of the original three townships was, and still is, Grout township. The thing that might confuse some people is that there IS a Grant township in a neighboring county. But clearly the people reported in the 1910 census as being in Grant township actually were residents of Grout. It is clearly a transcription error, as the header of the census images is clearly says Grout. At least it is reported in the correct county, so people already familiar with the area are not fooled by it. But a similar type of error in Washtenaw County, Michigan along with an incorrect transcription of my Dad's name may be why I can't find him in a search when I know he was there - in one of the thousands of pages.
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