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Many thanks

Mark

Ref my earlier comment on the lanuage that was used. I am not a prude and old enough to know people do resort to this sort of language. But one thing I do know is that alot of people do get offened by this kind of thing and righlty so. All I am asking is that entry be removed from this blog as I do not think it fits in here. I hope I speak for alot more who use this blog.

mark

I have nothing against Waynes views in fact I value them but the choice of childish language seems to me to be 100% out of order.

Thanks Ian for your moderating of this blog for us all.
Tony

I am disgusted you have to use that language. A lot of us have said things good and bad about 1911 and I myself have said a few things but I would never use language like that. I am very surprised it has been allowed on the blog and I hope it gets removed.

The blog and its moderators have been very kind in letting us air our views, but I hope I speak for all of us and think you have gone to far.

Mark

Moderator’s note: expletives removed, otherwise unedited

The pricing model of variations between the costs of transcripts and images and particularly no “refund” on the transcript cost has been tested extensively on various datasets on findmypast.com since we launched the 1861 census in 2005, and specifically on the BT27 Passenger Lists where the higher costs of full-colour, original-scan digitisation made this necessary. We have never had any significant comment or feedback on this matter.

As far as I am aware, no other major site offers this model (refund on transcript when viewing original image), but I am happy to be corrected.

If many other commercial sites are doing this and we are bucking the trend, we will happily accept that we are pursuing an “ill-advised business practice”, “double-dipping” and “exploiting a monopoly position”. If not, I would say that we are following an established online business model for family history data and making pricing both simple to understand and transparent.

I understand that people are always happier paying less (me included), but even if we did offer a refund mechanism (which would make pricing harder for users to understand) we would have to compensate by raising the number of credits for either the transcription or the original image to compensate (we still have to pay back a large investment in making the data available). So you would almost certainly end up paying the same. I do understand your arguments and am sympathetic to them, but we did not take the pricing decision lightly or blindly.

The availability of the 1911 census on a subscription basis on findmypast.com later in the year will make this argument largely redundant, but for the moment the position will remain unchanged. Apart from anything else, the administration of refunds to customers who have already paid would be a logistical nightmare which would distract from the rollout of the remaining counties and images.

I hope this clears things up, but also that the subscription will be a serious boon to “power users” although we appreciate it’s frustrating waiting for it to appear.

@Jo: I didn’t say that, you’re putting words into my mouth! Please see my comments to Noel about raising the credit prices to compensate for a refund on the transcription cost.