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Which is your favourite FH site?

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  • Which is your favourite FH site?

    My sub at MyHeritage expires soon and I am wondering whether to renew it or switch. I have used Ancestry and FMP in the past but they will both have been updated a lot since. There are advantages in sticking with the same site, but different sites have different records. Obviously subscribing to all of them is ideal if money is no object. May I ask which is your favourite, and which level if there are options?
    People: Canton, Wiseman, Colthup, Scrace
    Places: Pembrokeshire, Kent.

  • #2
    I subscribed to My Heritage earlier this year after uploading DNA data to them. I have regretted the expense almost from the beginning and certainly will not be renewing. I hardly see any original record images on there and the 'discoveries' they constantly email to me are laughable. Very, very disappointed!

    I subscribe to both Ancestry and FMP because they each have records I need. Also if a search on one fails you may find it on the other. I only use transcriptions if nothing else is available and always look at the image first, hence why I find My Heritage so poor.

    Hope that helps
    Anne

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    • #3
      I have subbed to Ancestry since 2004, I did use FMP [previously 1837online] though I do find the search function a bit difficult to use, I much prefer Ancestry. I had a bit of trouble with the searching on there but they seemed to have tweaked something back to how it was, so I can now find things again.
      Julie
      They're coming to take me away haha hee hee..........

      .......I find dead people

      Comment


      • #4
        I have Ancestry UK and FMP worldwide. I find Ancestry easier to search and is good post 1837, but I find FMP better pre 1837 and it allows me to access a lot of images that I find on Familysearch. I perhaps use FMP mostly for newspaper searches at the moment.
        Bubblebelle x

        FAMILY INTERESTS: Pitts of Sherborne Gloucs. Deaney (Bucks). Pye of Kent. Randolph of Lydd, Kent. Youell of Norfolk and Suffolk. Howe of Lampton. Carden of Bucks.

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        • #5
          Ancestry and FMP. Prefer Ancestry but find searching not so easy as previous!y. FMP has improved late!y. Use Worldwide.

          Vera

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          • #6
            I echo what Vera said, Ancestry changed for the worst - esp when adding records to trees, but do still prefer it to FMP for building trees and searching before lockdown I supplemented my searches with visits to the library.

            Can't comment about My Heritage as I have never used it.
            Last edited by cbcarolyn; 04-09-21, 23:15.
            Carolyn
            Family Tree site

            Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
            Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

            Comment


            • #7
              Ancestry worldwide (going through the pinned link for 50% discount) where I also have local history and experimental trees, and Find My Past largely because of the newspapers as I find the tree building part clunky so abandoned it. I have these as birthday/Xmas present from my husband so he never has to shop or gift wrap anything (though I organise it myself).

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              • #8
                So for my english, irish research,

                I use ancestry primarily for it's tree program. The hints system is quite inaccurate half the time. They have added image collections FMP used to have. Search function is clunky and inaccurate quite a lot.

                i primarily use FMP for research. Better and more accurate transcriptions so searching is much easier than ancestry.

                ​​​​​however, neither have added any new record sets useful for me for almost two years now. Both have differing parish register/will sets that are useful.

                for scottish research i use FMP for census, then go to scotlandspeople for images and bmd/parish records.

                i also have french and german research, so use geneanet for them, family trees are quite good there and more english trees appearing there all the time. I also use filae for french records. They have added most of the civil reg and census for france, and are now adding 18th century parish registers.

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                • #9
                  I use Ancestry's Library edition, which at the moment (thanks to covid), I can access from home. I also subscribe to FMP; I find their transcriptions more accurate and prefer the search function (perhaps it depends what you get used to). I don't keep a tree on either site.
                  Jenny

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                  • #10
                    I use Ancestry for two reasons. Way back when I was offered a World subscription, and they guaranteed to keep it at the same price for as long as I kept renewing. I am on automatic renewal ! My areas to research are the UK, Australia and Canada. The other reason is that ancestry thinks like I do, plus I like tree layout.

                    I had a FMP subscription but gave it up in frustration as I just couldn't get to grips with it. Obviously didn't think how I think!

                    bcbrit
                    George, Uren, Toy - Cornwall. Barrows, Blair, Bowyer, Freeth, Green, Manie - London

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Ancestry
                      I first used ancestry and am happy enough with it but the transcriptions can be bl**dy terrible. They didn’t have much in the way of UK parish records but that is improving.
                      I did their DNA test as it’s the biggest pond to fish in if you are only testing in one place. Their biggest miss is not providing a chromosome browser. Consistent amounts of customer suggestions / wants has not made them change their mind. They were the first with their Thrulines offering but others have taken this is up - MyHeritage calls it Theories of Family Relativity. Thrulines can be helpful but is far from accurate on occasion and in general, their leaf symbol hints are often ridiculous and it’s hard to get rid of them.
                      I don’t like the new messaging system - it runs on a chain of messages principle like gmail but isn’t a patch on that.
                      Their records search function works fine for me and I will always keep my world sub as I have connections to Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Hubby has connections in Northern Ireland and I’ve used a lot of the Irish datasets pre partition.
                      Ancestry’s jewel in the crown though is its members’ family trees. No other site of its type can beat it for that imo. I don’t use the tree builder as I find it a right pain and not customisable enough and I have never used synch nor will I. Going by the horror tales on in FB user groups, synch can cause an awful mess.

                      FindMyPast
                      I have a world sub here too despite their being no trees to search.
                      The search function used to be very good but it’s had a few changes in the last year or two which I haven’t liked and there’s a bit more faff needed now to find things but I’ve got used to it. The one change I really don’t like though is that in censuses where an address search is available, there used to be a simple slider button that sat at the top of the search page. They have now completely separated the two types of search and I find address searches are a pain to do compared to before.
                      Transcriptions generally are much better on FMP than ancestry and I have also found that in UK censuses, I get a result in FMP that just isn’t there on ancestry - it’s as if ancestry has some missing images or images that have escaped being transcribed!
                      FMP is strong on parish registers particularly for Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lancashire which is excellent for me.
                      (FMP do not do DNA tests but they sell them! What you will get from them is a LivingDNA test kit but without the full package which you would get if you bought direct from LivingDNA but they are quite expensive compared to other companies and always have been. The full test from LivingDNA is good for UK connections and ethnicity reports. They have a tree builder but no tree searching or member tree messaging which is a pain and their DNA matching functions - (even now, years down the line from when they began) are basic and limited.)

                      MyHeritage
                      I uploaded my raw DNA data here and was only a free member which severely limits what you can do on the site. I have a basic tree uploaded. I only joined in the first place for DNA matches and tools which are very good and the fact that a lot of my extended family in Canada and Australia tested with MH and/or uploaded to it. I have since tested with them too as I got an excellent price in a sale.
                      I took a half price offer for a complete sub but like others on here, I wish I hadn’t bothered. One of my Australian family is building her tree on it. She asked me to take a look and see how she was getting on. OMG, if that had been my first experience of online tree building and record searching, I never would have got past go. I also find the members’s trees clunky to navigate.
                      I’m no fan of record searching either. I can’t get to grips with it.
                      They bang on about their “exclusive” record sets but I have yet to find a way of listing what they are so I can decide if it might ever be worth my while paying some kind of sub in the future as based on my experience so far, the answer to that is a big fat no!
                      I will set my account so it doesn’t auto renew and cross my fingers that it doesn’t as the process is not as clearcut as it ought to be. As Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army would say “They don’t like you cancelling Captain Mainwaring Sir, they don’t like you cancelling…” That was one of the things that really bugged me when I first joined as a free member - despite me saying they couldn’t contact me by phone, they did, from The Netherlands pestering me to pay a sub. I hear they use pester power with those who cancel too so I’m prepared for that. Far too many emails as well about Record Matches and Smart Matches and other stuff which as a free member you can’t do much with, if anything at all. I can respond to these at the moment while I’m paid up but I have no interest in adding everyone in these Smart Matches to my tree as it’s direct DNA lines only for the purpose of DNA matching.
                      If MH didn’t have a good chromosome browser and triangulation tools to help sort my matches, I probably wouldn’t even keep a free account.

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                      • #12
                        Thanks everyone, very helpful. It seems the consensus is that best is to have both Ancestry and FMP, preferably World versions. However I am not sure that I want to spend that much. For the time being I am getting Ancestry Library Edition on-line free through my library, so I am tempted to switch to FMP, but that was a Covid concession and may not continue and if it was stopped I would have to go to my local library and use their incredibly slow computers. First, after reading Galloway Lass's warning, I will try to cancel MyH.
                        People: Canton, Wiseman, Colthup, Scrace
                        Places: Pembrokeshire, Kent.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by webwiz View Post
                          Thanks everyone, very helpful. It seems the consensus is that best is to have both Ancestry and FMP, preferably World versions. However I am not sure that I want to spend that much. For the time being I am getting Ancestry Library Edition on-line free through my library, so I am tempted to switch to FMP, but that was a Covid concession and may not continue and if it was stopped I would have to go to my local library and use their incredibly slow computers. First, after reading Galloway Lass's warning, I will try to cancel MyH.
                          You have until mid December to use the Library edition of Ancestry at home. I am keeping FMP going until I find out what is happening with the 1921 Census, I suspect that even for subscribers it will be some kind of PAYG for a while until it is included in a much more expensive subscription. I like the Genealogist which hasn't been mentioned, but I've used them for years and I suspect that it is what you get used to.
                          Margaret

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            if you follow the link on the ancestry thread you should get it for 50% off
                            Carolyn
                            Family Tree site

                            Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
                            Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              MH have changed their cancellation page. They must have been listening to the moans on the FB users group page.
                              Now when you want to cancel and click the button, it stsrts the orocess BUT you have to trail through all the things they want you to know that you’ll be missing out on. Then you get to a continue button alongside a keep my subscription button. That didn’t seem to work so I went further down beyond a choice of reasons for leaving to the next continue button. Nope! You must a reason before clicking the next continue button. That worked but then I had to scroll past yet another list of all the things I’d be misding out on before the final continue button. At least this time it completed the process and told me so. A quick check proved it had registered and showed my sub expiry date. Very shortly thereafter a confirmation email arrived again showing the end date but with a reminder that come that time I’ll be offered a discount of 40% to renew - ie. they’ll pester the life out of my inbox LOL

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