Friday 25 April 2014

FindMyPast responds to criticism of its new engine

You'd have had to have been living under a rock at the top of the most remote Connemara hill to have got through the last few weeks without being deafened by the criticisms and complaints against the new version search engine recently launched by FindMyPast.

The racket hasn't been as loud from Ireland as it has from elsewhere, especially the UK. I suspect this is because FindMyPast Ireland and Australia/NZ (and possibly the USA, which I've never tried out) have being using a localised or similar version of this new engine since their launches, so we might be finding the leap somewhat narrower than others. That doesn't mean we're happy bunnies, of course. I've always preferred to use the UK site when searching FMP's Ireland collection; that option is no longer available because all the FindMyPast sites have moved to the new engine.

FindMyPast has responded to the criticisms with a couple of videos. The first is an interview with the editor of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine where the company replies to some of the criticisms; below it is a how-to tutorial which may make the jump a little easier. Both can be viewed below.