• Only registered members can see all the forums - if you've received an invitation to join (it'll be on your My Summary page) please register NOW!

  • If you're looking for the LostCousins site please click the logo in the top left corner - these forums are for existing LostCousins members only.
  • This is the LostCousins Forum. If you were looking for the LostCousins website simply click the logo at the top left.
  • It's easier than ever before to check your entries from the 1881 Census - more details here

1881 census entry problem

Pauline

LostCousins Megastar
I have just been entering a relative from the 1881 census whose forenames were given and transcribed as Ed Wm (with a superscript 'm' on the original page).

However, when I entered his second forename as 'Wm' it was changed to 'W M' when I saved it. Thinking I had made a mistake, I clicked on the entry to correct it and found the only option available to me was to delete him and start again (which seems to happen sometimes).

I appreciate that if the same thing happens to everyone it won't affect matching, but is this supposed to happen or did I do something wrong?

And why am I able to amend some entries while with others, if I've made a mistake, I can only delete them and re-enter - which puts them out of order in the household?
 
I have just been entering a relative from the 1881 census whose forenames were given and transcribed as Ed Wm (with a superscript 'm' on the original page).

However, when I entered his second forename as 'Wm' it was changed to 'W M' when I saved it. Thinking I had made a mistake, I clicked on the entry to correct it and found the only option available to me was to delete him and start again (which seems to happen sometimes).

I appreciate that if the same thing happens to everyone it won't affect matching, but is this supposed to happen or did I do something wrong?

And why am I able to amend some entries while with others, if I've made a mistake, I can only delete them and re-enter - which puts them out of order in the household?
It happened because the relative you had been matched with had erroneously entered 'W M' and the matching software decided that was what you also meant to enter. It's an undocumented feature which I haven't come across before, and may never occur again.

I've now corrected both entries.
 
Thank you, Peter. It's good to know that I wasn't doing something wrong.

What about the other issue of sometimes being unable to amend entries, only delete them? I can understand that happening if the entry has already been matched with another entry, but that isn't always the case. In fact, it seems to be pretty random.
 
What about the other issue of sometimes being unable to amend entries, only delete them? I can understand that happening if the entry has already been matched with another entry, but that isn't always the case. In fact, it seems to be pretty random.
It's ALWAYS the case that it has been matched with another entry.
 
It's ALWAYS the case that it has been matched with another entry.
OK , thanks. I'm guessing that what I've sometimes noticed then is when the person I've entered has been matched with another entry but I'm not yet aware that there is a match.
 
I'm guessing that what I've sometimes noticed then is when the person I've entered has been matched with another entry but I'm not yet aware that there is a match.
Yes, that's what would have happened.
 
Back