Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - Ellis Island is no longer free?

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Magroski49
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 5:33 pm Post subject: Ellis Island is no longer free?

As usual, I have accessed www.stevemorse.org and was led to the EI foundation website.
However, this time their website has changed and I was no able to enter using the nickname and password I used to. When I created a new one, I could access it, but now they ask me to pay almost $30 per image.

Gilberto

dnowicki
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Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Replies: 2950
Location: Michigan City, Indiana
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 8:40 pm Post subject:

Gilberto,

I went to the Ellis Island site and obviously they changed the site completely. It seems that no old accounts are now valid. I registered for a new account and was able to gain access to the various records. While it is true that they are promoting the purchase of the images of the ships' manifests for $30 for the first page and a bit less for the second page of a two page manifest, you can still view the pages gratis. This really has not changed from the previous web page where you could view the records but had to pay if you wanted a copy of the image. Now the format is different and takes a bit of getting used to, but the end result is still the same.

Dave

Cheri Vanden Berg
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Joined: 16 Oct 2011
Replies: 504

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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:21 pm Post subject:

Hi Gilberto and Dave,
I signed in to the Ellis Island site last night with the Login and password that I've had for years.
Cheri

sirdan
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Joined: 07 Mar 2012
Replies: 304
Location: ** Southeast Pole**
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 1:22 am Post subject:

Manifests are viewable like before. I also had to create new account to view manifest.

Magroski49
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Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 4:46 pm Post subject:

Dave, Cheri and Sirdan

Now able to view it like it was before. It seems I forgot to scroll down the page where the manifest could be viewed.

Thanks to all,

Gilberto

rsowa
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Joined: 09 Nov 2013
Replies: 177
Location: Dundee, Michigan, USA
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:53 pm Post subject:

I sent a rather scathing email to them yesterday. While I can appreciate their need to support their foundation and fund everything they do, I have a real problem with the direction they are headed. Genealogists and those searching for family are not attracted to fancy web designs. We do (or at least I do) care most about text and images...period. The most irritating part for me is that (at least for now), you can only enter a single letter for the given name. Then if the surname is pretty common, you have to wait and scroll down while hundreds if graphic images are displayed before you can get to given names at the end of the alphabet. That consumes gobs of bandwidth, and wastes everyone's time and money. I am VERY disappointed with what they have done.

And of course, every single link from Familysearch.org is now broken. Sigh.

catamara456

Joined: 09 Jan 2015
Replies: 3

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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:52 pm Post subject: DISAPPOINTED IN ELLIS ISLAND

eLLIS

rsowa wrote:

I too am extremely disappointed in the new website/ It use to provide valuable information. Maybe the information is still there but if you cannot locate anything its not worth a penny. I had to remember the INCORRECT SPELLING OF A SURNAME IN ORDER TO FIND WHAT I HAD LOCATED BEFORE WHICH turned out to be what i had previously located. Then to have to pay for what was previously free stinks. There are ways to encourage donations like the Obama campaign did on two financially successful presidential campaigns. That way everyone pays what they can. Carol Tamara

Magroski49
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:42 am Post subject:

All,

For some time between my post in last September and December it was possible to view everything as it used to be. Lately, it seems things have changed. Not only they are now asking for donation everytime I open their webpage, as well as the ship manifests are no longer displayed in two pages (though some are one-page only). As to typing the incorrect spelling I found a way to solve the problem: I open their page and log in. Then I open stevemorse.org webpage and,when the passenger is located, I click on its name and select 'open in a new guide'. Then it goes rigth to the EI page where that select passenger is listed.

Gilberto

starkey76

Joined: 17 Sep 2013
Replies: 164
Location: Wheeling, WV USA
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:16 pm Post subject:

You need anything accessible through Ancestry, let me know.
John

rsowa
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 09 Nov 2013
Replies: 177
Location: Dundee, Michigan, USA
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:55 pm Post subject:

It appears that they are making changes to the site...maybe as a result of everyone complaining. One recent problem I found was that when I try to view the manifest page for someone, the text window shows the right info. But the manifest page is totally wrong. In many cases, it's not even the same ship! I've found that to be true for about 1 out of every 20-30 names I look up. I let them know, but have not heard a thing back yet. It's been about three weeks now. And of course, the links to there from familysearch.org are all broken as well.

BobK
PO Top Contributor

Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Replies: 231
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:58 pm Post subject:

I wrote to Steve Morse, and he looked at the mess E.I. is causing to his much better front end to E.I. ..
Steve is changing stevemorse.org where you'll enter your E.I. ID & pw so his site will be able to
do the smooth transition we were so used to..

Just a couple of years ago, when I wrote to E.I., more than once, about a couple of errors I was seeing
on their site. I got speedy confirmations that they'd corrected the errors.. I guess that person has
moved on to a better job, leaving someone more concerned with flash than with accuracy.

LIT-2236

Joined: 29 May 2012
Replies: 12

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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 5:29 am Post subject:

When you are totally digitally hopeless as I am you don't even understand what you guys are saying re getting around the problem. It's a reason I am giving up going on helpful sites like this........ I cannot take advantage of the hints people so kindly give. Back to the old fashioned way of family researching for me! A pensioner can't afford these rates - postage is cheaper!

zamagurie

Joined: 30 Apr 2011
Replies: 32
Location: United States
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:58 pm Post subject: Steve Morse One Step - can't access

BobK wrote:

I tried entering my user name and password on Steve's site and get an error message that I must have a valid registration to see the manifests. I went to the EI site and now have an updated account. Help. I love the SM site. It has always been superior to EI. I don't want to dump down $50 if I can't get into Steve's site. Any ideas?
_________________
KAM

BobK
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Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Replies: 231
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 11:28 pm Post subject: Re: Steve Morse One Step - can't access

zamagurie wrote:

I don't want to dump down $50 if I can't get into Steve's site. Any ideas?

You don't pay to use Steve's site. Nor do you pay to use Ellis Island's site.
You can search and view manifests all day long for no payments..

You DO pay for Ellis Island to MAIL you a hard copy of a manifest, or other product.

Bob

sirdan
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Joined: 07 Mar 2012
Replies: 304
Location: ** Southeast Pole**
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 4:50 pm Post subject:

Bob was right.

I have checked their policy myself, and what they offer you online are "Site" and "Services". The manifests and passenger lists were microfilmed by National Archives http://www.archives.gov/nyc/finding-aids/passenger-lists.html here is quite informative link. Microfilms are free to use at their facilty with a margin fee for an uncertified copy.
Many of volunteers transcribed/digitized all records into text, that we can search for ancestors online by name, origin town or whatever eg. on Ellis Island. They did quite bunch of work with these transcriptions; imagine that genealogist would have to go to NA office somewhere in US to find one's ancestor in the one of the 25mln passenger records available.
Probably NA has released another set of microfilms, so that ellisisland will offer (till somewhere beggining of this year) arrival records for Ellis Island/Port of New York for the years 1925 through 1957. Maybe that was cause of changing of the site's outfit.

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