The Daily Genealogy Transcriber was started on a whim--at least partially. All genealogists struggle with names that are difficult to read and get read "creatively" by indexers or transcriptionsists. Despite the best of intentions, those reading records can interpret things in ways other than they were intended.
The point of Transcriber was to see how easy it is to read something in a way other than it was written. For that reason, we don't always post the entire image--although often we do post more than just one word if the item is from a census, a passenger list, a church record, etc.
However, with signatures--that often is the only handwriting we have as the person signing the document often did not write the entire document. That's the case with draft registrations, original copies of wills, and a few other records. In some cases, the signature is all that is posted because that is the ONLY sample of that person's handwriting available.
Usually images posted are the largest and best magnification that I can get--click on the image and often times it will come up bigger.
Part of how we (I) play the game here at the Genealogy Transcriber is to show you part of the entire document so we can see how errors in transcription happen. I think that for some of us (ok, at least me) seeing those alternate renderings is extremely helpful when searching databases that contain transcriptions of names.
In almost every case, I know what the "answer" is,and usually post it in a few days after the original image runs. If you see a post from me, then it's either a general comment, directed suggestion, or the "answer."
Thanks for playing--and please continue to play. There are quite a few who diligently follow The Genealogy Transcriber every day and I DO appreciate that.
Michael
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