Free access to Irish Newspaper Archive - Today Only

Coolnabacky1873

Copied form their tweet:

Enjoy #FREE ACCESS to the #IrishNewspaperArchives only today! Go to http://bit.ly/1zGPrRO and put Username Freebie & Password Freebie

Password/Username are case sensitive

Ponster

Excellent, thanks !

Hermy

It's painfully slow as ever.

Hermy

A few others on their Facebook page getting Internal Server Error too.

How they can justify charging for this service is beyond me.

Waitsian

Yeah I got three articles saved but have now given up, too frustrating. Constant messages of 'Internal server error'. Shame really. They have a great product with lots of titles but can't deliver it properly.

Coolnabacky1873

I must have been lucky, managed to download about 20 articles before getting those messages.....maybe US based IP address get preference

Hermy

It actually got better after a while but it's still very poor by the standards we might expect.

Waitsian

Hermy wrote: »

It actually got better after a while but it's still very poor by the standards we might expect.

I gave it another go several times and am still getting the 'error' message.

I've never used the site before but I'm going to suggest that with it being free they have an overload of the system. I'm no technician or IT expert - do they need a more powerful server?

If it's regularly slow they'd want to get their act together. If I paid E10 up front for a days access and the site was so slow and inaccessible I'd want a refund.

Maybe someone like Ancestry or FMP needs to buy them out.

Waitsian

From their official Facebook page:

Thanks for your feedback. As we had a lot of people access the website at the same time it appears to have caused some issues with our system. Apologies for the disappointment it caused some users. It is something we will look into before running a free access promotion again. Please be assured it is not a normal occurrence and access to the archives is very straight forward. Subscription is available in euros.

Anyone use it regularly? I'd love to sign up for a month but I'm not exactly inspired after today's debacle. I remember reading former complaints about it's speed - has it improved? Is it worth it?

L1011

Hermy wrote: »

A few others on their Facebook page getting Internal Server Error too.

How they can justify charging for this service is beyond me.

It's not as heavily loaded when it's not free. It's not the most reliable ever mind

omerin

What a PR disaster

Jellybaby1

I only learned about the freebie offer now but like a lot of people I'm getting nothing. The site was better before they changed it. At least then I could get something. I hate using the site now and I'll go to any lengths to avoid using it.

shanew

mod9maple wrote: »

....Anyone use it regularly? I'd love to sign up for a month but I'm not exactly inspired after today's debacle. I remember reading former complaints about it's speed - has it improved? Is it worth it?

I use it regularly - speed is very variable, but still far faster than trying to search newspapers manually - which drives you mad after a few days. If the site gets in a slow mode I back off and retry a few hours later.

Waitsian

So I made a polite but critical post on FB and they offered me a free 24 hour search on Sunday 10 am - Monday 10 am. I'll see how it goes and then decide whether or not to subscribe for a longer period. Nice to get the offer all the same.

Jellybaby1

I think they should have made allowances for the crashing of the site and given us all a second free weekend.

Waitsian

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I think they should have made allowances for the crashing of the site and given us all a second free weekend.

I agree but I tell you what. I'll let everyone on here know how I get on in terms of access and speeds etc. I've read mixed reports in the past but the proof is in the pudding, we'll see how it goes.

Waitsian

So I got to tell you that wasn't at all a bad experience. There's a minor delay on each new search, maybe 10-15 seconds tops, but all in all a gratifying experience. The software is user-friendly with the ability to bring up just the relevant snippet or the full page. There are various options to save too. I managed to find and save 25 articles relating to 20th century family members.

Based on my 24 hour trial period I'd recommend it if the newspapers they have on the site are applicable to you. I will go back to it someday for the Anglo-Celt which I didn't really get a chance to view to the extent I would have liked.

Having been frustrated on their Open Day I'm more than happy to say my skepticism has been alleviated.