Agreed. 

Lowell was one of the worst run counties in the state until Dick Howe took over.  He did a marvelous job re-doing the indices - & changing the recording system, which was chaotic at best.  Now, however, it's all remote recording & everything is on the computers.  There are no books to look at anymore - they're all locked away in the basement somewhere. 

I suppose that from his standpoint, the system does work exactly the way it's supposed to; but I am not a mindreader.  Unless he posts this kind of information on his website - there's absolutely no possible way anyone can intuit this. 

My personal take on this, is to make the Registries liable for their errors - hold their feet to the fire - & see how quickly things will change.  As it is now, the Registries can make as many errors as they want to (not, of course, that they want to) without any fear of consequences.  You or I make a mistake, based on erroneous information given out by them & it's off to the races.