Write to the register

What to write about

The register office welcomes three kinds of letter. Corrections come first: if an entry misstates a fact, cites a source that has moved, or overclaims where the evidence is thin, say so and the correction will be struck in the open. Suggestions come second: a question the register has not covered, a source worth reading, a convention of practice worth recording. Third, corrections of provenance: if you hold information about this domain's history that the archive does not show, the register would rather record it accurately than guess.

What the office cannot do

The register cannot take bookings, recommend a named practitioner, or answer questions about an individual pregnancy. It cannot say whether a symptom is serious, whether a therapy will help a particular reader, or whether a particular clinic is good. Those questions belong to a midwife, a GP, or the maternity triage line, and writing them here will only get that same answer back, kindly but firmly.

Where to write

Letters go to the register office at the editorial address published in the colophon of each page. Write plainly, cite the entry number if the letter concerns one, and say whether the register may quote the letter if an entry is corrected. The office reads everything and answers what it can; what it cannot answer it still reads, because the questions readers ask are the register's best list of entries still to write.