add in to this the disatrous new search program and ancestry will eventually be worthless!

It’s been very sad to see what has transpired since ance$try.com announced last December through its designated mouthpiece (Kenny Freestone) that ancestry.com was moving the Online Family Tree (OFT) system on to a “higher” level with its Ance$try Member Tree (AMT) system. After nine months, readers should evaluate plusses and minuses of the move.

Little has changed since day one:

(1) Some subscribers, mostly newer ones, like the new graphical interface and the ability to attach photos and other media to their AMT’s. This was not possible directly with OFT, but, if you examine my own web site (click on my name), you can see how one can attach media using either OFT or freepages and websites on Rootsweb.com.

(2) Many subscribers who switched to AMT have been confused by a seemingly forced transfer, terrified that their research might have been lost. Many have been understandably outraged upon discovering that, under the new system, carefully prepared research notes would be available to nobody other than themselves.

(3) Many subscribers who switched to AMT are unhappy that their AMT trees are not generally accessible to the public. One of the irreplaceable benefits of posting an ancestry file on the web is contacts from long-lost cousins and other relatives. You can kiss that hope goodbye with the AMT system since only ance$try.com subscribers will ever see your AMT file (unless you are prevoyant and can identify those cousins in advance.)

(4) And others have complained that junk of all description can be glommed onto their AMT files without their permission. Yucch!

(5) It is pretty pathetic that there are 420+ messages in this blog site–mostly complaints that have not been answered. Ance$try.com appears to wish to bury the substantial complaints that its users and subscribers have about its operations.

In brief, the AMT system stinks for many potential users. The open OFT system was (and still is) a highly successful model for developing ancestry files over the web and making them publically available.

Sincerely,

Gary Collins (an ex ance$try.com subscriber)

THANKS
JEAN

i know i have said this before but please now you have moved the research notes to a place where we can all find them please concider this

it is aparent that some of us want our research notes to be available to all to see and some want them to remain private

i myself would like them visible as that is where ALL my research sources are entered as my tree stands now it looks like my tree is unsorced. but i can understand others who say thay dont want them on view so i prepose the following choices could be implimented alowing a choice of

a) all notes hiden
b) all notes shown
c) show all notes exept those switched of by choice
d) hide all notes exept those turned on by choice
e) show all notes for people born before 1900 (date varible)all note post 1900 (as per choice)(atamatically turned off
f) show all notes for (selected date) and those dead only after date

of couse to impliment them exactly as i discribe above could be cumbersom but i am not a programer but some work around should be possible especially if you use the top 4. in this way a majority of us would be able to have the choice we want be them off or on.

personly i did not insert my notes to be read by only me i intended them to be read by all.

judy

They have moved around all those bells and whistles on this over graphic burdened AMT in an effort to show they are LISTENING TO US THEIR CUSTUMERS they even moved the research notes up to a more visible position but the fact remains there are no improvements at all. The research notes are now where you can see then IF YOU OWN THE TREE but it seems they are still INVISABLE TO ALL BUT THOSE THAT THE OWNER OF THE TREE INVITE. The page is less informative on the family than before.

ancestry are acting just like a party magician they think that a little bit of slight of hand will impress and quieten our concerners but we know illusion when we see it especially badly preformed illusion. At the end of the day we have gained no improvement yet again we will protest while ancestry goes off to try to learn a new trick to enthral us. Ancestry needs to remember we know how magic works.

I wish we could turn back time and go back to the way things were before the OWT WAS EVEN CONCIVED BECAUSE THATS WHEN THE ROT SET IN but that is an impossible dream mean while we have to watch as the site which we all once loved and wanted to be with for life changes in a direction which will inevitable end in divorce by many customers when they don’t renew their subscriptions that they have possible have had for years. it such a shame when the record collection is so vast and important to us the customers that the improvements which are being rolled out on NEW SEARCH and AMT are angering us the customers rather than pleasing us that we are all begin to fall out of love and we slowly look more and more towards the only solution left open to us.

DORVORCE