Comments on: Ancestry celebrates 25 years!

By: Rebecca Ashby

Rebecca Ashby — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:33:53 +0000

I pay a subscription fee to use ancestry.com. I would appreciate it if the advertisements were removed TOTALLY. I enjoy the service, but I hate the nuisance of flashy, non-relevant ads. They are not necessary and I am considering cancelling my subscription as a result.

By: Rick Frederick

Rick Frederick — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:53:28 +0000

Dear Folks:

Ancestry.com has a major problem with its North Carolina Births Index, which I brought to their attention several years ago. It is explained in the following message that I posted today to the Caswell County and Catawba County (both North Carolina) Ancestry.com message board.

Many Ancestry.com customers are being misled by this corrupted database.

Thanks and best regards,

Rick Frederick
Archivist and Webmaster
Caswell County Historical Association
Caswell County NC GenWeb
rick@ncccha.org

____________

Dear Folks:

In a message posted here 28 February 2006, I reported on very troublesome errors in the North Carolina Birth Index 1800-2000 on Ancestry.com. The problems remain even though I have called this to the attention of Ancestry.com many times.

Listed below are what I believe are the affected portions of the database. However, I wanted to let you know how to determine if the record was with respect to Catawba County or Caswell County:

If you come upon a birth record that shows Catawba County as the birth location, but it is suspect, do not rely upon the Ancestry.com digest, but go to the actual record. There is a column on the right side of the ledger page with the heading “Township.” Look at the entries on the entire page (often two pages are displayed). If you see listed in the “Township” column P, DR, M, LH, Y, L, SC, A, and/or HT, you definitely are on a Caswell County page. These are abbreviations for the nine Caswell County townships: Pelham, Dan River, Milton, Locust Hill, Yanceyville, Leasburg, Stoney Creek, Anderson, and Hightowers.

The Caswell County coverage in the North Carolina Birth Index is divided into three sections:

1913-1956
Roll Number: NCVR_B_CO20_66001

1957-1995
Roll Number: NCVR_B_CO20_66002

Various
Roll Number: NCVR_B_CO20_68001

The Catawba County coverage in the North Carolina Birth Index is divided into four sections:

1913-1940
Roll Number: NCVR_B_CO21_66001

1941-1959
Roll Number: NCVR_B_CO21_66002

1960-1979
Roll Number: NCVR_B_CO21_68003

Various [Delayed Birth Records]
Roll Number: NCVR_B_CO21_68001
_______________

The problem for those researching Caswell County (CO 20) apparently is in the 1913-1956 period. When you go to Roll Number NCVR_B_CO20_66001 (see above under Caswell County) you are taken to the Catawba County births index.

The problem for those researching Catawba County (CO 21) apparently is in the 1960-1979 period. When you go to Roll Number NCVR_B_CO21_68003 (see above under Catawba County) you are taken to the Caswell County births index.

Some records obviously have been incorrectly indexed by Ancestry.com.

Your help in “pestering” Ancestry.com would be greatly appreciated. I have worn out my welcome.

Best regards,

Rick
Richmond Stanfield Frederick, Jr.
Archivist and Webmaster
Caswell County Historical Association
Caswell County NC GenWeb
rick@ncccha.org

By: Jonie Berdin

Jonie Berdin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:09:14 +0000

Can we please have the children’s birth year listed by the child again on the “People” (parents) page. They were left off with the new page you changed to recently. Thank you.

By: Roberta Iiames

Roberta Iiames — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:26:01 +0000

I started using Family Tree Maker when it first came out. You could buy the CD’s from Broderbund [Banner Blue] I have many of those. I have upgraded to every version except the last one 2008. I am so glad I didn’t do it. My husband and I use to go to many of the counties in a lot of the states to research records. Exciting to touch a record 200 years old. While the thrill of handling these old records is not there, the fact that we can see them on Ancestry is just as good. I have no problems with the content of the records and I understand fully that some records are sharper in the fields than others. In some cases, this is not ancestry’s fault. Some people who filled in the data on a form did not write clearly or use the proper tool for completing the form. The person today who is trying to decipher the page has a real problem. Remember when you looked at some census forms? You probably said, “Can’t they write better?” This is still the problem. However, I would really like for ancestry not to push upon us their new home page. Remember, haste makes waste!

By: VES

VES — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:00:35 +0000

Congrats on the first 25 years! Yes, I’m VERY thankful Ancestry.com has helped me to research & locate ancestors, but now with the cost of life in general being so high, I can no longer afford the high subscription rates. I’m to the point in research that I must “cross the borders” and can’t even afford to get to the next city on Ancestry… I hope Ancestry can continue their good work, but until the price goes down, I won’t be.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:58:07 +0000

I’m sorry but the previous comments are just unacceptable. If you are so unhappy with the website, stop complaining about it and filling up pages after pages with inappropriate and useless comments. Go back to the way things used to be and spend hours looking through microfilm instead of whining about the advances this site has made.

With that being said, ancestry.com:
This is one subscriber who has had so much great success in tracking my ancestors. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE ON YOUR WEBSITE, and I will continue to support this site in the next 25 years.

Congratulations on the anniversary.

By: jean

jean — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:39:52 +0000

what 25 years all ready

well make the most of it because if you go on treating your subscribers as you do you wont be seeing another 25 years we are not happy.

By: Charlene

Charlene — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:39:14 +0000

One monument marks tthe gravesite of Merrit and sarah in the old cemetery in Junction, Tecas. My husband and I hope to get back there in the fall an clean the monument which is still legible however very dirty.

By: Anji

Anji — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:16:10 +0000

“just how far we’ve come”

Try “how far we have to go”…

Try addressing ALL the issues on the Message boards (previous email sent to messageboards@rootsweb.com AND feedback@rootsweb.com resulting in ZERO response):

While reviewing surnames entries on a board which I just adopted, I came across one message that is resistant to editing. It contains square brackets ( [ ] ) and curly brackets ( { } ). Are there problems editing messages that contain those types of brackets in addition to angle brackets ( )?

For the sake of all admins, it would be beneficial if *someone* would post this type of information either on the “Admin Info” screen of on the “Board Administration News” board. How are we supposed to know these things unless *someone* tells us?

It is becoming more and more frustrating to administer boards due to the excessive errors/bugs:
1.) Error Retrieving Message. There is no rhyme or reason to the appearance of this error. Sometimes it takes 4-5 reloads to actually get the message to open. This happens to me every day. Although I haven’t counted them all, I’d say a minimum of 20 times a day.
2.) Editing errors. Sometimes, again, for no rhyme or reason, when an admin clicks the “Edit Message” link, the Edit screen appears with a *different* message from a *different* board. The message that most frequently appears for me is the latest message on the “Board Administration News” board, but I have seen other messages, ALL from boards I do *not* administer. That is scary!
3.) Angle brackets render messages non-editable (by admins). If a message contains angle brackets, all editing attempts result in 500 errors. Surely programmers could correct this fairly easily. It doesn’t make sense to waste staff time with these minor edits. Also, if this is going to be allowed to remain, the Board FAQ and Post screen should have a blurb about avoiding the use of angle brackets, which many posters use to denote a quote from a previous message.
4.) Different board after edit. After clicking “Submit” on the Edit screen, we should be taken back to the main view for that particular board. However, on odd occasions, instead of going back to that board, I am taken to an entirely different board - - although both the URL and the “You are here:” shows I’m on the correct board. (The messages are from a different board). Reloading does correct this, usually on the first try, but sometimes it requires 2 reloads.
5.) Non-accessible Recycle Bins. Recycle Bins for some of the boards are non-accessible to the board admin. It is constant (no access at any time) on those particular boards. This has been a known issue for over a year and still not addressed.

Something is horribly wrong to continue to have all these errors 19 months after the “new” boards were implemented. Is it the software? Is it the programming? Is it a result of lack of testing? Does TGN care whether or not the boards work? It would appear the answer to the last question is: “Apparently not” since corrections are not being made. Having silly little avatars on our public profiles are important, but not consistently working message boards…

Anji

By: t thomas

t thomas — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:46:49 +0000

my family tree has just disappeared.i want it back-like asap.thx.