Comments on: What I learned at FGS 2008…. http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008 The official blog of Ancestry.com Thu, 23 May 2013 03:10:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Karen http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-27953 Karen Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:26:51 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-27953 Hi! There are many, many problems with Ancestry search engines. My problems with the marriages are as follows: 1) I already have the marriage date, spouse, and county for the marriage entered. 2) I SIMPLY want to attach the marriage record. 3) The name is misspelled by one SIMPLE letter (Exa: the second letter in the last name OR the fifth letter in the last name,,,,which occurs on at least 30 percent of the records) 4) To accomplish this SIMPLE task of attaching the record, which I already know exists and have entered all the information on, I must go through the following TIME CONSUMING ordeal: a) Do a search on my ancestor b) Hit the button to switch back to the old search as the new search won't even bring up the data bank and only lists some strange data bank for another state or country as a hit. c) Hit the button to go back home and bring my ancestor's page back up d) Hit my ancestor's profile page and get out of the BETA (no option to just go to the profile page if you are not loving the BETA test thing) e) Hit research historical records again. f) Hit the marriage/death catagory button to narrow the search. g) Hit the 50 results button because why would anyone in their right mind want to page through in 10 hit increments when they can look at 50 hits on a page? h) Select the match category instead of alphabet. i) Scroll down through data banks for other countries and states until I find the right data bank and hit on it. j) My relative doesn't come up, because his name is wrong on the second letter and I MUST have the first three letters of the last name right or I am stuck paging and paging. k) Make a choice to either scroll to the bottom and try a new search under just the year and county, which will lose my direct connection to my ancestor OR scroll through page after page of records in 5 page jumps to get to the Ws, because my relatives last name starts with a W! l) Finally, there is the record and I need to make a correction to the record for your record purposes. That's two more hits. Three more hits to get back to the original record. And finally AGAIN, I get to click and hit the save record button. BUT WAIT, theres more!!!,,,Now, I wait for the page with the actual record to load so I can attach it. If I am lucky, my ancestor only has ONE marriage, because if they have more than one, which again, is already entered on my ancestor's profile with names, dates, state, county, there is a good possibility your program will try to attach it to the wrong marriage and date. There is no way out of this unless I hit cancel, page back, remove the marriage I don't want and go through the whole process again, JUST to attach the record. Do you see where I am going with this? I know you all are working hard, so please don't take this personal. But, think of me. I am traveling at 100mbs. Everytime I attach a record, your site gets progressively slower. Actually, once I have been on awhile, I can clean a room and do laundry while waiting for pages to load. The heaven it would be, to just have your program read my date, county, state on the marriage and bring up all the last names that start with a SIMPLE W if there is not a direct match!!!!!! Hi! There are many, many problems with Ancestry search engines. My problems with the marriages are as follows:
1) I already have the marriage date, spouse, and county for the marriage entered.
2) I SIMPLY want to attach the marriage record.
3) The name is misspelled by one SIMPLE letter (Exa: the second letter in the last name OR the fifth letter in the last name,,,,which occurs on at least 30 percent of the records)
4) To accomplish this SIMPLE task of attaching the record, which I already know exists and have entered all the information on, I must go through the following TIME CONSUMING ordeal:
a) Do a search on my ancestor
b) Hit the button to switch back to the old search as the new search won’t even bring up the data bank and only lists some strange data bank for another state or country as a hit.
c) Hit the button to go back home and bring my ancestor’s page back up d) Hit my ancestor’s profile page and get out of the BETA (no option to just go to the profile page if you are not loving the BETA test thing)
e) Hit research historical records again.
f) Hit the marriage/death catagory button to narrow the search.
g) Hit the 50 results button because why would anyone in their right mind want to page through in 10 hit increments when they can look at 50 hits on a page?
h) Select the match category instead of alphabet.
i) Scroll down through data banks for other countries and states until I find the right data bank and hit on it.
j) My relative doesn’t come up, because his name is wrong on the second letter and I MUST have the first three letters of the last name right or I am stuck paging and paging.
k) Make a choice to either scroll to the bottom and try a new search under just the year and county, which will lose my direct connection to my ancestor OR scroll through page after page of records in 5 page jumps to get to the Ws, because my relatives last name starts with a W!
l) Finally, there is the record and I need to make a correction to the record for your record purposes. That’s two more hits. Three more hits to get back to the original record. And finally AGAIN, I get to click and hit the save record button. BUT WAIT, theres more!!!,,,Now, I wait for the page with the actual record to load so I can attach it. If I am lucky, my ancestor only has ONE marriage, because if they have more than one, which again, is already entered on my ancestor’s profile with names, dates, state, county, there is a good possibility your program will try to attach it to the wrong marriage and date. There is no way out of this unless I hit cancel, page back, remove the marriage I don’t want and go through the whole process again, JUST to attach the record.

Do you see where I am going with this? I know you all are working hard, so please don’t take this personal. But, think of me. I am traveling at 100mbs. Everytime I attach a record, your site gets progressively slower. Actually, once I have been on awhile, I can clean a room and do laundry while waiting for pages to load. The heaven it would be, to just have your program read my date, county, state on the marriage and bring up all the last names that start with a SIMPLE W if there is not a direct match!!!!!!

]]> By: Andy Hatchett http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22883 Andy Hatchett Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:48:03 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22883 Well.. it seems Anne considers this particular bolg closed... She does have a new one on the October Blog. Well.. it seems Anne considers this particular bolg closed…

She does have a new one on the October Blog.

]]> By: Jade http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22803 Jade Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:55:27 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22803 Anne has had plenty of feedback from her questions and regarding things she did not specifically ask. The search engine interfaces are not her only responsibilities. If Anne wants further feedback I am sure she will post something. Some of us will check back occasionally. Anne has had plenty of feedback from her questions and regarding things she did not specifically ask.

The search engine interfaces are not her only responsibilities.

If Anne wants further feedback I am sure she will post something. Some of us will check back occasionally.

]]> By: Andy Hatchett http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22765 Andy Hatchett Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:40:26 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22765 Well, I just wrote her so let's see if it goes through or bounces.. that will tell us something anyway. Well, I just wrote her so let’s see if it goes through or bounces.. that will tell us something anyway.

]]> By: Carol A. H. http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22760 Carol A. H. Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:18:48 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22760 Well Reed, I think you are right. This blog thread is just going to expire from lack of attention. Since we don't know if there is a good reason for Anne's absence, perhaps we could email her directly at Ancestry. She did respond to one of my emails (very early in this game) personally and said to email her. Remember, she posted her addy at the begining of this thread. "About Anne Mitchell Anne Mitchell is a product manager for search at Ancestry.com. Feel free to contact her with your thoughts about search. She can’t help you find your long lost ancestors – she’s still searching for her own, but thoughts on how to improve search functionality are always appreciated. Her email is amitchell at tgn.com." Actual addy is: amitchell@tgn.com I have gotten some good help talking to live humans at ancestry recently by telephone. That is good because I did get the help but not so good because I have problems with the site. I'm not giving up...yet, I've been busy doing real research using OLD search! Well Reed, I think you are right. This blog thread is just going to expire from lack of attention. Since we don’t know if there is a good reason for Anne’s absence, perhaps we could email her directly at Ancestry. She did respond to one of my emails (very early in this game) personally and said to email her.

Remember, she posted her addy at the begining of this thread.

“About Anne Mitchell
Anne Mitchell is a product manager for search at Ancestry.com. Feel free to contact her with your thoughts about search. She can’t help you find your long lost ancestors – she’s still searching for her own, but thoughts on how to improve search functionality are always appreciated. Her email is amitchell at tgn.com.”

Actual addy is:

amitchell@tgn.com

I have gotten some good help talking to live humans at ancestry recently by telephone. That is good because I did get the help but not so good because I have problems with the site.

I’m not giving up…yet, I’ve been busy doing real research using OLD search!

]]> By: Reed http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22673 Reed Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:45:35 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22673 Hello?… Anne? Anne Mitchell?… Anybody home?… ****************************** Well fellow bloggers, I guess it's over. It's been 3 weeks since Anne's last post. Apparently, she has been sucked into Ancestry's infamous Customer Service Vortex Of Oblivion. And with her absence—and no regular blog feedback from anyone at Ancestry—this blog devolves into another random message board. Better than nothing, perhaps, but as Anne said in her last post (#29, Sept. 17): "There are message boards for ancestry.com proper, but I know I don’t monitor them on a regular basis […] I could spend all day chatting with people about this problem and that, and lots of new ideas, but then I’m spending all day chatting […]" Exactly so. There is really no reason for any of us to frequent an unmoderated message board. We Ancestry users/customers already know what's going wrong with New Search, databases, indexing, etc. We need to know that: • Ancestry understands the issues, • Is working on solutions, and • We get some reality-based estimates of when problems will be corrected. Without a commitment from Ancestry to interactive, ongoing, customer communication and service, this blog feels pretty pointless, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. (Although I continue to enjoy and profit from the interesting observations of many of you fellow bloggers! Thanks, y'all.) Well, it was nice while it lasted… —Reed P.S. Now, Anne seemed quite likable and perhaps she still has the customers' (our!) interests at heart. Perhaps she is, at this very moment implementing wonderful improvements to the site. But who knows? The net result is—once again—we users are left in the dark… All of which, I think, reinforces the need for an ongoing Ancestry.com "User's Advocate" (see my post #28, above, for details), a one-person "clearinghouse" who could field queries,suggestions and complaints from blog readers and find answers from the most appropriate, in-the-know Ancestry employees and pass them along. It would be a win-win for company and customers. Ancestry gets an ongoing, passionate, experienced and informed "focus group" and we customers get some sense that our concerns are heard and will be addressed. The ball—once again—is in your court, Ancestry. Hello?…

Anne? Anne Mitchell?…

Anybody home?…

******************************

Well fellow bloggers, I guess it’s over. It’s been 3 weeks since Anne’s last post. Apparently, she has been sucked into Ancestry’s infamous Customer Service Vortex Of Oblivion.

And with her absence—and no regular blog feedback from anyone at Ancestry—this blog devolves into another random message board. Better than nothing, perhaps, but as Anne said in her last post (#29, Sept. 17):

“There are message boards for ancestry.com proper, but I know I don’t monitor them on a regular basis […] I could spend all day chatting with people about this problem and that, and lots of new ideas, but then I’m spending all day chatting […]”

Exactly so. There is really no reason for any of us to frequent an unmoderated message board. We Ancestry users/customers already know what’s going wrong with New Search, databases, indexing, etc.

We need to know that:
• Ancestry understands the issues,
• Is working on solutions, and
• We get some reality-based estimates of when problems will be corrected.

Without a commitment from Ancestry to interactive, ongoing, customer communication and service, this blog feels pretty pointless, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way. (Although I continue to enjoy and profit from the interesting observations of many of you fellow bloggers! Thanks, y’all.)

Well, it was nice while it lasted…

—Reed

P.S. Now, Anne seemed quite likable and perhaps she still has the customers’ (our!) interests at heart. Perhaps she is, at this very moment implementing wonderful improvements to the site. But who knows? The net result is—once again—we users are left in the dark…

All of which, I think, reinforces the need for an ongoing Ancestry.com “User’s Advocate” (see my post #28, above, for details), a one-person “clearinghouse” who could field queries,suggestions and complaints from blog readers and find answers from the most appropriate, in-the-know Ancestry employees and pass them along.

It would be a win-win for company and customers. Ancestry gets an ongoing, passionate, experienced and informed “focus group” and we customers get some sense that our concerns are heard and will be addressed.

The ball—once again—is in your court, Ancestry.

]]> By: Anne MacDonald http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22375 Anne MacDonald Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:09:10 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22375 I am searching for my grandmother "Beatrice Mae Noel,I obtain some information on her from this web,now i can't get the information back.how i got the information before was through 1901 cenus in Montreal, Quebec. She is listed.My grandmother last redience was:5155 St.Catherine ST. East Montreal.Date of death:July 12,1965 at Grace Dart Extened Care.Montreal.Why is it i can't come up with the information again.Please respond.Anne MacDonald. n44@telus.net I am searching for my grandmother “Beatrice Mae Noel,I obtain some information on her from this web,now i can’t get the information back.how i got the information before was through 1901 cenus in Montreal, Quebec. She is listed.My grandmother last redience was:5155 St.Catherine ST. East Montreal.Date of death:July 12,1965 at Grace Dart Extened Care.Montreal.Why is it i can’t come up with the information again.Please respond.Anne MacDonald. n44@telus.net

]]> By: Nancy Rogers http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22311 Nancy Rogers Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:23:33 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22311 Believe it or not last night I got to be one of the lucky ones who was selected to give my feedback on ancestry.com. My responses mostly ranged in the negative side, and then when asked about the scrapbook, my face type of environment I responded with never will use. I think we have been left again in the dark hole of no where. It has now been since September 17th that we have had any response from ancestry.com. I wonder what would happen to us if we set our credit cards to pay in this manner? Believe it or not last night I got to be one of the lucky ones who was selected to give my feedback on ancestry.com. My responses mostly ranged in the negative side, and then when asked about the scrapbook, my face type of environment I responded with never will use.
I think we have been left again in the dark hole of no where. It has now been since September 17th that we have had any response from ancestry.com. I wonder what would happen to us if we set our credit cards to pay in this manner?

]]> By: Yolanda Simpson http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22144 Yolanda Simpson Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:29:15 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22144 Hello. I am looking for my father by the name of Leslie George Simpson. He was last seen at a gas station in either Ozone Park or South Ozone Park,Queens,New York. I have not seen my father since 1994 and I desperately want to reunite with him. If you know any info about his whereabouts please contact me at bswtsuga@aim.com with a possible pic and location of him. His b-date is 1/15/47. Thank you and God bless you. Hello. I am looking for my father by the name of Leslie George Simpson. He was last seen at a gas station in either Ozone Park or South Ozone Park,Queens,New York. I have not seen my father since 1994 and I desperately want to reunite with him. If you know any info about his whereabouts please contact me at bswtsuga@aim.com with a possible pic and location of him. His b-date is 1/15/47. Thank you and God bless you.

]]> By: Jade http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22011 Jade Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:20:36 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2008/09/10/what-i-learned-at-fgs-2008/#comment-22011 While trying to use New Fuzzy to locate records for a particular state via New Fuzzy's version of an interface with Card Catalog (I really don't recommend trying to do this, the filters don't work and you get completely irrelevant results in huge numbers), it came to my attention that Ancestry has newly added the U. S. Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records, 1775-1783, from the National Archives. I eagerly clicked on this to search. After several minutes' wait for the search page to load, I found that the only search parameters available in New Fuzzy for this database are "Lived In" and "More" (keyword). What? I could get a list of, say, 50,000 unidentified pages for Virginians? Unsortable by any handy tool such as *name* or *regiment*? Is this another Famous Ancestry Trick, like the non-indexed Miscellaneous Revolutionar War papers images that were added at the time of the Revolutionary War Database Rollout (the National Archives has microfilmed indexes to these papers, but these were not added by Ancestry of course). So what is the use of this? While trying to use New Fuzzy to locate records for a particular state via New Fuzzy’s version of an interface with Card Catalog (I really don’t recommend trying to do this, the filters don’t work and you get completely irrelevant results in huge numbers), it came to my attention that Ancestry has newly added the U. S. Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records, 1775-1783, from the National Archives.

I eagerly clicked on this to search. After several minutes’ wait for the search page to load, I found that the only search parameters available in New Fuzzy for this database are “Lived In” and “More” (keyword).

What? I could get a list of, say, 50,000 unidentified pages for Virginians? Unsortable by any handy tool such as *name* or *regiment*?

Is this another Famous Ancestry Trick, like the non-indexed Miscellaneous Revolutionar War papers images that were added at the time of the Revolutionary War Database Rollout (the National Archives has microfilmed indexes to these papers, but these were not added by Ancestry of course).

So what is the use of this?

]]>