Comments on: More search questions from the webinar http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=more-search-questions-from-the-webinar The official blog of Ancestry.com Tue, 21 May 2013 16:20:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: enos ray jr. http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-36203 enos ray jr. Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:13:35 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-36203 CA N I SEE ENOS RAY LOG AND ANSWER AGAINIS IT THE JANE RAY THING CA N I SEE ENOS RAY LOG AND ANSWER AGAINIS IT THE JANE RAY THING

]]> By: Martha Cieglo http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33860 Martha Cieglo Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:18:11 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33860 I have read most of the posting on the blogs. Yes, there are problems on ancestry but if you have been doing genealogical research for 40 years like I have, you would realize they are minor. A real problem is having to wait 3-4 weeks for one microfilm census record to come in, then spend hours viewing it at a library 2 hours from your house. Or drive 650 miles to view records only to find out the elderly lady that has the key to the cabinet they are in is in the hospital, so sorry, the records are not available. Or spend hours on the phone just getting a name and address to send a request to. Just having access to the census records is worth the cost of ancestry. I spent far more money on research 40 years ago. I'll gladly toggle from one page to another and sift through unwanted data, it sure beats digging through boxes of unorganized. photocopied church records 800 miles from home. I have read most of the posting on the blogs. Yes, there are problems on ancestry but if you have been doing genealogical research for 40 years like I have, you would realize they are minor. A real problem is having to wait 3-4 weeks for one microfilm census record to come in, then spend hours viewing it at a library 2 hours from your house. Or drive 650 miles to view records only to find out the elderly lady that has the key to the cabinet they are in is in the hospital, so sorry, the records are not available. Or spend hours on the phone just getting a name and address to send a request to. Just having access to the census records is worth the cost of ancestry. I spent far more money on research 40 years ago. I’ll gladly toggle from one page to another and sift through unwanted data, it sure beats digging through boxes of unorganized. photocopied church records 800 miles from home.

]]> By: David Clifford http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33400 David Clifford Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:45:00 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33400 Hey, I'm new at this and could use a little help. How do I go about getting death certificates for family members that have passed away years ago? Hey, I’m new at this and could use a little help. How do I go about getting death certificates for family members that have passed away years ago?

]]> By: teresa http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33146 teresa Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:46:26 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33146 How can I learn about my ancestry sister when i don't know there name. I ask but no one know anything.family has told me so much thing it hard to believe.no one have a picture of them.all i know is i was born in Americaof the U.S that is someone was to tell me where I was born at I would be happy.I try to ask but didn't get answer to my question.I just don't know where to look.Could someone give me the answer where to look? How can I learn about my ancestry sister when i don’t know there name. I ask but no one know anything.family has told me so much thing it hard to believe.no one have a picture of them.all i know is i was born in Americaof the U.S that is someone was to tell me where I was born at I would be happy.I try to ask but didn’t get answer to my question.I just don’t know where to look.Could someone give me the answer where to look?

]]> By: enos ray jr. http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33036 enos ray jr. Sat, 14 Feb 2009 09:52:25 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-33036 juest stumbled accross itexcellent juest stumbled accross itexcellent

]]> By: Moira http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-32319 Moira Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:35:13 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-32319 At My Canvas Webinar I received help from you as I could not see the prerecorded demo. I could not view it when you sent me a link to my email. I have been onto my ISP as it seems my broadband width was not wide enough.They have not been back to me.( Telstra in Australia) they seem to be to blame. Can I view it anywhere else?. Thanks Moira At My Canvas Webinar I received help from you as I could not see the prerecorded demo. I could not view it when you sent me a link to my email. I have been onto my ISP as it seems my broadband width was not wide enough.They have not been back to me.( Telstra in Australia) they seem to be to blame. Can I view it anywhere else?. Thanks Moira

]]> By: Sherry http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-32219 Sherry Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:53:29 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-32219 I just wanted to say thank you for going back to the old format. Now when I click on a state, I get the records for that particular state. Thanks again, Sherry I just wanted to say thank you for going back to the old format. Now when I click on a state, I get the records for that particular state. Thanks again,

Sherry

]]> By: Jade http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-31826 Jade Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:08:11 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-31826 Anne, Your Q&A #7 sidesteps the irrelevancy quotient. As you know, in the first approach the so-called "Maryland" State listing contains much that is irrelevant to MD. Using your second approach, the search engine still returns the totally unrelated items: Ireland, Index to Griffith’s Valuation, 1848-1864 British Phone Books, 1880-1984 Nevada Marriage Index, 1956-2005 Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 1851 United Kingdom Census Sample If the question were "Can I search strictly within one State?", the answer is "No, not really." At the end of the section for #7, you accurately describe one of the major flaws in the New Fuzzy Search Interface: "You can try the same for Birth or Marriage or any other location. I would recommend you not do all of these locations at once as exact, because it will only return results that exactly match those values. It is hard to find a record that shows a birth, marriage, death and residence all on the same document. So try them one at a time." There should be something on the Search forms telling the would-be searcher that the search will not retrieve all data described as the user enters it: marriages AND births AND deaths AND court records. Instead, it will omit a birth record because it does not have the date of death in it, omit a death record that does not give date of marriage and spouse's name, and so forth. That is, the fields result in *excluding* data rather than *including* data. This is a little inexplicable (and very frustrating for the unwary) since one cannot get the NFSUI to exclude results for before a birth date or after a death date. Your presentation of search tips is a good effort overall, but I would suggest a bit more emphasis on limitations of the NFSUI and the underlying Search Engine. Best wishes, Jade Anne,

Your Q&A #7 sidesteps the irrelevancy quotient. As you know, in the first approach the so-called “Maryland” State listing contains much that is irrelevant to MD.

Using your second approach, the search engine still returns the totally unrelated items:

Ireland, Index to Griffith’s Valuation, 1848-1864
British Phone Books, 1880-1984
Nevada Marriage Index, 1956-2005
Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934
1851 United Kingdom Census Sample

If the question were “Can I search strictly within one State?”, the answer is “No, not really.”

At the end of the section for #7, you accurately describe one of the major flaws in the New Fuzzy Search Interface:

“You can try the same for Birth or Marriage or any other location. I would recommend you not do all of these locations at once as exact, because it will only return results that exactly match those values. It is hard to find a record that shows a birth, marriage, death and residence all on the same document. So try them one at a time.”

There should be something on the Search forms telling the would-be searcher that the search will not retrieve all data described as the user enters it: marriages AND births AND deaths AND court records. Instead, it will omit a birth record because it does not have the date of death in it, omit a death record that does not give date of marriage and spouse’s name, and so forth. That is, the fields result in *excluding* data rather than *including* data. This is a little inexplicable (and very frustrating for the unwary) since one cannot get the NFSUI to exclude results for before a birth date or after a death date.

Your presentation of search tips is a good effort overall, but I would suggest a bit more emphasis on limitations of the NFSUI and the underlying Search Engine.

Best wishes,
Jade

]]> By: Tony Cousins http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-31816 Tony Cousins Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:30:24 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-31816 Wow, do I have egg on my face - the 'lost' post was by David Graham and not Anne. The link that threw me was at the bottom of the post entitled "State and Country Pages" - http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/01/28/state-and-country-pages/ that takes you to the Anne Mitchell main posting page not the next posting. My sincere apologies to Anne. Having said that there is still no explanation of the problems that happened over the weekend. Nobody from Ancestry has posted in that area. Anne - I have no problem with you removing my incorrect posting, and maybe you can get someone from Ancestry to answer the questions posed in http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/01/16/if-youre-still-experiencing-site-errors/#comments TonyC TonyC Wow, do I have egg on my face – the ‘lost’ post was by David Graham and not Anne. The link that threw me was at the bottom of the post entitled “State and Country Pages” – http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/01/28/state-and-country-pages/ that takes you to the Anne Mitchell main posting page not the next posting. My sincere apologies to Anne.

Having said that there is still no explanation of the problems that happened over the weekend. Nobody from Ancestry has posted in that area.

Anne – I have no problem with you removing my incorrect posting, and maybe you can get someone from Ancestry to answer the questions posed in http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/01/16/if-youre-still-experiencing-site-errors/#comments

TonyC

TonyC

]]> By: Aed Sys http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-31813 Aed Sys Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:46:16 +0000 http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2009/02/02/more-search-questions-from-the-webinar/#comment-31813 thanks for this information sharing. thanks for this information sharing.

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