The new enhanced pages for the original census are terrible. In order to have a full view of the census you have to click on 2 bars, then wait for the unnecessary junk to leave the page. The old system was fine. If I wanted to read the transcribed version it was only a click away. I do like being able to correct more lines of information, so that is an improvement.

For those that have trouble seeing the original census records, change the page magnification to 100% or even 200% That option is right there at the top of the old version of the original census pages.

Another frustrating change to the original census page is the removal of the path from the top of the census page. If I am looking at an 1870 page and wish to quickly look at a 1880 page, I can’t just click on the US census on the path line to quickly get to all of the census years. The same is true if I would like to look at a different town in the same county. Without that path bar I can’t easily move around all of the census records during searches.

For me the only improvement of the census pages is being able to correct more of the incorrectly transcribed lines. Everything else is just clutter.

In August of 2006 I advised Ancestry there were up to 120 Folios missing for the Parish of Mynyddyslwyn in the County of Monmouthshire in Wales for the 1871 census.e.g. RG10 Piece 5352 Folios 89 and 120. The response I received was that Ancestry appreciated there were missing images and that the issue would be resolved in a future update.
In August 2008 these images after two years of waiting had still not be added to Ancestry, I again sent an email. The response I received 8 August 2008 from Shauna, Member Solutions Ancestry.co.uk, was to advise me that the entire districts 4,5 and 6 were missing for Mynyddyslwyn and also that also the Parish was misspelled on the Ancestry system as Mynyddislwyn. Shauna advised she had submitted the request for the images to be placed on Ancestry ‘again in hopes that it will show some urgency for these records’. Here we are August 2009 and still no Districts 4, 5 or 6 for Mynyddyslwyn. When can I expect to access these images? I think having to wait for over three years is not acceptable.
Jenny

I went from the 2005 version to the 2010 version, and a challenge I find, is being able to denote merged and ignore, etc coments on the search feature.
When it proposes the little leaf, some of the items listed are not my family connection and they just hang out there. I have tried calling, but cannot get through to customer service to see if there is an alternative way to use that old feature. Really miss it.

The new report format looks good. I’m not sure what the symbols/icons in each person’s box mean. If they indicated children and/or multiple spouses, then this format becomes more of a working-version report, which is fine. I suppose the icons can be removed by content selection.
I would suggest that the connecting lines of the parents be moved or adjustable to the left so that more space on the LEFT becomes available, allowing for pictures or some additional text (a text box) to be added in the blank space, or even overlaying older content. A fantastic way to improve the product would be to layer content (using a layered file format) so that all sorts of new options would be available (reference – Adobe Photoshop, or the PDF or ADF file formats).

As I read various comments of others (#2-Jenny), it seems that there are requests that are really old (like 3 years). These people deserve personal responses from the manager responsible! Running a successful business is not easy, but UNANSWERED requests THAT old indicate a serious communication or management problem – emails and (internet) phone calls are nearly free. There needs to be a status and priority attached to each request and the requester needs to be advised of the assigned (and changes) so that customer’s expectations and anticipations can be adjusted appropriately. Work takes time, but surely there is a schedule, and hopefully someone is responsible.

Additional suggestions out of context:
In newly created reports it would be fantastic to do two things.
First, it would be fantastic to select individual person boxes and be able to alter/select content and format for that box (overriding the report selection) with the ability to remove all individual box overrides with one selection. Yes, this would cause the report format to need to change and be flexible.
Second, it would be nice to be able to use the empty space in a newly created report – inserting pictures, or text (box) notes.

If Ancestry is going to lead, the lead with distinction.

Thanks for the heads up, Eric.

Just so you get one on topic post.

I have recently experienced failure in uploading photos. I’ve tried using various web browsers (Firefox and Internet Explorer on a PC, Firefox on a Mac. This was a small file (80 kb) I tried as an experiment. Anyone had a similar problem?

POSTPONED? as of 5PM EST this entire database is missing:

Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967

I hope this is maintenance related, please advise.

Where is the Drouin Collection and when will it reappear? Soon I hope.

I echo comment #9. The Drouin Records are essential to my research. I desperately need them to continue.

I haven’t seen any answers to where the Drouin Collection went to ??? This database is critical to my research – is it under maintenance ???

Kathleen- Re: #11

Here is what was posted in another blog.

[QUOTE]
Reed
Posted on:
August 30, 2009 at 9:34 pm

For those of you interested in what’s up with the Drouin Collection, there is some very interesting breaking news at Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter. The article’s permalink should be:

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/08/ancestrycom-in-arbitration-over-the-drouin-collection.html

I hope this is useful.

— Reed

Comment Number:
31
Written by:
Andy Hatchett
Posted on:
August 31, 2009 at 1:42 am

Reed – Re:#30

*Very* interesting indeed!

I’m willing to bet that Ancestry can’t get it indexed correctly within 60 days.
[UNQUOTE]

read the Eastman online report. If true,sounds as though Drouin is offline for quite awhile. Wish Ancestry had told us themselves, or did I miss the explanation?

I am had more problems with the updates. The Census is messed up. When I click on, for example, 1930 Rochester, NY a different census shows up. When you click on a name for a record a different name appears. People who have paid subscriptions should get credits. This is crazy.

Jean- Re;#13

There was mention of the then pending legal action in the prospectus about their IPO but nothing on the boards and blogs that I know of.

Please tell everyone that the Drouin Collection is no longer available.

They have taken it away.

I am not happy about this.

Bonnie

Hi Eric,

Will Drouin Collection be back with the Index?

I am really concerned over the new way to make requests for certificates. On the old site (better for many reasons than the new in my opinion) one click took you straight to the central GRO site in London to order certificates for £7 each.

Now one click takes you to an Ancestry site where you can do the same thing, (admittedly with a little help with boxes filled in etc.) for £20. There is no mention of or access to the GRO site, so anyone new to family research would assume this was the only, and cheapest way to do it. When I took this up with Ancestry I received a bland reply which didn’t address the question at all.

Willbenow – Re:#16

Ancestry isn’t real thrilled either.

Ancestry did *not* take the collection away- a court of law did… a BIG difference.

Your announcement about Ancestry being down about >3 hrs….is long past. It has now been down about 15 hours. When will it be brought back up?

Patricia – Re:#20

I’ve been on it all day with no problem all in any area. It even seems quicker than normal!

After the upgrade half of my ancestors disappeared.

Re: #7 Duff,

Question: is there a way to bring back ignored or merged hints when I need to rebuild someone? I lost many people in my tree also when I listened to the wrong people for advice. I could really use a way that will allow me access to prior records and family members that I no longer have in my tree.

#19 Ancestry took it away when they did not comply with the terms of the agreement.

Another example of not getting what you pay for and finally, someone is doing something about it.

Ancestry should not list databases on their website “for hire” if they are not done correctly or incomplete……simple as that.

While I agree that something is better than nothing, greater care should be taken with records that folks are paying monies to access.

Most records in Ontario are free anyway and the LDS pilot site is catching up on the rest.

#21
It is now 10:30 p.m. eastern time and I still cannot get into my ancestrial tree. I get the cover sheet saying Ancestry is down for maintenance. There are no links on that allowing me to get directly to the Help area on Ancestry, either. I have cleaned cookies/temp files and rebooted – still I cannot get in. How can you be in?

I paid for a year subscription and cannot use Ancestry.com. I tried to e-mail the different departments to have this matter corrected,and the e-mails would not send. The program is asking me to begin again and to enter my personal financial information again. Which I will not do. I kept a printed copy of the Secure Your 14-day Free Trial. Please correct this matter. I hope some will receive this message and e-mail me. It is not such a good way to get started. I am disappointed.

Patricia- Re:#25

I hope your problems are fixed by now.

I have no idea why I was able to access it and you weren’t- all I know is that I turned off my computer 11PM Mountain time and when I signed on the next morning about 10:30am all was working as it should be.

I thought the Site Issues Section would be where I’d find a list of reported problems with the new Census Views (yesterday I got stuck & it wouldn’t return) & today I can’t save images. It would be helpful if you had a nice chart showing known problems and anticipated fix dates. On the other hand, I have fiddle around just to get this Comment Box to pop up. Any chance you could send us msgs stating what the known problems are and letting us know that you’re working on them? Thanks