RootsChat.Com
Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Topic started by: ikas on Wednesday 23 February 22 12:25 GMT (UK)
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Am I losing the plot or have the search options on SP for BMD changed. There are now only four options - exact, wild card allowed, Names that begin with, and phonetic matching. I now cannot remember how many there used to be but fuzzy matching is no longer available.
I was using the site on Monday so think that the change is since then. Looked at news on home page but no mention of a change there.
Can anyone confirm the change and remember the original options.
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You're correct. I searched on Sunday and used the "name variants" option, which I find very useful.; sadly it's now gone.
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Confirmed by me also. Now only the 4 options available in search options.
Bit of a trial really as there can be so many variants with surnames. I have been known to only put in the first name and place (if known) and scroll through to a likely spelling of the name I am looking for. It does work honestly.
Happy hunting,
Dorrie
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Thanks for confirming. Yes, name variants was the one I could not remember. How strange as I am sure I read some time ago they were working on that aspect ie building up more comprehensive lists of name variants. It will be interesting to test if phonetic matching is a substitute for name variants. I suspect not.
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Chris Paton has blogged about this on his blog at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/02/why-has-scotlandspeople-changed-its.html.
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Oh, I don't think that I like that at all.
Thanks for the link to Chris Paton's article.
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Oh, I don't think that I like that at all. Lots of * needed then!
Thanks for the link to Chris Paton's article.
Sorry I went in to modify comment about * and I accidentially did a reply :-[
Name variants was my favourite!
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Name variants was my favourite!
Yes, I used that quite a lot.
Removing it is going to make researching Moug/Mugg/Mogg/Maig/Mogue/Mug/Mouge/Mogge/Mogie/Mague etc etc much more difficult - M*g* includes all the names with M(a)c*g* and phonetic matching produces pages of Meeks, Mackies and Mackays. <sigh>
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Thanks for the link Carlineric. I repeated some of my searches from the weekend and those suggest that phonetic search catches the records that fuzzy matching caught. However in some situations it brings up far too many hits. Nine hits with exact on changed to 291 hits (12 pages) with phonetic matching. Is Stewart really phonetically similar to Struthers?
Early days yet but not impressed so far and certainly not impressed at not being informed before or after the event.
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Oh well, it's not as tiresome as the change that can make it so awkward to search for deaths of married women using both surnames.
For some combinations of surnames, you often get "Your search for 'other surname' returns too many results, please narrow your search criteria to return less than 1,000 results" even when there are fewer than 1,000 results for the first surname on its own.
Just be grateful that, unlike the Northern Ireland web site, you are not restricted to searching only 5 years at a time, and that there is the option of wild cards or phonetic matching, which are not an option on the New Zealand and New South Wales ones, and, again unlike those last two, that you can search most of SP without a surname.
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Chris Paton has added an update after a reply from Scotlands people - it appears possible that "Fuzzy Matching" at least may be reintroduced.
https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/02/why-has-scotlandspeople-changed-its.html
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Thanks for the update Falkyrn. Sounds hopeful. Weird change to make so let's hope it is quickly reversed.
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Thank you for the update Falkryn.
Hopefully they will have a rethink before too long.
Dorrie
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I thought it was a problem at my end, seems not. Disappointing as I used "name variants" often. I found it especially useful when searching for a Jane/Jean or Christina/Christian/Christine
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I use J*an* to find Jane/Jean and Christi* to find Christian/Christina/Christine but not Christopher.
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Thank you for the tip Forfarian. I'll be sure to utilise wildcards more than I have been.
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The autofill has almost disappeared too!
Originally, if you typed an initial into the surname box, a drop-down list of previous surnames you'd searched with that initial would appear...
Now, when you type an initial in the surname box, the drop-down list of surnames is combined with forenames of previous searches.
To search previously typed names, for the drop-down list to show without the addition of either surname or forename, you now have to type in an oblique / forward slash, then the initial.
Not sure what others think but in my view these changes are a few steps back as SP was fine the way it was.
Annie
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Originally, if you typed an initial into the surname box, a drop-down list of previous surnames you'd searched with that initial would appear...
Previous surnames starting with that letter still do appear for me. No forenames are included in the list. Inserting / then a letter includes surnames with that letter anywhere in the surname so a longer list but again no forenames included.
Perhaps someone else can try to see if it still works for them.
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Chris Paton has added a further update. Apparently fuzzy matching and name variants were removed due to incorrect matching.
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Thanks again for the update, Carlineric. To see the full explanation you have to go to Chris Patons latest post on 25th February at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/02/scotlandspeople-explains-recent-search.html
That explanation is very disappointing given their earlier response which did sound as though they were going to reintroduce them. Their reasoning is faulty in my view. Of course, both options had faults but they were valuable and anyone with some experience understood they were not perfect. To suggest the phonetic option does not contain the same faults in even greater measure suggests to me that they have not thought this through. I agree with Annie - a backward step. Disappointing given some of the improvements they have made - mothers maiden name being one.
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Oh well, it's not as tiresome as the change that can make it so awkward to search for deaths of married women using both surnames.
For some combinations of surnames, you often get "Your search for 'other surname' returns too many results, please narrow your search criteria to return less than 1,000 results" even when there are fewer than 1,000 results for the first surname on its own.
Just be grateful that, unlike the Northern Ireland web site, you are not restricted to searching only 5 years at a time, and that there is the option of wild cards or phonetic matching, which are not an option on the New Zealand and New South Wales ones, and, again unlike those last two, that you can search most of SP without a surname.
Has anyone been able to work out a solution to this one? I don't understand why it will allow a search that shows up more results than one that with the cross-referenced name.
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Got a newsletter from SP this morning with three top tips from SP staff to help your research. Tip 2 highlighted surnames were often variable and recommended using the name variants option on the surname search. If only we could! :P
Does make you wonder how often SP staff use their own search engine. Certainly not any involved in writing the newsletter.
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I have e-mailed SP to express my delight that they are evidently about to reinstate the 'Name variants' search parameter. I await their response with great interest.
Perhaps they would appreciate a few more messages in similar terms?
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Perhaps they would appreciate a few more messages in similar terms?
A great idea!
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I have e-mailed SP to express my delight that they are evidently about to reinstate the 'Name variants' search parameter. I await their response with great interest.
Perhaps they would appreciate a few more messages in similar terms?
Off to do so now ;D .
Done ✓
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Chris Paton has added a further update. Apparently fuzzy matching and name variants were removed due to incorrect matching.
I never had a problem in all the time I'd been using it since SP was introduced, why all of a sudden did it not do the job it was installed for after so many years, it's a complete mystery.
Maybe the surnames I was using in searches just happened to be ok ???
It's just odd to me it took so many years to identify a problem.
Annie
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Got a newsletter from SP this morning with three top tips from SP staff to help your research. Tip 2 highlighted surnames were often variable and recommended using the name variants option on the surname search. If only we could! :P
Does make you wonder how often SP staff use their own search engine. Certainly not any involved in writing the newsletter.
Just!!! ;D
A typical scenario where the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing ::)
Annie