Author Topic: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?  (Read 6118 times)

Offline Steve3180

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #45 on: Monday 07 July 25 13:56 BST (UK) »
DNA testing can take the fun out of research -- not everyone wants to 'press a button' and build a tree. Often traditional research comes up with information nuggets of gold that have been added to a parish register after the original entry. A good example of this was a great aunt, born out of wedlock, the baptism transcription gave the mother's name, occupation and abode but no father. Eventually found the baptism record and a note in the margin (written in a different hand) gave the father's name, occupation and abode.

I don't think of it as an either/or situation. It's another (very powerful) tool in the toolbox to be used in conjunction with all the other tools. It's my electric screwdriver not my magic wand, very useful when used correctly, but it's not going to do the work for you.

Offline Biggles50

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #46 on: Monday 07 July 25 14:09 BST (UK) »
I researched for 15 years and built a tree of 9000.

Then I took a DNA test and half the tree is not my Biological Family.

So bury your anti DNA heads in the sand believing that you have an accurate Family Tree if that is what you desire but your Family Tree will not necessarily represent your Biological family.

DNA is NOT a click and populate a Family Tree method, if anything it requires far more of an understanding of Genealogy and a lot of detective work.

You simply cannot rely on Certificates, citations and family folklore, that will only give you a Family Tree that may or may not be correct, I cannot as the Father shown on my own UK Birth Certificate is not my Biological Father.

Only when you have validated beyond each Great Grandparent into their lines via DNA can you then believe that you have a Biological Family Tree.

Offline Glen in Tinsel Kni

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #47 on: Monday 07 July 25 14:32 BST (UK) »
The named father was actually a young man that lived next door to the mother.


I apologise having any doubts in the face of such undeniable evidence.


Offline farmeroman

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #48 on: Monday 07 July 25 15:20 BST (UK) »
Seems to me that there is a fundamental misunderstanding at work here.

Ancestry are not looking for suggestions that involve improving/fixing their product that would involve extra expenditure (for no extra return).

The improvements they are looking for are to their profit margin and income stream.

OK then: Sack 75% of your staff, increase prices by 100% and use AI for everythng done by humans now*

*Warning: I can't guarantee any of this will have the desired effect...


Offline ThrelfallYorky

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #49 on: Tuesday 08 July 25 14:10 BST (UK) »
After umpteen years of subscribing to Ancestry, and at times being very grateful to the information/ contacts on there, then I have paid a great deal over the decades - a discount for loyalty, or special access to something abroad that I've only got a very small interest in, would be good.
I keep thinking of ending my subscription, but don't ... just in case!
Inertia rules, okay?
TY
Threlfall (Southport), Isherwood (lancs & Canada), Newbould + Topliss(Derby), Keating & Cummins (Ireland + lancs), Fisher, Strong& Casson (all Cumberland) & Downie & Bowie, Linlithgow area Scotland . Also interested in Leigh& Burrows,(Lancashire) Griffiths (Shropshire & lancs), Leaver (Lancs/Yorks) & Anderson(Cumberland and very elusive)

Offline haliared

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #50 on: Wednesday 23 July 25 19:32 BST (UK) »
Have a good clean out of all the 'empty accounts'.  ie those that have no tree or DNA results.   I know of people who have joined umpteen times for the free weekend etc- under different names and not used them again once the offer runs out.

BUT not all of us who have Ancestry accounts WANT to put our trees onto Ancestry, nor do some of us WANT or feel the need to do DNA tests.  OH and I have had a basic Ancestry UK account for a large number of years AND what we do with it is entirely up to us.  :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X

Completely agree.  The idea of the thread is about ideas to improve Ancestry.  There's a bit too much desire to have things removed that people don't personally like, without thinking how other people want or need to use the site.

Likewise, folk perhaps don't understand if Ancestry doesn't make a profit it eventually won't exist.  If it doesn't exist then we'll all (those of us who use it) be worse off.  I don't see nationalisation of Ancestry happening anytime soon - so it has to operate commercially.

I also don't understand how an account which doesn't contain a tree or DNA results can have an adverse impact on any other individual?

Those of us who have had our DNA tested have thousands of DNA matches that are nearly impossible to ID due to no trees and a user name that means zilch.

Having these useless DNA matches clogs up the system.

What is totally inconsiderate is for people to invoke the Privacy rubbish as their get out.

If you do not want to be Identified then make your Family Tree Private.

If you do not want your DNA results visible to others then make them Private.

Your Privacy concerns are then as good as it gets.

If someone is adopted, or illegitimate etc, or even just want to remain private, they still may want to have their DNA on there but not be identifiable to others or have trees etc. They may wish to still be able to find out family surnames, and trace their birth family lines without upsetting anyone, or be able to do it in their own time without being bombarded with inquiring matches demanding to know who they are and how they relate to them. This is their choice, if they choose to have their DNA on a site, for example, for 10 years before they feel comfortable adding anything about themselves, or never feel comfortable in doing that, they have paid for the test like you and can and should be able to access their matches in a way which they can cope with.
I manage many DNA accounts, some have trees, some are easy to identify and others a random username only. One friend I manage the DNA of who had been abused by family did not want to be identified for safety on there but wanted to check her family lines for health reasons - my goodness, you should have seen the aggressive messages I got demanding I reveal who it was and where this person is. Ancestry have the privacy policy in place for good reason, and I when I contacted them they were shocked by those messages and blocked the senders from contacting me again.
Some people are very rude when contacting others, if a username and no trees are what some want that is their right. You can filter out your matches already by selecting 'public trees' etc so that should not be an issue.
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Offline haliared

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #51 on: Wednesday 23 July 25 19:39 BST (UK) »
I would really like to be able to have the facility we had before of being able to scroll down unlimited DNA matches. This 20 or 50 only is annoying when I am trying to view a whole group of 100 plus etc.
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Offline Zaphod99

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #52 on: Wednesday 23 July 25 22:40 BST (UK) »
I know it's still a lot of money for a test, even at the 35 to 45 pounds range, but anybody with an interest in family history who hasn't had a test is just wasting their time.

Zaph

I researched for 15 years and built a tree of 9000.

Then I took a DNA test and half the tree is not my Biological Family.

So bury your anti DNA heads in the sand believing that you have an accurate Family Tree if that is what you desire but your Family Tree will not necessarily represent your Biological family.

DNA is NOT a click and populate a Family Tree method, if anything it requires far more of an understanding of Genealogy and a lot of detective work.

You simply cannot rely on Certificates, citations and family folklore, that will only give you a Family Tree that may or may not be correct, I cannot as the Father shown on my own UK Birth Certificate is not my Biological Father.

Only when you have validated beyond each Great Grandparent into their lines via DNA can you then believe that you have a Biological Family Tree.

Offline Zaphod99

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Re: Do you have suggestions for improving ancestry.com?
« Reply #53 on: Wednesday 23 July 25 22:42 BST (UK) »
Even worse than not being able to scroll down the list is not being able to save them to your own local PC so that you can load them into a spreadsheet and fully analyze the data. I'm fortunate that I am able to write Excel macros to do this for me but I really feel sorry for people that are just lumbered with having to scrape the screen and slowly collect them.

Zaph

I would really like to be able to have the facility we had before of being able to scroll down unlimited DNA matches. This 20 or 50 only is annoying when I am trying to view a whole group of 100 plus etc.