18 April 2018

Potential Disaster

Looks like Ancestry is rolling out a new feature. (Thanks to Rene for the image.)


Ancestry wants to let users know about possible connections with other users' trees. I'm sure that will work out well. *head/desk*
It's clear that Ancestry's priority is numbers, not content and definitely not accuracy. Numbers of profiles, numbers of trees. It makes no difference to them if the profiles/trees are total junk.
If they cared about accuracy they could make new users watch a short video like this one:



...before starting a tree. Or maybe a pop-up disclaimer: "Information on trees has not be validated. Respect your ancestors by researching to find out who they really are. If you instead choose to copy other trees be prepared to be mocked when you announce to other genealogists that you have your tree back to Adam & Eve or that you got back to royalty in a matter of hours." Okay, maybe something nicer.
Instead they insist on making it easier for people like these to create trees:
✿ I've gotten back to 17th century on mom's side; finally found Scottish connection on dad's side....then my free 2 wks Ancestry.com ran out. LOL. i have the names; now want some stories.
✿ Any word on how long until the search function for those born before 1000 A.D. is going to be fixed? I've got a LOT of family from way before then, and I can't get anything but some stray German school book information .... I've talked to customer service, who sent a report to the tech folks. Slowing me down !!
✿ Dear Ancestry.com; I don't want to know my real past, I think it is about time your site offered replacement histories after all America is the land of dreams
✿ I just spent 7 hours on Ancestry.com tracing my lineage to my 54th great-grandfather Fiacha Tolgrach MacMuireadhach, High King of Ireland, who was born in approximately 850 BC. Yes. That really happened.
✿ I'm so excited to be on here!!! Started my family history couple of months and wow!!! It has been a blast! I have one line of my husbands family back to adam and eve!
✿ According to my latest research on ancestry.com and other sites,
Adam and Eve are my 104th great-grandparents!

(More idiotic, but unfortunately real, comments from Facebook's Ancestry fan page can be found here.)
This new feature is slowly being rolled out. I'm hoping that those of us who have turned off tree hints won't be subjected to it.



1 comment:

  1. Apparently whoever came up with this has decided to take further steps ("Ministry of Silly walks" comes to mind). I have not seen it on my own tree (yet) but according to message board comments yesterday, there now are comparable hints for (not kidding here), "potential living descendants." Huh? How useless is THAT, given that no one is going to know who these folks are since they're - duh - LIVING. Just one more reason to be very careful about any profile for someone who is living - because who knows what Ancestry will decide to do next ("starts with W" and born between 1952 and 1954?)

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