Ancestry hints - I despair!

[Marmalady]

Yesterday.. the hints for me turned up trumps      

I have had a hint turn up trumps this week too.
The hint gave a surname & marriage date for a bride for whom I only had a first name
I was doubtful at first because the marriage was some 20 - 30 miles from where the couple lived. But on checking it out -- it does seem to be correct - the couple were both described as being "of Leeds" on the Marriage Licence and took place on the same day as the application for the Licence in the town where they would have had to go from Leeds to apply for the Licence.
The hinter's tree also took the groom's family back several more generations. So far, whilst I think they may well be right, I have not yet found the actual records to prove it -- so that info is still in the "possibles" pile and not yet actually added to my tree

I always look at the hints but disregard most of them

[hallmark]

Yesterday.. the hints for me turned up trumps      

I have had a hint turn up trumps this week too.
The hint gave a surname & marriage date for a bride for whom I only had a first name
I was doubtful at first because the marriage was some 20 - 30 miles from where the couple lived. But on checking it out -- it does seem to be correct - the couple were both described as being "of Leeds" on the Marriage Licence and took place on the same day as the application for the Licence in the town where they would have had to go from Leeds to apply for the Licence.
The hinter's tree also took the groom's family back several more generations. So far, whilst I think they may well be right, I have not yet found the actual records to prove it -- so that info is still in the "possibles" pile and not yet actually added to my tree

I always look at the hints but disregard most of them

Yes....hints can be extremely useful for things/places to check!

[Finley 1]

I didnt just accept as it was... it gave me a way forward to discovering the route and actually then paying to find the family on SP

what had happened was two little letters on a census return....!!!!!! 'do'

for my family to be given totally the wrong name..

as per  part of the return.

The family --- bless their hearts ... are a doppleganger group as per my other post
Parents and childrens names and ages and area born--- and lived ----- almost identical..
and so I had the wrong 1891  it didnt tally with the 1901 fully but it could well have .. I was so ............ dog with a bone ......
and then found they had been entered under a totally different WRONG name... due to the   ditto...
from the family in the house next door......

so hint helped me.. but my doggedness was really how I got there..

I think

xin

[Jomot]

Whine, whine, whine.  I just don't get it.  If you don't want hints, then don't put your tree on Ancestry.  It's just that simple.  It is possible to use Ancestry [or any of the others] as a repository of data and nothing more.  You have nothing to lose but your sense of grievance and righteous indignation.

You did notice that this was posted in 'The Lighter Side'.... right?  Jeez!

[Melbell]

I agree with Erato: shrug all the Ancestry rubbish off and just use it for what it's worth.  And in reply to an earlier remark, of course Ancestry doesn't 'care' about silly hints etc.  They just want your money!!!

Melbell

[CarolA3]

As a comparison, I attached a baptism date to John whose brother was my direct ancestor Joseph.  Sadly that date belonged to their father whose name was also John.  Immediately a message popped up pointing out that if I did that, John the son would be older than his own mother.  Disaster averted.

If Family Historian can do that, why can't Ancestry?  And if Ancestry can't, why do so many people have their trees on there?

Well Family Historian isn't online and lots of people want their trees online.

So why do some pay for that service and then constantly complain about it

For reasons I can't seem to grasp, people choose to put their trees on Ancestry (or whichever website), and then have a good old bellyache when the website tries to help by merely suggesting possible additions.  If some 'hints' are silly and worthy of derision, here's an easy solution, deride them and then go and do something more interesting

Before I joined RootsChat I read a random sample of threads to see if the site would be useful - obviously it is! - but the number of complaints on the same lines persuaded me to keep my tree offline for the time being.  I can see no reason to change that.  Consequently I have little to complain about

Carol

[Pheno]

So why do some pay for that service and then constantly complain about it

For reasons I can't seem to grasp, people choose to put their trees on Ancestry (or whichever website), and then have a good old bellyache when the website tries to help by merely suggesting possible additions.  If some 'hints' are silly and worthy of derision, here's an easy solution, deride them and then go and do something more interesting

Carol
[/quote]

I totally agree Carol which is why I keep saying that it is not Ancestry's fault but rather the original person who accepted the dud hint in the first place.  It is relatively easy to go through the long list of possible hints in the hint list and dismiss those that are totally unsuitable such as incorrect birth years, wrong country etc without having to look at each profile.

Pheno

[Treetotal]

Some common sense from Carol, I don't put my tree on Ancestry but make the best use of what is there and ignore the dross....there are few certainties in genealogy and many errors, riddles and analogies, working them out is the fun part.
If it wasn't challenging..we would all have our trees completed years ago, then what would we do with our time Knit? 
Carol

[Finley 1]

which is more fun --- knitting or moaning

 

 


xin