PC Magazine review of Ancestry.com

Coolnabacky1873

Slow day today here in the States with it being the Labor Day holiday so I though I'd post this 'highly informed' view of how to do genealogical research as outlined in a review of Ancestry.com.

The gems include:

With a membership to this website, you can dig into your history without having to learn much at all about genealogy

There's no need to dig around libraries and county halls anymore because Ancestry.com puts centuries of documents at your fingertips

I realize she is not a genealogist/genealogy enthusiast but this kind of uninformed stuff is pretty frustrating from, what I understand is, a respected source.

Those who posted comments were more than happy to point this out too!

Jellybaby1

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

There's no need to dig around libraries and county halls anymore because Ancestry.com puts centuries of documents at your fingertips

Where's the fun in that?

RGM

Some of the trees on Ancestry are absolutely shocking. It's really a shame. At first I was tempted to message people on there just about blatant errors, but you could spend a lifetime doing that. And I couldn't figure out how to point out what was wrong without questioning their level of intelligence.

But if you do know what you're doing and happen to have some common sense, Ancestry can be a major asset, especially for American families.

I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to get as far as I have before computers.

pedroeibar1

PCMag is good on hardware but not so great on software - on sites/programs like ancestry.com it too often concentrates on navigation, links, size of database, ease of use/access, etc..

All serious researches and most good amateurs have enough common sense not to take ‘posted’ input at face value. In fairness Ancestry is cheaper and easier to use than some ‘other’ companies. However, all this can only get worse, as it is a ‘for profit’ business and needs to prostitute itself to grow revenue (currently growing at 20% p.a.). The WDYTYA sponsorship will bring more ‘wannabees’ who will input total dross to connect/go back to someone famous, so the data will degrade more rapidly.

Market rumours are that the business is for sale, all sorts of potential buyers (Facebook, Google, etc) being mentioned. As a result their shares are up 50% in recent months @ 20P/E and double their floatation price of a couple of years back – there is a good article on the business here
http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2012-08/at-ancestrycom-the-family-tree-takes-root.aspx?storyid=169259

FWIW I turned off the WDYTYA program last night, I found the host/presenters nauseatingly cloying, and wonder why RTE did not give it a ‘this program contains product placement’ warning.

Ponster

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

I realize she is not a genealogist/genealogy enthusiast but this kind of uninformed stuff is pretty frustrating from, what I understand is, a respected source.

Those who posted comments were more than happy to point this out too!

I don't understand what the problem is? Isn't she just saying that it's possible to research your family without having to have had any experience in the field?

Using Ancestry it's possible to get back 200 years for most British families without having to have any specialised knowledge, starting with someone born before 2005. When Mr Smith marries Ms Jones then you're going to need to order the cert to confirm but you also get this reference from Ancestry.

RGM

Ponster wrote: »

I don't understand what the problem is? Isn't she just saying that it's possible to research your family without having to have had any experience in the field?

That would have been a much more accurate statement.

But to say you can use the site and not have to learn anything about genealogy is at best misleading.

paddysdream

On a related subject.
Can anyone tell me if the 2 week free trial on Ancestry is of any use ?
Asking because I uploaded a family tree on it about 6 months ago and when I search it gives me a hint (match?) on the exact same names(rare enough)
What I am asking is does it give your own tree as a possible match answer
Also does the free trial allow you to search all records or is it a case of heres a little bit but you need to hand over euros to see all the "good stuff"
Any feedback would be wonderful as I am interested but wondering if its useful as i have my family 99% complete on both sides back to about 1800 and at this stage was looking at the Americian side (ie have any of the distant relations in the USA done any research on this.
Sorry for the long winded post

Ponster

> What I am asking is does it give your own tree as a possible match answer

No.

Also does the free trial allow you to search all records...

Yes.

No harm in trying the 14-day trial

shanew

dont know if it makes a difference to the free trial aspect - but watch out for the different Ancestry sites and membership types - i.e. I think if you join the UK site you need a Worldwide sub to view US or Oz records...



S.

paddysdream

Cheers thanks for that
One other thing, is it straightforward to cancel after the 2 weeks free trial
Just asking as I got trouble before with something similar. Didnt cost a lot but lots of hassle etc
All this makes me sound like a terrible miser:D
Thats it for now, thanks again, dinner over and its time to get the combine rolling again

VicWynne

paddysdream wrote: »

is it straightforward to cancel after the 2 weeks free trial

Hi Paddysdream, It's easy to cancel, just click the cancel button and follow their prompts. They try to tempt you to stay, but keep clicking cancel - depending on the site theres a few pages. I think the US one had about 4 and the AU one and about 3... As long as you keep clicking the unsubscribe/cancel buttons, it's pretty ok. The confirmation of your cancellation arrives within a few minutes.
Best of luck.

Happy hunting
Vic

RGM

I definitely recommend the two-week trial. Watch out, though, you might get sucked into a subscription!

Depending on how much information you are starting with (and how good you are) you'd be amazed at what you can find in two weeks.

Ponster

RGM wrote: »

I definitely recommend the two-week trial. Watch out, though, you might get sucked into a subscription!

3 years later and I still pay for the Worldwide yearly account (£155)

After doing my tree I started on my wife's. I now find myself talking to people in bars and asking them for their date and place of birth and seeing if by the end of the evening I can workout who their ancestors are

paddysdream

Ok back here to say I tried free trial and decided to sign up for 1 month to worldwide(think thats what its called) so maybe advertising works after all!!
This is a quiet time for me at the mo. and had lots of time to browse and search
Found it to be time consuming but addictive(thinking of renewing sub. for the year ;someone please talk me out of it!)
Found some of it to be very useful ie family tree matches, Irish records etc and some more to be no better than free sites.
That said I found cousins in Ireland whom I never knew existed(long story but assumed line ended with a male whom I thought never married and couldnt find on anywhere else;unusual use of a common Irish name so thought it would be easy ha ha ;and ended up finding an exact match on a family tree
All in all found it good but a bit pricey
Its useful for attaching records as sources and seems to have a fairly good US and Irish following but found a lot of the hints to be next to useless
In my humble opinion you would want to have a lot of the ground work done before joining up and just use it for those hard to find people that we all know should exist but just cant seem to find

Jellybaby1

paddysdream wrote: »

Found it to be time consuming but addictive(thinking of renewing sub. for the year ;someone please talk me out of it!)

OK then. Do not renew your sub!

Seriously if you get something out of it and you can afford it, then why not. However, could I suggest something. I heard a wee rumour that if you subscribe to Ancestry.com then through that you can also get access to Ancestry.co.uk records and it works out cheaper.. If this is true then that might be better than just paying the co.uk subscription. Can anyone confirm this? I can't afford to throw any more money at genealogy right now so am stumped. I am heading off to the RDS this weekend to see if anyone at the Back to our Past show can help me out.

RGM

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

OK then. Do not renew your sub!

Seriously if you get something out of it and you can afford it, then why not. However, could I suggest something. I heard a wee rumour that if you subscribe to Ancestry.com then through that you can also get access to Ancestry.co.uk records and it works out cheaper.. If this is true then that might be better than just paying the co.uk subscription. Can anyone confirm this? I can't afford to throw any more money at genealogy right now so am stumped. I am heading off to the RDS this weekend to see if anyone at the Back to our Past show can help me out.

Worldwide gives you access to everything, so if .com is cheaper than .co.uk, then yes, it's true. But why would that be?

RGM

paddysdream wrote: »

Ok back here to say I tried free trial and decided to sign up for 1 month to worldwide(think thats what its called) so maybe advertising works after all!!
This is a quiet time for me at the mo. and had lots of time to browse and search
Found it to be time consuming but addictive(thinking of renewing sub. for the year ;someone please talk me out of it!)
Found some of it to be very useful ie family tree matches, Irish records etc and some more to be no better than free sites.
That said I found cousins in Ireland whom I never knew existed(long story but assumed line ended with a male whom I thought never married and couldnt find on anywhere else;unusual use of a common Irish name so thought it would be easy ha ha ;and ended up finding an exact match on a family tree
All in all found it good but a bit pricey
Its useful for attaching records as sources and seems to have a fairly good US and Irish following but found a lot of the hints to be next to useless
In my humble opinion you would want to have a lot of the ground work done before joining up and just use it for those hard to find people that we all know should exist but just cant seem to find

Glad to hear you had some success. Just remember that assumptions are evil and someone else's family tree doesn't count as proof!

paddysdream

Think I subscribed to the US site as it was in dollars on the credit card.
As far as I remember I could see all UK records etc.
Think its worthwhile to join for a month if you have time to spend searching every evening or so.You would(should;could?) get a lot done in 30 or so days if all the basics are known
Maybe I was just lucky in that my family tree was pretty straightforward up to a point; my mum could tell me all parents grandparents and great grandparents plus siblings on both her and my dads side(helps if very few if any emigrated or moved to counties other than where they were born)This was a great start and could fill in a lot more as where I live is rural and my dads family have lived here since about 1790 on the one farm
I believe that if you dont know at least this much then it must be a struggle to get anywhere especially if your surname(s) are amongst the fairly common ones (as mine are on both sides going back 4 or more generations)
To sum up (and trying to get back to the point of the thread!) reckon its well worthwhile but not going to provide an instant and easily completed family history

Jellybaby1

RGM wrote: »

Worldwide gives you access to everything, so if .com is cheaper than .co.uk, then yes, it's true. But why would that be?

Just the exchange rate I suppose would make it cheaper in dollars than STG.

paddysdream

Just updating this thread.
Those subscription sites sure are addictive!!
Had the one month Ancestry one and thought about renewing it around Christmas due to getting lots of hints ,member connects etc
Bit the bullet last night(one month worldwide;no need to tempt myself), and was initially disappointed as I somehow managed to copy?upload? my full tree twice and was therefore getting an exact match on both trees.
After then deciding to only review all matches etc containing two or more hits I found 2 seperate trees? lines? which are bang on exact;one in Australia(90% sure) and one in an Irish county where a relative I had in my tree lived and died but which I never followed up on( 99.9% ; same parents ;married twice ;children with correct given names (some unusual ones);births correct to within 2 or so years in the correct order ;profession correct (RIC Officer);county of birth correct(stationed over 100 miles away from home county)
On the other hand found a few of (my) records connected to(used by) people who seem to just find a name birth etc in the general area ,timeframe etc ,and attach to someone in their own tree(mostly our overseas cousins I am afraid)
To sum up am still of the opinion that its a great tool but not worthwhile unless you have lots known beforehand and are prepared to wade thru. endless amounts of unlikely records etc(US census especially)

Better now go and email those I found and see if it pans out

One last thing ;has anyone on here found that people upload trees ,facts etc. and then dont log in for years or reply to messages ?

Ponster

One piece of advise is to treat others people's trees with suspicion unless they have verified proof to match their names, dates, etc... It can be very tempting to come across a matching ancestor and then import hundred's of years worth of people without doing the checking yourself.

As for people contacting you, I'd say about 75% of the people have got back to me. You need to word your mail correctly so that you don't seem too pushy. Try to also offer them something in terms of information.

You can check people's profiles to see when they last logged in and thus how active they are.

Menas

I got good responses to the mails I sent. A bit of gentle questioning revealed which trees were patched together and which were based on proper research.
So in my case I gleaned some useful data and made some distant family connections.

But as you said, the thousands of matches is frustrating. A less fuzzy search engi e would save a lot of time.
eg....if I enter a name Henry McGrattan, born in New York in 1879.....why give me search results for Harry Greatton born in Boston in 1916? Made up example but you get the point!