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Hugh Watkins
Apr 21, 2009, 1:24:59 PM4/21/09
to Unofficial Ancestry subscription group
I am resting my ancestry subscription until I have finished with the
1911 census for England and Wales, "which was launched online in
January 2009 at www.1911census.co.uk, the official census website,
powered by findmypast in association with The National Archives.
This is a PayAsYouGo site, and customers who are already registered
on findmypast.com are able to enter their username and password and
use any findmypast credits across both sites. Findmypast.com
subscriptions cannot be used on 1911census.co.uk.
In the future the 1911 census records will also be available on
findmypast.com. by subscription."
I was an early adopter for ancestry.co.uk which was launched with the
1891 census and if money was no object I would subscribe to both.
I am a rootsweb.ancestry.com enthusiast using baords, lists, world
connect and home pages
One of the problems with the Generations Network is with about one
thousand employees internal politics rears it's ugly head now and
then, and TGN is sometimes both beaureaucratic and authoritarian.
One thing is certain Rootsweb is not democratically run according to
the users' wishes
Hugh W
1911 census for England and Wales, "which was launched online in
January 2009 at www.1911census.co.uk, the official census website,
powered by findmypast in association with The National Archives.
This is a PayAsYouGo site, and customers who are already registered
on findmypast.com are able to enter their username and password and
use any findmypast credits across both sites. Findmypast.com
subscriptions cannot be used on 1911census.co.uk.
In the future the 1911 census records will also be available on
findmypast.com. by subscription."
I was an early adopter for ancestry.co.uk which was launched with the
1891 census and if money was no object I would subscribe to both.
I am a rootsweb.ancestry.com enthusiast using baords, lists, world
connect and home pages
One of the problems with the Generations Network is with about one
thousand employees internal politics rears it's ugly head now and
then, and TGN is sometimes both beaureaucratic and authoritarian.
One thing is certain Rootsweb is not democratically run according to
the users' wishes
Hugh W
DearMYRTLE
Apr 21, 2009, 4:39:51 PM4/21/09
to Unofficial Ancestry subscription group
I am not sure if any of the subscribers here read my blog, so I am
cross-posting my comments about Ancestry.com's recent actions. This is
the first of two postings:
=========================
How forthcoming IS Ancestry?
==========================
Sub Title: A Visit with “Myrt’s Skype Friend”
Sub-Sub Title: Why Ol'Myrt cannot type fast enough to keep up with
this burning issue today.
DearREADERS,
Last night during a Skype conversation with a friend, hereafter called
“Myrt’s Skype Friend” or MSF for short, the topic of big corporations
and challenges of being responsive to subscriber needs came up with
the focus on how Ancestry conducts business.
As someone who has attended Ancestry.com functions at NGS and FGS
annual conferences for years, it is the impression of MSF that there
is too much corporate hype and posturing and not enough response to
member needs. MSF thinks the average Joe genealogist feels the same
way.
Even though no longer an Ancestry.com employee, Ol’ Myrt here humbly
begged to differ, stating that Ancestry.com has been reaching out more
successfully since the fiasco of Ancestry’s now defunct American
Biography Collection. That project was certainly brought to a halt due
to protests by Ancestry.com membership, and it was the first instance
where I was aware that Ancestry.com was truly responding to member
feedback. (The majority of genealogy bloggers the stepped up to remind
Ancestry.com they don’t own the ancestral content others placed on the
free pages at RootsWeb, and cannot then copyright those pages and
include them in their paid subscription data area – hence the demise
of the ABC.)
ANCESTRY INSIDER
Myrt suggested to MSF the differences between Ancestry.com’s stated
policies and courses of action were brought to light with the
emergence of “The Ancestry Insider” Blog. (Now that employee no longer
works for Ancestry, and though his postings are still insightful and
spare no punches, there is less info about the inside workings at
Ancestry.com.) MSF explains that you’d have to know about AI, in order
to read his blogs. And with literally thousands of genealogy blogs out
there, MSF doesn’t know how a newbie would ever catch on.
ANCESTRY MAGAZINE
In fact, “Myrt’s Skype Friend” had just read the most current issue of
Ancestry Magazine, and remarked “although the usually 1-page articles
were informative, they were all about how to use Ancestry.com.” MSF
also mentioned a lack of context, for instance, “if you cannot find it
at Ancestry.com, is that really a dead-end?” Myrt did acknowledge that
competing genealogy magazines Family Chronicle and Family Tree
Magazine aren’t restrained by limiting content discussion to the
databases on a single website since neither are affiliated with a
genealogy database website.
DIFFICULT TO LOCATE ANCESTRY BLOGS, etc.
Myrt suggested to “Myrt’s Skype Friend” that it is easy to see what’s
happening at Ancestry through at least the following blogs:
* 24/7 Family History Circle
* Ancestry.com Blog
But when Ol’ Myrt decided to look at the Ancestry.com website, she
discovered it is not easy for those who haven’t followed the
Ancestry.com saga over the years to find the blogs that detail new
procedures, options, website maintenance schedules, etc.
So just as Ol’ Myrt here was beginning to formulate the design of this
blog entry, Beth Gay made a posting on the public APG Association of
Professional Genealogists mailing list about the mailing list she
created:
DEMISE OF USER-CREATED ANCESTRY.COM MAILING LIST
Beth Gay wrote:
I started a new mailing list for the discussion of topics relating to
the subscription service, Ancestry.com. If you would like to become a
member follow the instructions in this link:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Miscellaneous/ANCESTRY.com.html%20
Then Beth Gay wrote:
Unfortunately Ancestry has decided to remove this list from Rootsweb.
This message was posted to the Ancestry.com mailing list today:
Dear Ancestrycom List Members,
We wanted to let you know that in the next coming days the recently
created Ancestrycom mailing list will be removed from the site. We
definitely don't want to discourage discussion about the Ancestry.com
website, but currently there are two very active message boards
dedicated to the discussion of Ancestry.com. One is called Ancestry
Site Comments (mainly used for general comments about the site) and
the other is called Ancestry Improvements (mainly used to submit
suggested improvements and site feedback).
Ancestry Site Comments
On Ancestry.com -
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.ancsite/mb.ashx
On RootsWeb.com -
http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ancestry.ancsite/mb.ashx
Ancestry Improvements
On Ancestry.com -
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.ancimprovements/mb.ashx
On RootsWeb.com -
http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ancestry.ancimprovements/mb.ashx
Our Product Managers and other Ancestry.com staff are active on these
message boards and try to visit them regularly to read the recent
posts. We are worried that with an additional outlet for discussion
about Ancestry.com we may not have enough staff to stay on top of
things and may miss some of the comments that would have been made to
the message boards. We want to make sure that we can understand
everyone's feedback about the site and can offer our comments when it
is helpful and keeping it focused on these two message boards will
help with that.
Thanks in advance for your understanding as we try to use these
messages boards instead of this new mailing list. We understand that
some of you prefer to use mailing lists rather than the message boards
and hope that this doesn't inconvenience you too much.
Sincerely,
Anna
Anna Fechter
Community Operations Manager
The Generations Network
360 W 4800 N Provo, UT 84604
ancestry.com genealogy.com myfamily.com rootsweb.com family tree maker
MYRT’S TAKE ON ALL THIS
I was shocked to see that Ancestry.com had removed a mailing list
created and approved by the once independent RootsWeb Mailing lists,
now a division of Ancestry.com. Ancestry always promised RootsWeb
wouldn’t go away, and that it would remain an independent voice. Using
Google Alerts, and RSS feeds, Ol’ Myrt here manages to keep up with
any online mention of DearMYRTLE or Dear Myrtle, and such. Why can’t
the techies over at Ancestry.com do the same?
Why does Ancestry.com feel it necessary to stifle this grass roots
effort of Beth’s to set up a mailing list? Ancestry isn’t going to
quash discussion. It will merely end up on non-ancestry.com websites
such as Yahoo or Google Groups. BAD CHOICE to attempt to exert
control, Ancestry!
So it would appear that while verbal top level corporate policy
statements lead participants of the January 2009 “secret bloggers’
summit” at Ancestry headquarters to understand a change about open
communication was the priority when it came to tending to members’
needs -- the day-to-day policy doesn't have the same focus.
PS – Wouldn’t you know that while Myrt was spell checking this blog
post, fellow genea-blogger, Hugh Watkins created the “Unofficial
Ancestry subscription group”? There are now 41 members.
That’s how fast the genea-blogosphere reacts to Ancestry.com company
policy.
Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
My...@DearMYRTLE.com
Blogs:
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/
http://blog.teachgenealogy.com/
http://blog.internet-genealogy.com/
Podcasts:
DearMYRTLE’s Family History Hour
http://podcasts.dearmyrtle.com/
Family History Expos Genealogy Podcasts
http://fhexpos.libsyn.com/
DearMYRTLE's Facebook® Group Message Board
http://www.new.facebook.com/board.php?uid=2960625373
© 2009 Pat Richley All Rights Reserved.
This and previous blog entries are fully searchable by going to
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com. Myrt welcomes queries and research
challenges, but regrets she is unable to answer each personally.
cross-posting my comments about Ancestry.com's recent actions. This is
the first of two postings:
=========================
How forthcoming IS Ancestry?
==========================
Sub Title: A Visit with “Myrt’s Skype Friend”
Sub-Sub Title: Why Ol'Myrt cannot type fast enough to keep up with
this burning issue today.
DearREADERS,
Last night during a Skype conversation with a friend, hereafter called
“Myrt’s Skype Friend” or MSF for short, the topic of big corporations
and challenges of being responsive to subscriber needs came up with
the focus on how Ancestry conducts business.
As someone who has attended Ancestry.com functions at NGS and FGS
annual conferences for years, it is the impression of MSF that there
is too much corporate hype and posturing and not enough response to
member needs. MSF thinks the average Joe genealogist feels the same
way.
Even though no longer an Ancestry.com employee, Ol’ Myrt here humbly
begged to differ, stating that Ancestry.com has been reaching out more
successfully since the fiasco of Ancestry’s now defunct American
Biography Collection. That project was certainly brought to a halt due
to protests by Ancestry.com membership, and it was the first instance
where I was aware that Ancestry.com was truly responding to member
feedback. (The majority of genealogy bloggers the stepped up to remind
Ancestry.com they don’t own the ancestral content others placed on the
free pages at RootsWeb, and cannot then copyright those pages and
include them in their paid subscription data area – hence the demise
of the ABC.)
ANCESTRY INSIDER
Myrt suggested to MSF the differences between Ancestry.com’s stated
policies and courses of action were brought to light with the
emergence of “The Ancestry Insider” Blog. (Now that employee no longer
works for Ancestry, and though his postings are still insightful and
spare no punches, there is less info about the inside workings at
Ancestry.com.) MSF explains that you’d have to know about AI, in order
to read his blogs. And with literally thousands of genealogy blogs out
there, MSF doesn’t know how a newbie would ever catch on.
ANCESTRY MAGAZINE
In fact, “Myrt’s Skype Friend” had just read the most current issue of
Ancestry Magazine, and remarked “although the usually 1-page articles
were informative, they were all about how to use Ancestry.com.” MSF
also mentioned a lack of context, for instance, “if you cannot find it
at Ancestry.com, is that really a dead-end?” Myrt did acknowledge that
competing genealogy magazines Family Chronicle and Family Tree
Magazine aren’t restrained by limiting content discussion to the
databases on a single website since neither are affiliated with a
genealogy database website.
DIFFICULT TO LOCATE ANCESTRY BLOGS, etc.
Myrt suggested to “Myrt’s Skype Friend” that it is easy to see what’s
happening at Ancestry through at least the following blogs:
* 24/7 Family History Circle
* Ancestry.com Blog
But when Ol’ Myrt decided to look at the Ancestry.com website, she
discovered it is not easy for those who haven’t followed the
Ancestry.com saga over the years to find the blogs that detail new
procedures, options, website maintenance schedules, etc.
So just as Ol’ Myrt here was beginning to formulate the design of this
blog entry, Beth Gay made a posting on the public APG Association of
Professional Genealogists mailing list about the mailing list she
created:
DEMISE OF USER-CREATED ANCESTRY.COM MAILING LIST
Beth Gay wrote:
I started a new mailing list for the discussion of topics relating to
the subscription service, Ancestry.com. If you would like to become a
member follow the instructions in this link:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Miscellaneous/ANCESTRY.com.html%20
Then Beth Gay wrote:
Unfortunately Ancestry has decided to remove this list from Rootsweb.
This message was posted to the Ancestry.com mailing list today:
Dear Ancestrycom List Members,
We wanted to let you know that in the next coming days the recently
created Ancestrycom mailing list will be removed from the site. We
definitely don't want to discourage discussion about the Ancestry.com
website, but currently there are two very active message boards
dedicated to the discussion of Ancestry.com. One is called Ancestry
Site Comments (mainly used for general comments about the site) and
the other is called Ancestry Improvements (mainly used to submit
suggested improvements and site feedback).
Ancestry Site Comments
On Ancestry.com -
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.ancsite/mb.ashx
On RootsWeb.com -
http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ancestry.ancsite/mb.ashx
Ancestry Improvements
On Ancestry.com -
http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ancestry.ancimprovements/mb.ashx
On RootsWeb.com -
http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ancestry.ancimprovements/mb.ashx
Our Product Managers and other Ancestry.com staff are active on these
message boards and try to visit them regularly to read the recent
posts. We are worried that with an additional outlet for discussion
about Ancestry.com we may not have enough staff to stay on top of
things and may miss some of the comments that would have been made to
the message boards. We want to make sure that we can understand
everyone's feedback about the site and can offer our comments when it
is helpful and keeping it focused on these two message boards will
help with that.
Thanks in advance for your understanding as we try to use these
messages boards instead of this new mailing list. We understand that
some of you prefer to use mailing lists rather than the message boards
and hope that this doesn't inconvenience you too much.
Sincerely,
Anna
Anna Fechter
Community Operations Manager
The Generations Network
360 W 4800 N Provo, UT 84604
ancestry.com genealogy.com myfamily.com rootsweb.com family tree maker
MYRT’S TAKE ON ALL THIS
I was shocked to see that Ancestry.com had removed a mailing list
created and approved by the once independent RootsWeb Mailing lists,
now a division of Ancestry.com. Ancestry always promised RootsWeb
wouldn’t go away, and that it would remain an independent voice. Using
Google Alerts, and RSS feeds, Ol’ Myrt here manages to keep up with
any online mention of DearMYRTLE or Dear Myrtle, and such. Why can’t
the techies over at Ancestry.com do the same?
Why does Ancestry.com feel it necessary to stifle this grass roots
effort of Beth’s to set up a mailing list? Ancestry isn’t going to
quash discussion. It will merely end up on non-ancestry.com websites
such as Yahoo or Google Groups. BAD CHOICE to attempt to exert
control, Ancestry!
So it would appear that while verbal top level corporate policy
statements lead participants of the January 2009 “secret bloggers’
summit” at Ancestry headquarters to understand a change about open
communication was the priority when it came to tending to members’
needs -- the day-to-day policy doesn't have the same focus.
PS – Wouldn’t you know that while Myrt was spell checking this blog
post, fellow genea-blogger, Hugh Watkins created the “Unofficial
Ancestry subscription group”? There are now 41 members.
That’s how fast the genea-blogosphere reacts to Ancestry.com company
policy.
Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
My...@DearMYRTLE.com
Blogs:
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/
http://blog.teachgenealogy.com/
http://blog.internet-genealogy.com/
Podcasts:
DearMYRTLE’s Family History Hour
http://podcasts.dearmyrtle.com/
Family History Expos Genealogy Podcasts
http://fhexpos.libsyn.com/
DearMYRTLE's Facebook® Group Message Board
http://www.new.facebook.com/board.php?uid=2960625373
© 2009 Pat Richley All Rights Reserved.
This and previous blog entries are fully searchable by going to
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com. Myrt welcomes queries and research
challenges, but regrets she is unable to answer each personally.
DearMYRTLE
Apr 21, 2009, 4:41:10 PM4/21/09
to Unofficial Ancestry subscription group
This is the second of two postings from my blog about the Ancestry.com
actions of late.
==========================
READER'S FEEDBACK:
regarding “How forthcoming IS Ancestry?" from an earlier posting
today.
MSF said:
“Ancestry’s decision to remove the RootsWeb mailing list for
Ancestry.com users was counter-productive and short sighted.
Ancestry.com should not shut down any feedback mailing list and force
feedback only through their approved message boards.
Cheshire Cat PR explanations don’t fit the bill. Members would
appreciate Ancestry.com taking serious look at comments, pro and con;
and then saying ‘There’s a kernel of truth to this - let’s do
something.’
No point in letting Ancestry.com members continue to fall down the
rabbit hole.
From my reading of genealogy mailing lists and blogs, and face-to-face
discussions with fellow genealogists, several problems described by
users of Ancestry.com have existed for years. I heard they hired
someone to fix the Ancestry.com search engine, but nothing has really
changed as far as I can tell. The look is different but not the out-of-
context results.
If Ancestry.com is truly interested in improving their service, they
will actively seek out issues to fix and actually FIX them.
On the positive side, Ancestry’s TV advertisements pull new
genealogists into the study of family history. Also, Ancestry.com has
a lot of quality content on the site. In my opinion, the price of an
Ancestry.com annual subscription is reasonable. I equate the $299
annual fee to the cost of one meal out at an OK restaurant each month.
And in some places, it is a meal for two.
All in all, Ancestry.com has a good product. Unfortunately, their
corporate image masks this fact."
actions of late.
==========================
READER'S FEEDBACK:
How forthcoming IS Ancestry?
==========================
NOTE from DearMYRTLE: “Myrt’s Skype Friend” just now Skyped feedback
==========================
regarding “How forthcoming IS Ancestry?" from an earlier posting
today.
MSF said:
“Ancestry’s decision to remove the RootsWeb mailing list for
Ancestry.com users was counter-productive and short sighted.
Ancestry.com should not shut down any feedback mailing list and force
feedback only through their approved message boards.
Cheshire Cat PR explanations don’t fit the bill. Members would
appreciate Ancestry.com taking serious look at comments, pro and con;
and then saying ‘There’s a kernel of truth to this - let’s do
something.’
No point in letting Ancestry.com members continue to fall down the
rabbit hole.
From my reading of genealogy mailing lists and blogs, and face-to-face
discussions with fellow genealogists, several problems described by
users of Ancestry.com have existed for years. I heard they hired
someone to fix the Ancestry.com search engine, but nothing has really
changed as far as I can tell. The look is different but not the out-of-
context results.
If Ancestry.com is truly interested in improving their service, they
will actively seek out issues to fix and actually FIX them.
On the positive side, Ancestry’s TV advertisements pull new
genealogists into the study of family history. Also, Ancestry.com has
a lot of quality content on the site. In my opinion, the price of an
Ancestry.com annual subscription is reasonable. I equate the $299
annual fee to the cost of one meal out at an OK restaurant each month.
And in some places, it is a meal for two.
All in all, Ancestry.com has a good product. Unfortunately, their
corporate image masks this fact."
Hugh Watkins
Apr 21, 2009, 4:48:00 PM4/21/09
to unofficial-ancestry...@googlegroups.com
I am neither the creator nor the owner
I just made a first post to break the ice
Hugh W
I just made a first post to break the ice
Hugh W
DearMYRTLE
Apr 21, 2009, 5:20:36 PM4/21/09
to Unofficial Ancestry subscription group
THANKS, Hugh for the clarification.
Usually when a group is created, the creator posts the first post.
How is that for a bunch of repeating words.
Anyway, I'll go modify my original blog entry to reflect this new-to-
me info.
Who IS the creator of this group?
Usually when a group is created, the creator posts the first post.
How is that for a bunch of repeating words.
Anyway, I'll go modify my original blog entry to reflect this new-to-
me info.
Who IS the creator of this group?
L.L. Scott
Apr 21, 2009, 6:09:16 PM4/21/09
to unofficial-ancestry...@googlegroups.com
It is so nice to see Dear Myrt here with us.
I do love using Ancestry.com from home.
I only wish I could still download images, but thier image manager does not
like my Vista.
I know there is a way around it, but have searched a lot online and many
folks have that problem.
I fixed it once but it did not stay fixed.
Laura Scott in Milton, FL
I do love using Ancestry.com from home.
I only wish I could still download images, but thier image manager does not
like my Vista.
I know there is a way around it, but have searched a lot online and many
folks have that problem.
I fixed it once but it did not stay fixed.
Laura Scott in Milton, FL
Courtney Tompkins
Apr 21, 2009, 9:40:36 PM4/21/09
to unofficial-ancestry...@googlegroups.com
Laura,
How about giving some specifics of the problem here? Might be someone knows
the right answer <smile>
How about giving some specifics of the problem here? Might be someone knows
the right answer <smile>
Courtney
sit...@cox.net
Hugh Watkins
Apr 22, 2009, 8:32:45 AM4/22/09
to unofficial-ancestry...@googlegroups.com
2009/4/21 DearMYRTLE <DearM...@gmail.com>
<<
with Google groups (and Yahoo) the technology is far more up to date than Rootsweb because all groups can be used both as a board and / or a list
Yahoo allows files to be posted too
The major disadvantage of Google and Yahoo groups is that there is no succession by appointment of a new list owner if the original list owner loses interest or dies
and the list owner may delete the group and its archives at a whim
Hugh W
--
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks
main blog GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG
go to >>>
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unofficial-ancestry-subscription-group?hl=en
be...@integrity.com Group owner is Beth
with Google groups (and Yahoo) the technology is far more up to date than Rootsweb because all groups can be used both as a board and / or a list
Yahoo allows files to be posted too
The major disadvantage of Google and Yahoo groups is that there is no succession by appointment of a new list owner if the original list owner loses interest or dies
and the list owner may delete the group and its archives at a whim
Hugh W
--
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks
main blog GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG
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