Bob Spiers
LostCousins Superstar
I do think the 'Green Leaf' HINTS provided by Ancestry - along with POTENTIAL suggestions -have beeen getting a bad press in the Forum and wish to redress the balance. I believe they are more beneficial than the 'sheer waste of time ' others claim, and will try to explain why.
First, let me digress (as is my way) to our lunchime breaks (my wife and I) when after a Sandwich and a cup of coffee (for me always tea) we rest. My wife to her crossword and I likely to a snooze in my 'Cumfy' Chair - "Not the Cumfy chair" -shades of Monty Phython - with legs elevated and back tilted. But I do not doze for long as it will be an unusual day when my wife does not seek help with her crossword..."A 7 letter word, of which she has 3 already and gives the clue of an Aquatic Mammal" (or whatever). My answer half asleep can sometime be quite erratic and draws the comment..."No silly, that has 8 letters and isn't aquatic"...and so on and so forth. Until that magic moment when my reply achieves..."YES" (said aloud)..." you are right so why didn't I think of that"? Say no more.
Ancestry are attempting to provide the same help and like our own database of knowledge drawn from education and experience, their's is only as good as the the multitudinous inputs obtained from Trees entrusted to their safe keeping and the dexterity of Algorithm mixing and matching. Some they get right and some they get wrong ( and yes sometimes hopelessly wrong) but whoopee when they are bang on target. Here is a recent example of my own.
Helping my new Senior Researcher friend piece together family members (siblings of his father) of whom he knows little, I began with a search (England based) and in doing so received a HINT about a Canadian Passenger List and was about to kick it into touch when something made me view the original. I found not just the person sought by name (a child aged 10), but with him two younger siblings. Alongside all was the annotation " Orphanage". Long story short (because it did take a fair bit of time and two way messaging) to establish he knew one of the girls was sent to Canada after the death of her mother, and although intended to be taken in by an Aunt, she had died and the girl ended up in a Canadian Orphanage. The siblings clearly ended up in the same Orphanage and one of his (brick wall type) mysteries was resolved. Well done Ancestry and the ramifications from that search result were quite remarkable and it all came from a HINT.
Like others I have had absurd suggestions offered by way of HINTS and for that matter POTENTIAL offerings about this that and the other. Some were clearly nonsensical -wrong dates, names, places although to be fair I could often see the rationale behind the algorithm driven offering. It just needed my "degree of knowledge and experience" (as recently mentioned in a DNA subject posting) to allow me to make my own assessment..
I personally enjoy Ancestry HINTS & POTENTIALS and take them all in my stride, and waste little time in assessing their bona fides. Some straight to the Scrap Bin; some deserving further investigation and YES (emulating my wife when I provide a right answer) when they are bang on target.
Best advice is to follow the house buyers guide "CAVEAT EMPTOR" (Buyer beware) and apply the same logic. Check them out and rejoice when they enhance your research knowledge and 'bear with' when they do not.
First, let me digress (as is my way) to our lunchime breaks (my wife and I) when after a Sandwich and a cup of coffee (for me always tea) we rest. My wife to her crossword and I likely to a snooze in my 'Cumfy' Chair - "Not the Cumfy chair" -shades of Monty Phython - with legs elevated and back tilted. But I do not doze for long as it will be an unusual day when my wife does not seek help with her crossword..."A 7 letter word, of which she has 3 already and gives the clue of an Aquatic Mammal" (or whatever). My answer half asleep can sometime be quite erratic and draws the comment..."No silly, that has 8 letters and isn't aquatic"...and so on and so forth. Until that magic moment when my reply achieves..."YES" (said aloud)..." you are right so why didn't I think of that"? Say no more.
Ancestry are attempting to provide the same help and like our own database of knowledge drawn from education and experience, their's is only as good as the the multitudinous inputs obtained from Trees entrusted to their safe keeping and the dexterity of Algorithm mixing and matching. Some they get right and some they get wrong ( and yes sometimes hopelessly wrong) but whoopee when they are bang on target. Here is a recent example of my own.
Helping my new Senior Researcher friend piece together family members (siblings of his father) of whom he knows little, I began with a search (England based) and in doing so received a HINT about a Canadian Passenger List and was about to kick it into touch when something made me view the original. I found not just the person sought by name (a child aged 10), but with him two younger siblings. Alongside all was the annotation " Orphanage". Long story short (because it did take a fair bit of time and two way messaging) to establish he knew one of the girls was sent to Canada after the death of her mother, and although intended to be taken in by an Aunt, she had died and the girl ended up in a Canadian Orphanage. The siblings clearly ended up in the same Orphanage and one of his (brick wall type) mysteries was resolved. Well done Ancestry and the ramifications from that search result were quite remarkable and it all came from a HINT.
Like others I have had absurd suggestions offered by way of HINTS and for that matter POTENTIAL offerings about this that and the other. Some were clearly nonsensical -wrong dates, names, places although to be fair I could often see the rationale behind the algorithm driven offering. It just needed my "degree of knowledge and experience" (as recently mentioned in a DNA subject posting) to allow me to make my own assessment..
I personally enjoy Ancestry HINTS & POTENTIALS and take them all in my stride, and waste little time in assessing their bona fides. Some straight to the Scrap Bin; some deserving further investigation and YES (emulating my wife when I provide a right answer) when they are bang on target.
Best advice is to follow the house buyers guide "CAVEAT EMPTOR" (Buyer beware) and apply the same logic. Check them out and rejoice when they enhance your research knowledge and 'bear with' when they do not.
