New tick box when adding facts

[At home in NZ]

I don't know when it was decided that we should tick a box to say if we want the fact added to Life Story but it's a nuisance! I went back to an old fact, pretending to make a change and found the tick box was there too. Does this mean we need to go back over all our facts and untick the box if we're not creating 'Life Story'?
Or, am I reading too much into this sudden change?

 

[Tim]

I never use the Life Story, I just use the Facts tab.

 

[At home in NZ]

So do I and in my tree settings I have not ticked the box for 'Automatically build stories for this tree'. So I expect nothing at all to be added to Life Story, but on looking at my Life Story tab I see that is not the case.

The tick box in the new fact window has now disappeared!! However, the position of Date and Location fields has moved and if I go into an old fact I can see the tick box, ticked. That means to me that the Setting is being overriden.

 

[Helen7]

Like Tim, I ignore 'Life Story' and just use the Facts tab. But my 'edit fact' window doesn't look like this. There is an extra 'Life Story Options' option and the tick box only appears if I select that screen (which I never normally do).

 

[Pauline]

I likewise ignore Life Story but my edit fact window seems to have changed to show the Life Story tick box too. Looking at Helen’s pictures, maybe that box was always ticked but previously was only apparent if you selected the LifeStory Options window.

 

[Tim]

It does appear that the Fact Box has changed. But as the changes seem to relate to how data is or is not dispalyed on the Life Story tab, I'm not too worried.

 

[At home in NZ]

as the changes seem to relate to how data is or is not dispalyed on the Life Story tab

I have had a reply to my query with Ancestry, about this new function:
This option has been added as members have asked repeatedly for an option to edit out facts of the life story before printing the story off to keep it more controlled and not quite as extensive. This means that you can now decide if you want to have every fact written into the life story or if you only want i.e. BMD data in the life story.

The standard setting is automatically set to "Show this in Life Story" which is why you can always see it as ticked unless you manually change it to unticked.

We are currently testing it out and we are investigating if our members are happy with this function or if they preferred the old version. If enough members are interested in it, we will do our best to make it permanent of course as it gives our members more freedom on how to view and save their family tree profiles.

As I am still not receiving notification emails from Ancestry I am wondering if anybody reading this has seen anything about this tick box?

 

[Helen7]

As I am still not receiving notification emails from Ancestry I am wondering if anybody reading this has seen anything about this tick box?

The only emails I ever get from Ancestry are when someone messages me or invites me to view their tree (or their DNA results), or when my subscription is about to expire, or info about progress of DNA kits. In other words, things specific to me. Despite having all the relevant boxes ticked on the 'email settings' page, I never get any messages about new features, offers, hints or updates etc. so received nothing about the tick boxes or any other new features. It is as if I had clicked the 'Unsubscribe' box at the bottom (which I haven't). I assume I am only missing adverts, so haven't done anything about it, but perhaps I should...

 

[At home in NZ]

Despite having all the relevant boxes ticked on the 'email settings' page, I never get any messages about new features, offers, hints or updates etc.

This is exactly what I am missing too, however I have had more info from Ancestry about the new tick box, they didn't announce it but acted on users requests and have directed me to the article in a link called 'Providing Feedback About Ancestry'.
to quote: There has been no announcement of this feature via newsletter or on the website, as it is one of our smallest changes on the website at the moment and we are currently more focused on our BETA features like Thrulines or MyTreeTags.
I have no idea what they are talking about! because, I do not get their emails.

I have started a separate thread about making a complaint to Ancestry because of my email issue. My ISP thinks they are being blocked by their system but cannot investigate without co-operation from Ancestry which they will not give.

I feel as though I will never know what is going on at Ancestry because I don't get the emails for 'New Content, Member Stories, and Ancestry News'.
If enough users are affected and make the same complaint maybe Ancestry would do something about it, but flying pigs come to mind.

 

[canadianbeth]

The only e-mails I get from Ancestry are those with new hints about someone in my tree, or another one I am following in hopes of finding a common link. I know nothing about this "tick box" but then I am not writing a life story. A quarter of mine is missing - my paternal grandfather - so no point in writing any stories.

 

[jorghes]

I have noticed an issue with these new "check boxes" in the fact boxes... and it's starting to annoy me. (although the overall result is fine by me).

If you add a marriage using a record hint that does not automatically add the spouse (i.e. most marriages before 1916), then when you go to the fact in order to add the spouse, you have to uncheck that annoying "Life Story" box in order to be able to save the spouse onto the marriage. If you DON'T change that box, then the save button is unavailable.

I think this might be contrary to Ancestry's purpose as it makes sure that I switch "off" any marriage where I have to add the spouse after adding the marriage fact.

 

[At home in NZ]

I have noticed an issue with these new "check boxes" in the fact boxes... and it's starting to annoy me.

tick box/check box, different forms of English for the same word. I was educated in England.

In the message I got from Ancestry:
If you would like to leave feedback about your experience with this new feature, you can do so at the feedback link above. Our developers are always grateful for an insight into how the new features resonate with our members!

the link referred to is here

 

[VTinOZ]

to quote: There has been no announcement of this feature via newsletter or on the website, as it is one of our smallest changes on the website at the moment and we are currently more focused on our BETA features like Thrulines or MyTreeTags.

Thanks for that NZ , nice to see Ancestry at least respond to some.

Ancestry may consider that annoying lifestory box as one of their smallest changes but they've added it to my most used places, the facts I want to add.
It is overriding my settings, I've asked for help, sent feedback, as usual no response from Ancestry... as Aussies will understand...
NOT happy JAN!!!

 

[At home in NZ]

Thanks for that NZ , nice to see Ancestry at least respond to some.

My pleasure. I find it helps to put COMPLAINT in the subject line when sending an email.
I have used the automated email system too and always get a response because it's automated to send an acknowledgement.

The annoying life story box only appears when you edit a fact which i do quite often, either to add media or to correct a spelling i didn't notice when adding the fact.

I have had a 'play' with this new fangled annoying box and found:
Each fact is automatically added to your life story. Then, if you want to delete it from the life story you choose Edit in the Fact either in Life Story or in the Fcat tab and untick/uncheck the box.
I did ask if Life Story could be disabled because I don't use it, answer in short - no.

 

[Helen7]

I did ask if Life Story could be disabled because I don't use it, answer in short - no.

I think the point here is that Life Story was always there but could just be ignored completely. Now you are reminded of it it every time you want to edit a fact, and to delete a fact you have to untick the lifestory box first.

 

[VTinOZ]

The part that annoys me is that in settings it asks if you want to add to lifestory & I set mine to add nothing, which worked perfectly until this 'small change'. Now I have Life stories galore but don't want any, that's my fault for ignoring the blasted box because I thought my settings would nullify it. Punishment- heaps of editing to do to remove the life stories. Just eats up my research time.... sorry everyone, whinge over.

 

[At home in NZ]

o delete a fact you have to untick the lifestory box first.

That is not happening to me. I deleted a couple yesterday in the Fact tab.

I had never been near Life Story until this flipping tick box appeared, I was ignoring it completely and in my tree settings I have left the tick box blank where it has 'Automatically build stories for this tree'. That setting doesn't stop the creation of life story it just stops things being added to it.

VTinOZ, I suggest you just ignore lifestory, you don't need to change anything, ignore the tick box too. That's what I'm doing.