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Publicising Lost Cousins

Alexander Bisset

Alexander Bisset

Administrator
Staff member
peter said:
The DNA Masterclass is here. If you're emailing your users you can also share with them the code on your My Summary page, which gives new LostCousins members a free subscription upgrade (more details here), or else I can create a special code for FTA users.
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I’ve moved this thread here to avoid cluttering Red’s stats page.

The Mac version has gone live with a version that allows printing and the automated searching so I was thinking that I’d add the Lost Cousins stats page to the app next. At present the windows version uses the link from my summary page so I can just reuse that. Although it may be more useful for your stats to know if you are getting traffic due to people using FTAnalyzer.

There’s now about 2000 users using the app with an average of 700 unique users a week using it, and around 130 users a day. So anything I can do to drive more traffic to the Lost Cousins site and get more people entering more ancestors is a clear goal.

My thought was to do some form of Facebook promo on my site specifically focused on getting folks to use the Lost Cousins features once the Mac version is available. Probably including a few step by step walkthroughs so that it encourages people to take part. Hopefully once they see how easy FTAnalyzer makes adding cousins lots of people will take part.

I think they the key is to break their fear that they are re-entering lots of data or that it’s difficult to do.
 
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Btw I’ve been asked many times (most often by Tim :)) if FTAnalyzer could automate the process of adding to the Lost Cousins site but I don’t think that’s possible without having some sort of upload datafile option and as I’ve pointed out that would probably take a good bit of work at the Lost Cousins website end. Although it would be simple enough to have FTAnalyzer export a list of census references and names and ages etc in an agreed format. It already has a similar report for use for sending to people.

However it may be well worth exploring longer term if a user could upload a file format that you specify, that FTAnalyzer could easily generate from their raw data. It could easily be a member only option. That would mean with a couple of mouse clicks users could upload all those people for whom they have a census reference but haven’t entered in Lost Cousins.

These batch uploaded entries could then be quarantined for the user to use the verification functions that already exist so they have to confirm that the data is right before its added to the main database.

Such a system could encourage users to add hundreds of new entries with a few mouse clicks. That would transform the level of matching whilst preserving the accuracy that Lost Cousins is known for.
 
Unfortunately adding batch input would require a level of programming expertise far beyond mine, and would probably require a complete rewrite of the website (because it is written in a combination of programming languages and techniques that nobody seems to use nowadays). The time to rewrite the site is when I finally manage to get permission to host the 1881 Census.

But if FTA was able to produce a report that set out the input data in a format that would speed up entry, perhaps including instructions such as <tab> to remind users how to move quickly from one field to another (including skipping fields), the entry process would be greatly accelerated. From corresponding with members it seems that some can spend as much as 10 minutes entering a single household, something that shouldn't take more than 1 0r 2 minutes (depending on the size of the household).
 
Yes that's what I kept telling Tim, that I was aware the level of coding required was not something that would be doable at your end. I wonder though if it might be possible to automate filling out the web form for the user? Similar to how the automated searching of Ancestry and FindMyPast works.

The main concern would be a risk of adding duplicate entries. Is there some mechanism that exists on the site to warn a user they have already entered that person?
 
If you re-enter the details of some already entered, the household is listed as the "Current Household".
Phil
 
Alexander Bisset said:
Yes but what I'd need was an error message to prevent duplicates.
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It's not possible to create a duplicate entry - in theory, at least. Either the new one over-writes the old one, or vice versa (I can't remember which way round it is).
Alexander Bisset said:
I wonder though if it might be possible to automate filling out the web form for the user? Similar to how the automated searching of Ancestry and FindMyPast works.
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I'm not sure - I'll have a think about that. The difference with Ancestry and Findmypast is that you can fairly easily construct a URL that performs the search, bypassing the search form itself (Ancestry/Findmypast backfill the form if you edit the search).
 
It is possible to feed data to a web form and post it. I note that the site uses an old school <form method=post> tag. So it should be trivial to try. Ideally it would fill the form data then post then wait then fill form then post then wait etc etc. Checking for feedback each time.

Possibly if I have a bash at the 1881 England and Wales one first at that is going to be the most likely to produce matches. It's also one I've got very limited entries for in my own tree as they my ancestors are almost all Scottish.
 
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I've made good progress, with FTAnalyzer now able to login to Lost Cousins and prepare the data to be entered onto the form and submitted. I reckon that it would be possible for someone to upload their entire missing Lost Cousins entries that have a valid census reference in a few minutes max. This could transform the amount of data that is entered as even the best of us struggle to prioritise using this service when we find new census entries.

I'm thinking though that it would be a good idea to flag any data entered by FTAnalyzer for user review. This could be done with a simple extra hidden input field on the add_ancestor page coupled with a highlight on the Ancestors page if that field is flagged as having been FTAnalyzer created.

This would serve two main purposes. It would allow you (Peter) to monitor how many records were entered by users via FTAnalyzer and in doing so be able to easily tag anything that might be an issue during development. It would allow the users to review the data and amend anything that wasn't right after using the checking function you added a couple of years ago.

Is this something you'd be able to add to the add_ancestors page a simple hidden input box that tagged data as FTAnalyzer entered? I'd then ensure that all records FTAnalyzer created via the form were tagged. All records entered on the website including everything in there to data would be of course untagged.


The other things of note I've come across so far:
Initial testing will be just E&W 1881 census and only the main fields.
Later I'll be able to fill out many of the optional fields if the data exists in the users GEDCOM file - eg: exact baptism dates and exact birth dates, woman's maiden name etc. as well as the other census years.
Ages is a bit tricky as many entries will rely on the user having a birth date that is known or is no less vague than an ABT date, particularly the 1841 census with 5 year rounding. This is one of the things the user will need to review.
 
Alexander Bisset said:
I've made good progress, with FTAnalyzer now able to login to Lost Cousins and prepare the data to be entered onto the form and submitted. I reckon that it would be possible for someone to upload their entire missing Lost Cousins entries that have a valid census reference in a few minutes max. This could transform the amount of data that is entered as even the best of us struggle to prioritise using this service when we find new census entries.

I'm thinking though that it would be a good idea to flag any data entered by FTAnalyzer for user review. This could be done with a simple extra hidden input field on the add_ancestor page coupled with a highlight on the Ancestors page if that field is flagged as having been FTAnalyzer created.

This would serve two main purposes. It would allow you (Peter) to monitor how many records were entered by users via FTAnalyzer and in doing so be able to easily tag anything that might be an issue during development. It would allow the users to review the data and amend anything that wasn't right after using the checking function you added a couple of years ago.

Is this something you'd be able to add to the add_ancestors page a simple hidden input box that tagged data as FTAnalyzer entered? I'd then ensure that all records FTAnalyzer created via the form were tagged. All records entered on the website including everything in there to data would be of course untagged.


The other things of note I've come across so far:
Initial testing will be just E&W 1881 census and only the main fields.
Later I'll be able to fill out many of the optional fields if the data exists in the users GEDCOM file - eg: exact baptism dates and exact birth dates, woman's maiden name etc. as well as the other census years.
Ages is a bit tricky as many entries will rely on the user having a birth date that is known or is no less vague than an ABT date, particularly the 1841 census with 5 year rounding. This is one of the things the user will need to review.
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Alastair, this sounds very promising indeed - well done!

Would it be possible to use the Notes field for the flag? This already exists and already has a symbol which appears on the My Ancestors page. If the page is sorted in order of date of entry the new entries will all be at the top of the list.
 
I'll stick up a beta version to my beta testers later tonight to gain feedback before launching. Once I've ironed out kinks I'll release it to general user base. Initially this is on the Windows Version but I'll add it to the Mac version for release by end of Month.
 
Btw this is on a test email account ftanalyzer@gmail.com so it didn't get mixed up with my real personal data my intention was to delete it once testing complete so that any matches don't email that account. Is zapping an entire account easy for me to do or do you need to do that?
 
Beta test. Unzip to a folder - run the file FTAnalyzer.exe import your GEDCOM file.

Then switch to Lost Cousins tab and view the stats on reports page. Switch to updates sub-tab to login and upload to Lost Cousins website.

Depending on internet speed and website loading etc it's doing up to about 200 entries a minute.


NB. in order to work you MUST have census references in your file. If not then it CANNOT magically add the correct census reference to the Lost Cousins website. That said if you've merged in data there should be a census ref it can use.

The other plus is that if you add census refs to your existing census entries not only are you improving the quality of your data but that will then allow auto uploading to Lost Cousins.

NB2. At present I've limited it to just the England & Wales 1881 census for testing purposes.
 
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Alexander Bisset said:
Beta test here. Unzip to a folder - run the file FTAnalyzer.exe import your GEDCOM file.
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When I try to run FTAnalyzer.exe I get a message "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.". However, the current version (7.2.4.4) runs just fine from a different folder. What else might I need to do for this beta version (7.3.0.0)?
 
I've managed to use the Beta file and uploaded 7 individuals. Very quick, very smooth, very clear and very simple. Just need to add a Lost Cousins fact to my tree now. Went and checked the entries on Lost Cousins, names and ref data all correct, it had even added Maiden names and dates of birth!

Great Job Alexander :)

And thanks to Peter for allowing Alexander to try and accomplish something that will be great benefit to all Lost Cousin Members.

Can't wait for the other census years now (after all the correct testing and validation has occured) as I have 230 to load for 1911!

Truly amazing, well done guys.
 
Bryman said:
When I try to run FTAnalyzer.exe I get a message "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.". However, the current version (7.2.4.4) runs just fine from a different folder. What else might I need to do for this beta version (7.3.0.0)?
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That's usually because you put it in a restricted windows folder eg: Program files or Program files (x86). Windows doesn't let you install programs manually to those folders.
 
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