WeRelate:Watercooler - Revision history

BobC: Update commentary

2009-09-05T19:46:07Z

Update commentary

←Older revision		Revision as of 19:46, 5 September 2009
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	<font size="+1">'''Watercooler has moved to [[WeRelate talk:Watercooler]].'''</font>		<font size="+1">'''Watercooler has moved to [[WeRelate talk:Watercooler]].'''</font>

-	We added forum-like features to all talk pages. Specifically we added an automatic signature and posting date for each comment, a "new topic" button in the menu bar and a "add comment" button for each topic. This will help you find, read and add comments for particular topics. These changes will help members of our community to respond to each other's comments and questions. On the whole, it is now much easier to navigate the watercooler. To further help our community discuss important issues, ask questions and respond to each other we also plan to add a mailing list in the near future. Please go to the '''[[Werelate talk:Watercooler\|new Watercooler]]''' to discuss WeRelate.	+	We added forum-like features to all talk pages. Specifically we added an automatic signature and posting date for each comment, a "new topic" button in the menu bar and a "add comment" button for each topic. This will help you find, read and add comments for particular topics. These changes will help members of our community to respond to each other's comments and questions. On the whole, it is now much easier to navigate the watercooler.

-	It was necessary to archive old discussion at [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2006]] and [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2007]].	+	Please go to the '''[[WeRelate talk:Watercooler]]''' to view current postings, ask questions, or join in active discussions of important WeRelate topics.
		+
		+	Old discussions are archived by year at...
		+	*[[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2006]]
		+	*[[WeRelate talk:Watercooler/Archive 2007]]
		+	*[[WeRelate talk:Watercooler/Archive 2008]]
		+	*[[WeRelate talk:Watercooler/Archive 2009]]

	'''Enjoy!'''		'''Enjoy!'''

Solveig: new format announcement

2007-07-30T06:38:28Z

new format announcement

(Difference between revisions)

Dallan: match+merge this Fall

2007-07-21T19:35:37Z

match+merge this Fall

←Older revision		Revision as of 19:35, 21 July 2007
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	Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)
		+
		+	:As long as you're "watching" the Person or Family page, it won't be deleted if the original contributor removes their GEDCOM.--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)

	::Here's the situation in actual function: I have an Andrew Finley (6), I have no other Andrew Finley's in my tree, so I must presume there are 5 other Andrew Finley's somewhere on this site... Well, I'd love to see their data, their information, etc... see if they are the same fellow I have... but when I go to the search function of the Wiki and type in Andrew Finley I get "No articles match that title"... which is odd, since I know there is at least one (The one that I created). Now, the instructions on the "Add a page" page says "Be sure to add a ( number ) after the name." But do I have to search for Andrey Finley (5), then Andrew Finley (4), and so on for each one of the Andrew Finleys? (Note: I tried that, it didn't find any records that matched that, either) If that's the case, I can see it'd be a lot easier to simply throw the GEDCOM up here and leave it... Erm... now that I've said that, there is some chatter about fixing the search functions... are they broken? If so, I retract this complaint (As I have faith you will fix this in time, and all is good. :) ), I would, however, like an easy way to find people... the site is really easy to use, the problem is that I feel it holds my hand a little too much, and when I need to do something a little wierd (Though I can't see why looking for the other 5 Andrew Finleys is wierd), it seems to be very difficult trying to figure out which path to take...		::Here's the situation in actual function: I have an Andrew Finley (6), I have no other Andrew Finley's in my tree, so I must presume there are 5 other Andrew Finley's somewhere on this site... Well, I'd love to see their data, their information, etc... see if they are the same fellow I have... but when I go to the search function of the Wiki and type in Andrew Finley I get "No articles match that title"... which is odd, since I know there is at least one (The one that I created). Now, the instructions on the "Add a page" page says "Be sure to add a ( number ) after the name." But do I have to search for Andrey Finley (5), then Andrew Finley (4), and so on for each one of the Andrew Finleys? (Note: I tried that, it didn't find any records that matched that, either) If that's the case, I can see it'd be a lot easier to simply throw the GEDCOM up here and leave it... Erm... now that I've said that, there is some chatter about fixing the search functions... are they broken? If so, I retract this complaint (As I have faith you will fix this in time, and all is good. :) ), I would, however, like an easy way to find people... the site is really easy to use, the problem is that I feel it holds my hand a little too much, and when I need to do something a little wierd (Though I can't see why looking for the other 5 Andrew Finleys is wierd), it seems to be very difficult trying to figure out which path to take...
		+
		+	:::My ''guess'' is that you're searching just [[WeRelate:Articles]], which are pages like research guides and shared research pages. Person and Family pages are different "namespaces", and don't show up if you're searching just articles. Ronni talks about how to search all pages on WeRelate below.--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)

	:: The way I see it, there really is a very few functions that are constantly performed here: Finding an individual for research, and maintaining your family tree... and though the latter is rather impressively done, it seems the former is a lot harder to do... is there a place where I can search the Wiki ala Wikipedia.org (Where I type in "Andrew Finley" and it gives me close matches)? I must be doing something wrong... can you help? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 09:32, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		:: The way I see it, there really is a very few functions that are constantly performed here: Finding an individual for research, and maintaining your family tree... and though the latter is rather impressively done, it seems the former is a lot harder to do... is there a place where I can search the Wiki ala Wikipedia.org (Where I type in "Andrew Finley" and it gives me close matches)? I must be doing something wrong... can you help? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 09:32, 18 July 2007 (MDT)

	:::Hi Aabh, I only have a few minutes, so let me address your search issue real quick on finding the five other Andrew Finleys. Go to the WIKI tab, then click on Go To / Add Page which will take you to a page where you can search the various name spaces. Change the name space to PERSON and type Andrew Finley (without the number) and all the Andrew Finley's on WR should pop up. Also, Dallan is working on a merge function for finding duplicates and possible matches between trees which will make the process much easier. Welcome to WeRelate btw! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 09:48, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		:::Hi Aabh, I only have a few minutes, so let me address your search issue real quick on finding the five other Andrew Finleys. Go to the WIKI tab, then click on Go To / Add Page which will take you to a page where you can search the various name spaces. Change the name space to PERSON and type Andrew Finley (without the number) and all the Andrew Finley's on WR should pop up. Also, Dallan is working on a merge function for finding duplicates and possible matches between trees which will make the process much easier. Welcome to WeRelate btw! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 09:48, 18 July 2007 (MDT)
		+
		+	:::::As an alternative to changing the namespace to Person, you can leave the namespace alone and start the title with "Person:", e.g., "Person:Andrew Finley". (That's what I do.)--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)

	:::: WooHoo! That works! Thanks Ronni! :D And thank you for the welcome as well! :D Well, I spent 2 hours this morning discovering interesting problems with my Uploaded GEDCOM (Duplicate records... I wonder what my sister was doing making duplicate records? The fact that it removed the information on all of the living people from my tree... which means the data will be destroyed should I replace my current tree with a downloaded version of this websites GEDCOM, and so on), I also spent a good two hours researching about six people on my tree for duplication on other trees... I hate to say it, but the fact that there is a 4 step process to get to the search function is a major hinderance when you are working on massive amounts of data... Many times I'd hit search and discover I hadn't set the drop down to "Person" and so I got no hits at all... sometimes after I had decided that the (2) was an error on my tree and there was no (1)... is the database segmented? Why can't I just go to a Database-wide search for a record? What if someone has written an article that sheds light on a person? What if there is a Family page, but not an individual page (No, I have no idea why that would happen, either... but anything is possible, I guess)? It means that for every person I really want to thoroughly research (Which, I would guess, would be most everyone on my tree, There is no such thing as too much data in Genealogy... :D), I would have to go through a 12 step process (Recovering Genealogist :D), first setting the search for Person, then Article, then Family (To be sure)... Is there any way to search the entire database for Andrew Finley and see what pops up? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 03:02, 19 July 2007 (MDT)		:::: WooHoo! That works! Thanks Ronni! :D And thank you for the welcome as well! :D Well, I spent 2 hours this morning discovering interesting problems with my Uploaded GEDCOM (Duplicate records... I wonder what my sister was doing making duplicate records? The fact that it removed the information on all of the living people from my tree... which means the data will be destroyed should I replace my current tree with a downloaded version of this websites GEDCOM, and so on), I also spent a good two hours researching about six people on my tree for duplication on other trees... I hate to say it, but the fact that there is a 4 step process to get to the search function is a major hinderance when you are working on massive amounts of data... Many times I'd hit search and discover I hadn't set the drop down to "Person" and so I got no hits at all... sometimes after I had decided that the (2) was an error on my tree and there was no (1)... is the database segmented? Why can't I just go to a Database-wide search for a record? What if someone has written an article that sheds light on a person? What if there is a Family page, but not an individual page (No, I have no idea why that would happen, either... but anything is possible, I guess)? It means that for every person I really want to thoroughly research (Which, I would guess, would be most everyone on my tree, There is no such thing as too much data in Genealogy... :D), I would have to go through a 12 step process (Recovering Genealogist :D), first setting the search for Person, then Article, then Family (To be sure)... Is there any way to search the entire database for Andrew Finley and see what pops up? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 03:02, 19 July 2007 (MDT)

	:::::Yes. Click on WEB and from that page you can search the Web or just WeRelate by filling in various fields. One of the problems though with the results is that you aren't very descriptive. The entire search functionality of WR is being worked on I believe, so many of the issues you are having are already being addressed. One other thing. The numbers after the name in Person and Family pages may not always mean there are that many people by that name on WR. If a page gets deleted the number for that person is not reused. As a result John Doe (13) may be the only John Doe on the site. Hope this helps! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 01:42, 20 July 2007 (MDT)		:::::Yes. Click on WEB and from that page you can search the Web or just WeRelate by filling in various fields. One of the problems though with the results is that you aren't very descriptive. The entire search functionality of WR is being worked on I believe, so many of the issues you are having are already being addressed. One other thing. The numbers after the name in Person and Family pages may not always mean there are that many people by that name on WR. If a page gets deleted the number for that person is not reused. As a result John Doe (13) may be the only John Doe on the site. Hope this helps! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 01:42, 20 July 2007 (MDT)
		+
		+	:::::Also, you can set the Namespace field to "Person (and family)" to search just person and family records. If you click on the "Connect" tab instead of the "Web" tab, you don't have to remember to click on the WeRelate button, since searching all of WeRelate is the default search in the Connect tab. I'm going to rename the "Connect" tab to "Search", which is a much better label, next week.
		+
		+	:::::I agree that finding matches is very important. And manually searching for possible matches to everyone in your tree is tedious in the extreme. That's what computers are supposed to do -- take care of the tedious tasks and let us do the fun stuff. When we launched the site initially we had a lot of people say in essence, "cool idea, but it's too hard to navigate and create pages". So we decided to focus on creation and navigation first (e.g., we added GEDCOM upload in February and the Family Tree Explorer around the same time). Since then it's been continued refinement on creation and navigation. We'll be posting some additional changes in the next few weeks, then in September turn attention to the search side. We'll overhaul the current search function, allow people to re-upload their GEDCOM's without first deleting them, and add match+merge functions. GEDCOM re-upload will identify the changes between this version and the previously-uploaded version of your GEDCOM and make those changes to your pages. The match function will notify you when the system finds other pages that are likely matches to your pages, and the merge function will provide a screen where you can select which pieces of information from the to-be-merged pages to include onto the merged page. (In the meantime, if you find matches yourself and want to merge them, see [[Help:Merging pages]]. But personally I'd wait for the match+merge functions to be written this Fall.)--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)

BenHannigan: Restoring "Feedback request" section

2007-07-21T00:13:46Z

Restoring "Feedback request" section

←Older revision		Revision as of 00:13, 21 July 2007
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	Old topics are archived in [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2006]] and [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2007]].		Old topics are archived in [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2006]] and [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2007]].
		+
		+	== Feedback request ==
		+	I thought I might ask for some specific feedback:
		+	* Are the help pages and tutorials difficult to understand?
		+	* What is most confusing?
		+	* What should the site do that it doesn't?
		+	* Is page creation hard to understand? Any ideas on how to make it easier?
		+	* WeRelate searches many different indices, are these search functions confusing?
		+	* Do the tabs make sense to you?
		+	--[[User:Solveig\|Solveig]]
		+
		+	Lots of great comments, thank you! Old comments archived at [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2007]]. Please make your new comments here.

	I'm not familiar with how a Wiki works and get confused easily. Slowly but surely I think I'm catching on. The best impression I've gotten is how quickly I got help when I asked for it. I think this is a great project. Hope I'm up to the challenge.		I'm not familiar with how a Wiki works and get confused easily. Slowly but surely I think I'm catching on. The best impression I've gotten is how quickly I got help when I asked for it. I think this is a great project. Hope I'm up to the challenge.

Caseycatnip: /* Feedback request */

2007-07-20T18:29:04Z

Feedback request

←Older revision		Revision as of 18:29, 20 July 2007
Line 5:		Line 5:
	Old topics are archived in [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2006]] and [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2007]].		Old topics are archived in [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2006]] and [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2007]].

-	== Feedback request ==	+	I'm not familiar with how a Wiki works and get confused easily. Slowly but surely I think I'm catching on. The best impression I've gotten is how quickly I got help when I asked for it. I think this is a great project. Hope I'm up to the challenge.
-	I thought I might ask for some specific feedback:	+	--Caseycatnip
-	* Are the help pages and tutorials difficult to understand?	+
-	* What is most confusing?	+
-	* What should the site do that it doesn't?	+
-	* Is page creation hard to understand? Any ideas on how to make it easier?	+
-	* WeRelate searches many different indices, are these search functions confusing?	+
-	* Do the tabs make sense to you?	+
-	--[[User:Solveig\|Solveig]]	+
-		+
-	Lots of great comments, thank you! Old comments archived at [[WeRelate:Watercooler/Archive 2007]]. Please make your new comments here.	+

	==Initial impressions==		==Initial impressions==

Knarrows: /* New User Functionality/Intermingling trees= */

2007-07-20T07:42:09Z

New User Functionality/Intermingling trees=

←Older revision		Revision as of 07:42, 20 July 2007
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	:::: WooHoo! That works! Thanks Ronni! :D And thank you for the welcome as well! :D Well, I spent 2 hours this morning discovering interesting problems with my Uploaded GEDCOM (Duplicate records... I wonder what my sister was doing making duplicate records? The fact that it removed the information on all of the living people from my tree... which means the data will be destroyed should I replace my current tree with a downloaded version of this websites GEDCOM, and so on), I also spent a good two hours researching about six people on my tree for duplication on other trees... I hate to say it, but the fact that there is a 4 step process to get to the search function is a major hinderance when you are working on massive amounts of data... Many times I'd hit search and discover I hadn't set the drop down to "Person" and so I got no hits at all... sometimes after I had decided that the (2) was an error on my tree and there was no (1)... is the database segmented? Why can't I just go to a Database-wide search for a record? What if someone has written an article that sheds light on a person? What if there is a Family page, but not an individual page (No, I have no idea why that would happen, either... but anything is possible, I guess)? It means that for every person I really want to thoroughly research (Which, I would guess, would be most everyone on my tree, There is no such thing as too much data in Genealogy... :D), I would have to go through a 12 step process (Recovering Genealogist :D), first setting the search for Person, then Article, then Family (To be sure)... Is there any way to search the entire database for Andrew Finley and see what pops up? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 03:02, 19 July 2007 (MDT)		:::: WooHoo! That works! Thanks Ronni! :D And thank you for the welcome as well! :D Well, I spent 2 hours this morning discovering interesting problems with my Uploaded GEDCOM (Duplicate records... I wonder what my sister was doing making duplicate records? The fact that it removed the information on all of the living people from my tree... which means the data will be destroyed should I replace my current tree with a downloaded version of this websites GEDCOM, and so on), I also spent a good two hours researching about six people on my tree for duplication on other trees... I hate to say it, but the fact that there is a 4 step process to get to the search function is a major hinderance when you are working on massive amounts of data... Many times I'd hit search and discover I hadn't set the drop down to "Person" and so I got no hits at all... sometimes after I had decided that the (2) was an error on my tree and there was no (1)... is the database segmented? Why can't I just go to a Database-wide search for a record? What if someone has written an article that sheds light on a person? What if there is a Family page, but not an individual page (No, I have no idea why that would happen, either... but anything is possible, I guess)? It means that for every person I really want to thoroughly research (Which, I would guess, would be most everyone on my tree, There is no such thing as too much data in Genealogy... :D), I would have to go through a 12 step process (Recovering Genealogist :D), first setting the search for Person, then Article, then Family (To be sure)... Is there any way to search the entire database for Andrew Finley and see what pops up? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 03:02, 19 July 2007 (MDT)
		+
		+	:::::Yes. Click on WEB and from that page you can search the Web or just WeRelate by filling in various fields. One of the problems though with the results is that you aren't very descriptive. The entire search functionality of WR is being worked on I believe, so many of the issues you are having are already being addressed. One other thing. The numbers after the name in Person and Family pages may not always mean there are that many people by that name on WR. If a page gets deleted the number for that person is not reused. As a result John Doe (13) may be the only John Doe on the site. Hope this helps! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 01:42, 20 July 2007 (MDT)

Aabh at 09:02, 19 July 2007

2007-07-19T09:02:51Z

←Older revision		Revision as of 09:02, 19 July 2007
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	:::Hi Aabh, I only have a few minutes, so let me address your search issue real quick on finding the five other Andrew Finleys. Go to the WIKI tab, then click on Go To / Add Page which will take you to a page where you can search the various name spaces. Change the name space to PERSON and type Andrew Finley (without the number) and all the Andrew Finley's on WR should pop up. Also, Dallan is working on a merge function for finding duplicates and possible matches between trees which will make the process much easier. Welcome to WeRelate btw! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 09:48, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		:::Hi Aabh, I only have a few minutes, so let me address your search issue real quick on finding the five other Andrew Finleys. Go to the WIKI tab, then click on Go To / Add Page which will take you to a page where you can search the various name spaces. Change the name space to PERSON and type Andrew Finley (without the number) and all the Andrew Finley's on WR should pop up. Also, Dallan is working on a merge function for finding duplicates and possible matches between trees which will make the process much easier. Welcome to WeRelate btw! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 09:48, 18 July 2007 (MDT)
		+
		+	:::: WooHoo! That works! Thanks Ronni! :D And thank you for the welcome as well! :D Well, I spent 2 hours this morning discovering interesting problems with my Uploaded GEDCOM (Duplicate records... I wonder what my sister was doing making duplicate records? The fact that it removed the information on all of the living people from my tree... which means the data will be destroyed should I replace my current tree with a downloaded version of this websites GEDCOM, and so on), I also spent a good two hours researching about six people on my tree for duplication on other trees... I hate to say it, but the fact that there is a 4 step process to get to the search function is a major hinderance when you are working on massive amounts of data... Many times I'd hit search and discover I hadn't set the drop down to "Person" and so I got no hits at all... sometimes after I had decided that the (2) was an error on my tree and there was no (1)... is the database segmented? Why can't I just go to a Database-wide search for a record? What if someone has written an article that sheds light on a person? What if there is a Family page, but not an individual page (No, I have no idea why that would happen, either... but anything is possible, I guess)? It means that for every person I really want to thoroughly research (Which, I would guess, would be most everyone on my tree, There is no such thing as too much data in Genealogy... :D), I would have to go through a 12 step process (Recovering Genealogist :D), first setting the search for Person, then Article, then Family (To be sure)... Is there any way to search the entire database for Andrew Finley and see what pops up? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 03:02, 19 July 2007 (MDT)

Knarrows: /* New User Functionality/Intermingling trees= */

2007-07-18T15:48:09Z

New User Functionality/Intermingling trees=

←Older revision		Revision as of 15:48, 18 July 2007
Line 296:		Line 296:

	:: The way I see it, there really is a very few functions that are constantly performed here: Finding an individual for research, and maintaining your family tree... and though the latter is rather impressively done, it seems the former is a lot harder to do... is there a place where I can search the Wiki ala Wikipedia.org (Where I type in "Andrew Finley" and it gives me close matches)? I must be doing something wrong... can you help? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 09:32, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		:: The way I see it, there really is a very few functions that are constantly performed here: Finding an individual for research, and maintaining your family tree... and though the latter is rather impressively done, it seems the former is a lot harder to do... is there a place where I can search the Wiki ala Wikipedia.org (Where I type in "Andrew Finley" and it gives me close matches)? I must be doing something wrong... can you help? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 09:32, 18 July 2007 (MDT)
		+
		+	:::Hi Aabh, I only have a few minutes, so let me address your search issue real quick on finding the five other Andrew Finleys. Go to the WIKI tab, then click on Go To / Add Page which will take you to a page where you can search the various name spaces. Change the name space to PERSON and type Andrew Finley (without the number) and all the Andrew Finley's on WR should pop up. Also, Dallan is working on a merge function for finding duplicates and possible matches between trees which will make the process much easier. Welcome to WeRelate btw! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 09:48, 18 July 2007 (MDT)

Aabh: /* New User Functionality/Intermingling trees= */

2007-07-18T15:32:29Z

New User Functionality/Intermingling trees=

←Older revision		Revision as of 15:32, 18 July 2007
Line 292:		Line 292:

	Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)
		+
		+	::Here's the situation in actual function: I have an Andrew Finley (6), I have no other Andrew Finley's in my tree, so I must presume there are 5 other Andrew Finley's somewhere on this site... Well, I'd love to see their data, their information, etc... see if they are the same fellow I have... but when I go to the search function of the Wiki and type in Andrew Finley I get "No articles match that title"... which is odd, since I know there is at least one (The one that I created). Now, the instructions on the "Add a page" page says "Be sure to add a ( number ) after the name." But do I have to search for Andrey Finley (5), then Andrew Finley (4), and so on for each one of the Andrew Finleys? (Note: I tried that, it didn't find any records that matched that, either) If that's the case, I can see it'd be a lot easier to simply throw the GEDCOM up here and leave it... Erm... now that I've said that, there is some chatter about fixing the search functions... are they broken? If so, I retract this complaint (As I have faith you will fix this in time, and all is good. :) ), I would, however, like an easy way to find people... the site is really easy to use, the problem is that I feel it holds my hand a little too much, and when I need to do something a little wierd (Though I can't see why looking for the other 5 Andrew Finleys is wierd), it seems to be very difficult trying to figure out which path to take...
		+
		+	:: The way I see it, there really is a very few functions that are constantly performed here: Finding an individual for research, and maintaining your family tree... and though the latter is rather impressively done, it seems the former is a lot harder to do... is there a place where I can search the Wiki ala Wikipedia.org (Where I type in "Andrew Finley" and it gives me close matches)? I must be doing something wrong... can you help? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 09:32, 18 July 2007 (MDT)

Aabh: /* New User Functionality/Intermingling trees= */

2007-07-18T14:41:22Z

New User Functionality/Intermingling trees=

←Older revision		Revision as of 14:41, 18 July 2007
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	== New User Functionality/Intermingling trees===		== New User Functionality/Intermingling trees===

-	Hi! I'm a new user which just came over from the Genealogy Wikia, (It was the GEDCOM import)... The only problem I am having is that I can't seem to easily find out if any people on my tree intermingle with other trees... I can see that some must intermingle (When you have John Jacob Jinglheimer Shmidt (10)... I can only guess it's out there somewhere) I just uploaded some 1500 records, do I have to type each one in individually to find out if there are duplicates? Is there an existing article that I couldn't find (I'm a little baffled by the Article search function... do I need to type in a surname for the article? Is there a surname for articles?).	+	Hi! I'm a new user which just came over from the Genealogy Wikia, (It was the GEDCOM import)... The only problem I am having is that I can't seem to easily find out if any people on my tree intermingle with other trees... I can see that some must intermingle (When you have John Jacob Jinglheimer Shmidt (10)... I can only guess it's out there somewhere) I just uploaded some 1500 records, do I have to type each one in individually to find out if there are duplicates? Is there an existing article that I couldn't find (I'm a little baffled by the Article search function... do I need to type in a surname for the article? Is there a surname for articles?) on how to find intermingled articles?.

-	Now, should I find the linked articles, add my information to their page, and then delete my pages (Correcting the links so they go to the right pages)? I mean, it seems like it would be better to only have one instance of JJJS (Wouldn't it be cool to really have someone named that? :D), rather than 10, each with their own little tidbit of data on the man...	+	Now, should I find the linked articles, and, confirming that they are indeed the same person, add my information to ''their'' page, and then delete ''my'' pages (Correcting the links so they go to the right pages)? I mean, it seems like it would be better to only have ''one'' instance of JJJS (Wouldn't it be cool to really have someone named that? :D), rather than 10, hard to find records... each with their own little tidbit of data on the man...

	Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)

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	Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		Provided I did this, what happens if the person who originally made JJJS decides to pull that page? Is there some way to keep the page around if more than one person has edited it? I'd hate to have (As I've seen in previous notes on this page) holes suddenly develop in my tree... Thanks! [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 08:38, 18 July 2007 (MDT)
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		+	:As long as you're "watching" the Person or Family page, it won't be deleted if the original contributor removes their GEDCOM.--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)

	::Here's the situation in actual function: I have an Andrew Finley (6), I have no other Andrew Finley's in my tree, so I must presume there are 5 other Andrew Finley's somewhere on this site... Well, I'd love to see their data, their information, etc... see if they are the same fellow I have... but when I go to the search function of the Wiki and type in Andrew Finley I get "No articles match that title"... which is odd, since I know there is at least one (The one that I created). Now, the instructions on the "Add a page" page says "Be sure to add a ( number ) after the name." But do I have to search for Andrey Finley (5), then Andrew Finley (4), and so on for each one of the Andrew Finleys? (Note: I tried that, it didn't find any records that matched that, either) If that's the case, I can see it'd be a lot easier to simply throw the GEDCOM up here and leave it... Erm... now that I've said that, there is some chatter about fixing the search functions... are they broken? If so, I retract this complaint (As I have faith you will fix this in time, and all is good. :) ), I would, however, like an easy way to find people... the site is really easy to use, the problem is that I feel it holds my hand a little too much, and when I need to do something a little wierd (Though I can't see why looking for the other 5 Andrew Finleys is wierd), it seems to be very difficult trying to figure out which path to take...		::Here's the situation in actual function: I have an Andrew Finley (6), I have no other Andrew Finley's in my tree, so I must presume there are 5 other Andrew Finley's somewhere on this site... Well, I'd love to see their data, their information, etc... see if they are the same fellow I have... but when I go to the search function of the Wiki and type in Andrew Finley I get "No articles match that title"... which is odd, since I know there is at least one (The one that I created). Now, the instructions on the "Add a page" page says "Be sure to add a ( number ) after the name." But do I have to search for Andrey Finley (5), then Andrew Finley (4), and so on for each one of the Andrew Finleys? (Note: I tried that, it didn't find any records that matched that, either) If that's the case, I can see it'd be a lot easier to simply throw the GEDCOM up here and leave it... Erm... now that I've said that, there is some chatter about fixing the search functions... are they broken? If so, I retract this complaint (As I have faith you will fix this in time, and all is good. :) ), I would, however, like an easy way to find people... the site is really easy to use, the problem is that I feel it holds my hand a little too much, and when I need to do something a little wierd (Though I can't see why looking for the other 5 Andrew Finleys is wierd), it seems to be very difficult trying to figure out which path to take...
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		+	:::My ''guess'' is that you're searching just [[WeRelate:Articles]], which are pages like research guides and shared research pages. Person and Family pages are different "namespaces", and don't show up if you're searching just articles. Ronni talks about how to search all pages on WeRelate below.--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)

	:: The way I see it, there really is a very few functions that are constantly performed here: Finding an individual for research, and maintaining your family tree... and though the latter is rather impressively done, it seems the former is a lot harder to do... is there a place where I can search the Wiki ala Wikipedia.org (Where I type in "Andrew Finley" and it gives me close matches)? I must be doing something wrong... can you help? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 09:32, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		:: The way I see it, there really is a very few functions that are constantly performed here: Finding an individual for research, and maintaining your family tree... and though the latter is rather impressively done, it seems the former is a lot harder to do... is there a place where I can search the Wiki ala Wikipedia.org (Where I type in "Andrew Finley" and it gives me close matches)? I must be doing something wrong... can you help? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 09:32, 18 July 2007 (MDT)

	:::Hi Aabh, I only have a few minutes, so let me address your search issue real quick on finding the five other Andrew Finleys. Go to the WIKI tab, then click on Go To / Add Page which will take you to a page where you can search the various name spaces. Change the name space to PERSON and type Andrew Finley (without the number) and all the Andrew Finley's on WR should pop up. Also, Dallan is working on a merge function for finding duplicates and possible matches between trees which will make the process much easier. Welcome to WeRelate btw! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 09:48, 18 July 2007 (MDT)		:::Hi Aabh, I only have a few minutes, so let me address your search issue real quick on finding the five other Andrew Finleys. Go to the WIKI tab, then click on Go To / Add Page which will take you to a page where you can search the various name spaces. Change the name space to PERSON and type Andrew Finley (without the number) and all the Andrew Finley's on WR should pop up. Also, Dallan is working on a merge function for finding duplicates and possible matches between trees which will make the process much easier. Welcome to WeRelate btw! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 09:48, 18 July 2007 (MDT)
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		+	:::::As an alternative to changing the namespace to Person, you can leave the namespace alone and start the title with "Person:", e.g., "Person:Andrew Finley". (That's what I do.)--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)

	:::: WooHoo! That works! Thanks Ronni! :D And thank you for the welcome as well! :D Well, I spent 2 hours this morning discovering interesting problems with my Uploaded GEDCOM (Duplicate records... I wonder what my sister was doing making duplicate records? The fact that it removed the information on all of the living people from my tree... which means the data will be destroyed should I replace my current tree with a downloaded version of this websites GEDCOM, and so on), I also spent a good two hours researching about six people on my tree for duplication on other trees... I hate to say it, but the fact that there is a 4 step process to get to the search function is a major hinderance when you are working on massive amounts of data... Many times I'd hit search and discover I hadn't set the drop down to "Person" and so I got no hits at all... sometimes after I had decided that the (2) was an error on my tree and there was no (1)... is the database segmented? Why can't I just go to a Database-wide search for a record? What if someone has written an article that sheds light on a person? What if there is a Family page, but not an individual page (No, I have no idea why that would happen, either... but anything is possible, I guess)? It means that for every person I really want to thoroughly research (Which, I would guess, would be most everyone on my tree, There is no such thing as too much data in Genealogy... :D), I would have to go through a 12 step process (Recovering Genealogist :D), first setting the search for Person, then Article, then Family (To be sure)... Is there any way to search the entire database for Andrew Finley and see what pops up? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 03:02, 19 July 2007 (MDT)		:::: WooHoo! That works! Thanks Ronni! :D And thank you for the welcome as well! :D Well, I spent 2 hours this morning discovering interesting problems with my Uploaded GEDCOM (Duplicate records... I wonder what my sister was doing making duplicate records? The fact that it removed the information on all of the living people from my tree... which means the data will be destroyed should I replace my current tree with a downloaded version of this websites GEDCOM, and so on), I also spent a good two hours researching about six people on my tree for duplication on other trees... I hate to say it, but the fact that there is a 4 step process to get to the search function is a major hinderance when you are working on massive amounts of data... Many times I'd hit search and discover I hadn't set the drop down to "Person" and so I got no hits at all... sometimes after I had decided that the (2) was an error on my tree and there was no (1)... is the database segmented? Why can't I just go to a Database-wide search for a record? What if someone has written an article that sheds light on a person? What if there is a Family page, but not an individual page (No, I have no idea why that would happen, either... but anything is possible, I guess)? It means that for every person I really want to thoroughly research (Which, I would guess, would be most everyone on my tree, There is no such thing as too much data in Genealogy... :D), I would have to go through a 12 step process (Recovering Genealogist :D), first setting the search for Person, then Article, then Family (To be sure)... Is there any way to search the entire database for Andrew Finley and see what pops up? [[User:Aabh\|Aabh]] 03:02, 19 July 2007 (MDT)

	:::::Yes. Click on WEB and from that page you can search the Web or just WeRelate by filling in various fields. One of the problems though with the results is that you aren't very descriptive. The entire search functionality of WR is being worked on I believe, so many of the issues you are having are already being addressed. One other thing. The numbers after the name in Person and Family pages may not always mean there are that many people by that name on WR. If a page gets deleted the number for that person is not reused. As a result John Doe (13) may be the only John Doe on the site. Hope this helps! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 01:42, 20 July 2007 (MDT)		:::::Yes. Click on WEB and from that page you can search the Web or just WeRelate by filling in various fields. One of the problems though with the results is that you aren't very descriptive. The entire search functionality of WR is being worked on I believe, so many of the issues you are having are already being addressed. One other thing. The numbers after the name in Person and Family pages may not always mean there are that many people by that name on WR. If a page gets deleted the number for that person is not reused. As a result John Doe (13) may be the only John Doe on the site. Hope this helps! :) --[[User:Knarrows\|Ronni]] 01:42, 20 July 2007 (MDT)
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		+	:::::Also, you can set the Namespace field to "Person (and family)" to search just person and family records. If you click on the "Connect" tab instead of the "Web" tab, you don't have to remember to click on the WeRelate button, since searching all of WeRelate is the default search in the Connect tab. I'm going to rename the "Connect" tab to "Search", which is a much better label, next week.
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		+	:::::I agree that finding matches is very important. And manually searching for possible matches to everyone in your tree is tedious in the extreme. That's what computers are supposed to do -- take care of the tedious tasks and let us do the fun stuff. When we launched the site initially we had a lot of people say in essence, "cool idea, but it's too hard to navigate and create pages". So we decided to focus on creation and navigation first (e.g., we added GEDCOM upload in February and the Family Tree Explorer around the same time). Since then it's been continued refinement on creation and navigation. We'll be posting some additional changes in the next few weeks, then in September turn attention to the search side. We'll overhaul the current search function, allow people to re-upload their GEDCOM's without first deleting them, and add match+merge functions. GEDCOM re-upload will identify the changes between this version and the previously-uploaded version of your GEDCOM and make those changes to your pages. The match function will notify you when the system finds other pages that are likely matches to your pages, and the merge function will provide a screen where you can select which pieces of information from the to-be-merged pages to include onto the merged page. (In the meantime, if you find matches yourself and want to merge them, see [[Help:Merging pages]]. But personally I'd wait for the match+merge functions to be written this Fall.)--[[User:Dallan\|Dallan]] 13:35, 21 July 2007 (MDT)