Help talk:Search

Unexpected Search Results [5 January 2013]

I'm in Search.

I select "Sources" as the namespace.

I enter the title:

Massachusetts Vital Records

I get pages of Sources that start with

Vital Records of (Town), Massachusetts

Why does "Massachusetts Vital Records" NOT come up first since that's how I entered it?

jillaine 09:40, 21 December 2008 (EST)

The words you enter are treated as individual words - order doesn't matter. If you want to match a specific phrase, you can search for "Massachusetts Vital Records" (enter the quotes).--Dallan 15:46, 16 January 2009 (EST)

Thanks, Dallan. Does the werelate.org search engine generally follow Google search protocol? jillaine 16:38, 16 January 2009 (EST)

We're not as sophisticated as google, but you can use double-quotes for phrases, a negative-sign to exclude a word, a plus-sign to require a word, asterix's to match partial words, and date ranges. See the "Search modifiers" in this help page for more information.--Dallan 20:04, 16 January 2009 (EST)

 I tried importing a GEDCOM, and got a recommendation to delete it and fix problems noted.  So, after some unsuccessful searching, I entered Help Search and tried putting in the description field for the errors, alerts, and warnings (what I am collectively calling problems) I got back.  Even on the most wide open search criterion (exact, partial, and something else--can't remember), I get no results.  This surprises me, as I now have no concrete idea how to correct the problems.  I recommend that the folks who programmed the GEDCOM review, add something to the help about how to correct each possible problem message.  Or, if only errors must be corrected to get a GEDCOM import approved, then perhaps the directions for GEDCOM import should be slightly revised to reflect this fact, and then directions on how to correct only errors is needed in help.
 Secondly, I would appreciate help in response to this comment, about how to fix the following problems (my comments in parentheses):
   - Missing gender (I can guess, but would prefer not to; some first names are not that obvious or not present or just an initial or illegible)
   - Child births less than nine months apart (is premature birth not allowed for?)
   - Birth of person occurred before marriage (really?  we're calling this a problem that contributes to rejection of a GEDCOM import?)
   - Missing year for birth (I have the day and month, but not the year)
   - Surname has only one letter (the first letter of the surname is all I know)
 If I have missed something in the naming conventions or other sections, please let me know.  I did spend quite some time looking for answers to the above, not just in help, but couldn't find anything.

Thx--Bill 18:12, 5 January 2013 (EST)

Search for CONTRIBUTIONS by a User [20 January 2009]

I see how I can search for pages being watched by a user, but how do I search for pages contributed by a particular user?

THanks

jillaine 00:12, 19 January 2009 (EST)

Sorry - there's no way to do that. Most, but perhaps not all, of the contributors are also watching the page.--Dallan 21:16, 20 January 2009 (EST)

Remove section? [16 March 2010]

Dallan, I am wondering about the wording you added that states:

Tip: Searching by category can be very powerful. For example, you can add the pages you are actively researching into a category (e.g., [[Category:Jane Actively Researching]]), then search those pages with Category:"Jane Actively Researching".

Can I assume, in light of our recent conversation at WeRelate talk:Categories project, that we don't want to encourage users to create categories such as this? --Jennifer (JBS66) 12:38, 12 March 2010 (EST)

Right. I'll remove it.--Dallan 17:27, 16 March 2010 (EDT)

"Jumping" Counties [17 June 2012]

I am trying to do a check of all the places in a specific county, for example, "Durham, Ontario, Canada". If I leave the Place name: blank and enter "Durham, Ontario, Canada" in Located in:, "Durham" jumps over to Place name: and I am provided with a list of three items including "Durham, Ontario, Canada". I expect a list much longer than that. The same thing happens if I leave the Place name: blank and enter "Ontario, Canada" in Located in:

The county in question was the subject of a municipal reorganization in 1974 and I am trying to verify that individual places are now falling into the correct pre-1974 (same as circa-1900) counties.

I have read over the instructions several times and I don't see where I am going wrong. --goldenoldie 12:03, 17 June 2012 (EDT)

When doing a place search you can't leave the place name blank, unfortunately. If you go to Place:Durham, Ontario, Canada you'll see a list of all of its contained places down the right-hand side. And if you click on "What links here", you'll see a list of every page that has a link to Durham. Hopefully one of these two lists will help.--Dallan 12:41, 17 June 2012 (EDT)