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Re: Improve FamilySearch Place-Names in Sweden - many places could be automated.
@twi said
" ... I have administered large databases, so I am well familiar with the risks involved in automation. ... "
Sorry if it sounds like we're insulting your expertise but the risks involved with automating functions in FamilySearch FamilyTree appear to be wholly different from ... well, anything else out there. When I first started here, I took great care to standardise all my placenames for the data that I'd entered. A year or two later - all (it felt like all) those standardisations had gone. That was some sort of bulk process. We never really understood how or why it fouled up. Sorry 😯
Re: Why does my Notifications list sometimes "lie" to me?
And here I thought that stuff being marked read when I hadn't was just my sister looking in?...
I think stuff being marked unread when I've already seen it is almost always due to a mod's activities, but it's not always possible to tell.
Re: Improve FamilySearch Place-Names in Sweden - many places could be automated.
As another example of the sorts of things that go wrong with anything automated on FS, check out the discussions of source titles (https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/538287#Comment_538287).
There are good reasons old-timers like us cringe at the mere thought of "automatic" combined with "FS".
Re: Maryland 1870 census have wrong place data
Mod note- This error report was moved to the Search category.
Re: Improve FamilySearch Place-Names in Sweden - many places could be automated.
An example of the current process: This record is from the US state of Georgia, county of Fulton. Major place - that's where the majority of the city of Atlanta is located. The entire record set is Georgia, since it is the 1933-1998 Death Index for the state. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V4M1-Z1N
The county is indexed twice - once with the name of the state and once without. Trying to attach the record to cousin John's profile a few days ago, I was offered Fulton County, Pennsylvania as a first choice. It's not the oldest in the top 3; it's not alphabetically first; it's not geographically closest.
This is a relatively simple choice - it's a GEORGIA record so the first option should be GEORGIA. It isn't. And if I don't choose, the source linker takes the first option, putting John's death in Pennsylvania.
What you are suggesting is a quantum factor more difficult. Let's get the simple one fixed before we try branching out.
Re: Improve FamilySearch Place-Names in Sweden - many places could be automated.
Sorry, @twi, but the very mention of "automation" together with "place names" gives me the shivers. You will find MANY threads in the Community about the automated placename algorithm that has created havoc, putting placenames in absolutely the wrong state or country.
No, thanks.
Re: Improve FamilySearch Place-Names in Sweden - many places could be automated.
"Dismal" and "abysmal" are the kinds of adjectives that come to my mind to describe FS's track record with automated processes.
In other words, I agree wholeheartedly with Áine: please, no.
Re: Why does my Notifications list sometimes "lie" to me?
Agreed - I think that the drop-down list of Notifications sometimes shows dots for "Unread" when I have read them. And / or "Mark All Read" has done nothing. But to be frank, I've given up expecting consistency and therefore I couldn't swear to the exact failure modes.
Re: Unable to Change Source Title
Schizophrenia! That's the word I was failing to come up with last night. The automatic source-title generator has become schizophrenic: what it thinks it's doing is not actually what it's doing.
Paul, if you use the "FIXME" trick (or whatever bit of nonsense suits your fancy), then you don't need to worry about what the automatic template is. The minor tradeoff is that you always need to edit a title twice, but that's kinda true anyway if you want your titles to be consistent.
Re: Exact name filter needs to be broader and provide instructions
Re-reading my earlier post, it appears I am requesting the option of being able to enter multiple wildcards in one name. Just to confirm that I am aware the ability to do this already exists.