I don't recall Search-Records being quite *this* dumb.
First Names: Ferenc, Father's First Names: Ágoston, Father's Last Names: Prona?, Mother's First Names: Ro*. No Results Found. (https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&q.fatherGivenName=%C3%81goston&q.fatherSurname=Prona%3F&q.givenName=Ferenc&q.motherGivenName=Ro%2A)
Change First Names to F*, one result: marriage of Prónay Ferencz Antal. (https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&q.fatherGivenName=%C3%81goston&q.fatherSurname=Prona%3F&q.givenName=F%2A&q.motherGivenName=Ro%2A)
In other words, it's failing to find Ferencz as a match to Ferenc.
I don't recall Search-Records being previously quite *this* stupid about "cz" (old spelling) versus "c" (modern spelling). (I know it's Very Dumb about -i versus -y, hence the wildcard in the surname.) Was something changed? (Well, besides the disimprovements to the interface, and the autocorruption ::ehem, sorry:: autostandardization of places.) If so, please revert the change, because this is ridiculous.
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I've also found that the "fuzzy" search is not functioning as it once did. I haven't documented specifics, but I'll try to remember to do so. I had one the other day that didn't return an "Elisabeth" record for "Elizabeth." I'm certain that was not the case in the past. In fact, I had always found the FS fuzzy search to have a better function than other sites. No longer.
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"Yeah, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" This site is no longer a good search engine for trying to find ancestors!
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I'm experiencing this as well. Previously, spelling variations as mentioned here were typically no big deal and I had gotten in the habit of adding alternative names mostly for cases like "Catharina" and "Katalin".
It's incredibly frustrating to need such hyper-specific spelling since I'm constantly researching in Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, etc and names may be spelled so many different ways.
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The only problem I would find is if there was no real wildcard, alternative option - e.g. Polly for Mary, or Peggy for Margaret. Otherwise I would always choose a wildcard in my searches, e.g. Eli*abeth, or even (in the example above) *at*a*in, which should produce both Catherina and Katalin. Sometimes you have to try more than once, as a message will imply you have to add a full name, but you usually get the results after a couple of tries.
At one time the fuzzy search was programmed so badly it didn't even recognised RIPON and RIPPON ad alternative spellings. My experience shows the situation had improved - maybe things just went backwards.
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Further to my example above - well, maybe not if you check out: https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&q.anyDate.from=1850&q.anyDate.to=1875&q.anyPlace=hungary&q.anyPlace.exact=on&q.givenName=%2Aat%2Aa%2Ain&q.givenName.exact=on
Just illustrates my ignorance about recording / indexing Hungarian names (don't be annoyed, Julia) - how did I know the two names get recorded in one field. Although I've even seen this for English names, recently - both first name and last name in the first name field: another bug, perhaps?
OR (Julia again) have these names been indexed in separate fields but "Last name as First"? (Still shows my ignorance.) In which case, the results could obviously be drastically reduced.......
Yep, that's better. See https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&q.anyDate.from=1850&q.anyDate.to=1875&q.anyPlace=hungary&q.anyPlace.exact=on&q.surname=%2Aat%2Aa%2Ain&q.surname.exact=on
Even with the use of only one field, down to 314 results. (I guess I should still have stuck with what I'm familiar with - English names.)
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Hello @Julia Szent-Györgyi.
I agree. Using FamilySearch Search isn't user friendly. I am getting used to it however. I like the comment about using * etc.
When I use FamilySearch Search I try to just enter the last name and possibly the country. Less is more. It has been before with searching and it still is. The big "Search Scoop Shovel" grabs everything with my initial parameters.
"Even with the use of only one field, down to 314 results." Then I add more information if I have it to narrow the search down.
I think it is tricky, but it has worked for me recently.
Good luck,
Anitra
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@Paul W, the newer or newly-updated Hungarian indexes are presented with surname first, so that's what you're seeing. (It's a bit jarring when the register is actually in Latin, but since those would all have the name ending in -a, they're not a match to your wildcard-string.)
Catharina = Katalin is actually one of the equivalences that the algorithms (still) "know": searching for Katalin with father Joannes S* (and a few other parameters), there are several results of Catharina.
There are multiple reasons I tend to search primarily with given names, not surnames. One reason is the general flexibility of the matching algorithms, a.k.a. "knowing" the major equivalents (Stephanus = István, Alexander = Sándor, Catharina = Katalin, etc.); having it fail to return Ferencz for Ferenc is especially jarring because of this. Another reason I prioritize given names in my searches is that there are fewer of them, so indexers generally have better luck with recognizing them.
I continue to be undecided whether there has been a change in the algorithms or not: is Ferenc versus Ferencz a new gap, or was I just previously lucky in not noticing it? And either way, is there any hope of any of this getting fixed? I'd really, really appreciate not having to use wildcards in order to get results that are Exactly The Same Thing (such as c=cz and -i=-y).
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