"No relationship found"

MaglebyShelleyJoan1

I am really missing the "No relationship found" notification. And I can't figure out how to use the new notification that says I need to add generations or something like that. I just get frustrated!! I have tried to add more but can't figure it out. Help!! And PLEASE add the "No relationship found" feature back!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!

genthusiast

The message about 15 generations means FamilySearch won't be able to show you a relationship past that point ( I think). So I think the 15-generation message is meant be more exclusive than the 'no relationship found' message - but I can't recall if both were displayed previously?

Kenner Tobias Hartman

Here is how it works:

• If you go past 15 generations, you will be displayed the message, "It appears your tree does not have enough generations added to find a shared relative, or the shared relative is beyond 15 generations. Learn more."
• If you view your relationship of someone who you are NOT related to (or do not have enough information for FamilySearch to determine a relationship), you will be displayed the same message, "It appears your tree does not have enough generations added to find a shared relative, or the shared relative is beyond 15 generations. Learn more."

So the messages are the same, but there is given no context as to whether it is because you have gone past 15 generations or because there is not enough information to determine whether or not you are related to that person.

For example, Ann Wade [M6WK-T7X] is the spouse of my 12th great-granduncle. But if I click to view my relationship to her parents, I will given the message "It appears your tree does not have enough generations added to find a shared relative, or the shared relative is beyond 15 generations. Learn more." In this case, there is not enough information for FamilySearch to determine my relationship to her because I need to fill in more missing pieces in family relationships.

Edward Coleman III [LBP4-FTR] is my 13th great grandfather, but if I click to view my 15th great grandfather John Edward Coleman [LBP4-H5Y], I will be given the same message. In this case, I am starting to go beyond the 15 generation limit to view my relationship to these families.

Sometimes, even if we try our best to add as much information as possible, there may still be a lot of missing pieces that we cannot fill today or in the coming years. Hope this helps!

Julia Szent-Györgyi

It looks like the short-and-to-the-point "no relationship found" message has been replaced with a wordier "Relationship Unknown" message that spells out the possible reasons an assumed-to-exist relationship wasn't found.

It does come across as somewhat accusatory: "you haven't done enough work for us to find this, you dummy, unless you have this excuse, in which case our bad, sorrynotsorry."

I think the problem is the implicit assumption that the relationship actually exists. Yes, we're all technically related, if you go back far enough, but is that fact really genealogically meaningful?

Gordon Collett

I'm pretty sure this change was in response to other complaints. I recall one post a few months ago that was something like, "My son was really upset because when he checked his great-grandfather's record, he was told "No Relationship Found." He was crushed by that news. How could you even think of telling him he was not related to his great-grandfather!."