Search features

Ronald W. Jordan

I have been planning to send you feedback for a couple of years - not knowing if you would really do anything - but here goes

Background - I started working on genealogy when I joined the Church - with PAF1. And have been every since in various centers in numerous states

During the last couple of years, in order to keep busy, I have volunteered to trace individual family lines for free (ads on craiglist, facebook, and nextdoor) - and I get hunderds of inquiries that allow me to create hundreds of family trees and have many of the individuals come to the center to assist

I understand you and your programmers probably don't really get out in the field or work with non-members and those older members trying to create a tree - so let me pass on to you some "real" world observations

1. creating your account for the first time is extremely hard for those older or not familiar with the church - the main problem is all the "advertising" you have when someone first logs in - it is way too complicated! You give way too many ideas, suggestions, etc. - just make it simple and easy to do - just go directly to their tree and let them add from there - over half of the numerous indiviauls I have assisted either give up or say it is not user friendly
2. Your search feature is absolutely terrible! First I could not find any instructions on how to use it, how it works, or anything on what it does - anywhere - simple things like what is collections, how do I search for just census records or specific records is not explained anywhere. Second - I know and understand the church has more records than anyone - but you cannot get to them - as an example , I have had many individuals ask for military records - I just go to ancestry for this - how would anyone find these records on familysearch. Third - Family trees and/or genealogies - there needs to be something to trigger a individual searching to go to this section - no one knows about this. After all these years, both ancestry and my heritage has blown passed familysearch on the ways to search and find information on individuals - I give numerous presentations, classes, and teach numerous people and I am sorry to say that I tell all of them to use ancestry and my heritage to do their searches - they get way more information and records - why not make the menu like them - easy and simple - why use this "collection" thing - I really believe you should possilbe hire an season ancestry programmer to assist you - I don't know the feedback you get, but I can tell you from practical "real" life that for the older member, non-member, and those just starting family search is complicated "over their heads" experience - it is so sad for me to see this great program in such bad shape - quit working on all the upgrades and add-ons - they do no good if you can't search and get information from the information already in the program
3. Let me know if you would like to get together or want any other actual "real" life examples

Gail Swihart Watson

You have posted in a public forum, not a private one. You'd better remove your personal information as it is searchable and available to anyone.

If you click the collection link, it is actually fairly clear how to proceed. A selection of sources, grouped by type, slides in from the right. You can use this to narrow your search to a specific type and location (ie Michigan marriages).

Áine Ní Donnghaile

@Gail Swihart Watson The poster only has 4 hours to edit, and the 4 hours were already up when you commented. I've flagged a mod to edit, but it is the weekend.

Maile L

@Ronald W. Jordan Community is a public online forum. For privacy reasons, your post was edited to remove your contact information as well as personal details. Please see the Community Code of Conduct for more details.