New Feature Request: Dedicated Similar Record Page
Recently there have been several posts in Community regarding the similar records feature that displays on historical records both when displayed full page and when found on a Family Tree source page as seen here:
Concerns have been raised as to exactly why these are present, whether or not they are hints for the person in the main record they are displayed on, why they can’t be dismissed when they are not for that person, their appearance on the page, and a degree of clumsiness in working through them.
I would like to request an evaluation of this feature with consideration of some thoughts presented here that might improve this feature and address concerns raised.
The Family Tree Detail page contains a somewhat analogus Find Similar People feature. On the page it is just a simple link:
which when clicked on opens a new Find results page in which the original person is always displayed first on the list then other people with some similar data are shown:
Due to the format of the page and the information displayed, it is immediately obvious one is no longer dealing with just the person on the Detail page one came from.
I would propose that the list of similar records on the record pages likewise be replaced with a simple “View Similar Records” link:
that would open in a new page. This would by itself help clarify that these records may have nothing to do with the person mentioned in the original record.
The new page could look like the Show All Research Hints page but I’d be concerned this would make people think these were hints for the original person, which they very well may not be. For example, none of the unattached records in my first image have anything to do with the man the main record is attached to.
I would be inclined to think that the new page should look basically the same as a regular record search results page but without the search features. This would both reinforce that these are just the results of a specialized search and, depending on the types of records, may provide enough information at a glance to be able to make some initial conclusions about the records. For consistency and to again reinforce that this is a search result list like any other, clicking on any one record should open the side panel to see the full record and have the option of attaching it to a person in Family Tree:
Thank you for your consideration of this change in the treatment of these similar records.
Comments
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I agree, except for one detail: I think the proposed "show similar records" button/link should behave pretty much exactly like the "Find Similar People" tool: it should open a Search - Records results page, complete with the inputs panel on the right and filter bubbles at the top, showing what criteria the algorithm used for generating that list.
Now, granted, I haven't a clue how the "Similar Records" list is generated, so I don't know whether that algorithm's parameters can even be entered in the Search - Records interface -- but if they can't, I would ask, why not? What criteria could it possibly use that are unavailable for human users searching the same database?
Another thought: the one advantage that the "Similar Records" list has over a Search - Records results page is that it shows the actual name, dates, and ID of the profile a record is attached to, instead of the generic tree-stublet icon that's not actually usable, because it hijacks the page and cannot be right-clicked or command-clicked. Perhaps this suggestion could be used to kill two birds with one stone: generate the "Similar Records" list only on request, in a separate tab, formatted like the search results list that it really is, and while you're at it, fix the tree-stublet icon so that it generates the same sort of profile summary as is found on the Similar Records list currently.
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I do not like this idea at all. The list is incredibly useful, and it's already hidden by default for sources in the Source list. If we want to see that list for each source currently linked, you have to manually toggle the view for each source -- the "Detailed view" button doesn't even show them. Now you want to add another step that requires us to perform a search on each one individually and open them in another window? No thanks. Being able to hide the list for other users, so that they have to navigate to another page or panel for each source just to see what someone else hid? Definitely not.
And this post is a bit disingenuous. True, there have been two recent posts suggesting that sources already attached to the same person be hidden, but the only posts I could find suggesting that similar records be dismissible were from you. I don't see much concern being expressed that they might be for other people or anybody else expressing confusion over 'why these are present'.
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I don't care for this feature. In my opinion, the chance for error far outways any benefits. Seems like FamilySearch is trying to model after Ancestry.com. I would prefer that FamilySearch makes their FIND and SEARCH algorithm more user friendly instead - but that's a whole nother topic. Gordon, thanks for bringing up the issue. I appreciate your knowledge level and insights.
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@RTorchia, here are a couple of the posts that I think Gordon was thinking of:
https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/515673
https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/515113
Notice that both refer to a "hints list" which is in fact nothing of the sort, being actually the Similar Records list.
And here is a thread where the poster was quite irate about the "false data" being shown on her relative's profile: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/511164.
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About that feature, I've found some similar records suggested - wrong person.
There's no way to prevent those from recurring. Already went through this.
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Thanks for those links. The conversation that most likely inspired this suggestion is yet another one:
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Ah, OK. I would suggest instead an ⓘ info text popup next to the words Similar Records explaining that these share certain similarities with this source, and are not intended as hints for the person this source is currently connected to.
If we keep removing or obscuring useful features because somebody doesn't understand them, we might as well just have the site redirect to zombo.com.
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I would hope that a redesign along the lines of what I'm suggesting here would not hide this feature but rather put it into a format that makes more sense and is more recognizable for what it is. In addition, moving it to the same format as all other search results list would potentially go a long ways to solving the majority of complaints about the feature brought up here: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/142803/inconsistent-behavior-and-functionality-loss-with-similar-records-in-different-vies
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