New Viewer Issue, Records Disappear
Recently I've tweaked some indexed data in this collection https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1804263
My procedure was:
- searching for a specific mistyped surname
- opening the entry (e.g. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6PWW-NKWH)
- fixing the record (edit mode)
Sometimes it takes several hours until this change is propagated to the search index (so I can see updates in search results). Sometimes it is faster.
Anyway, since then I lost access to some of these records, e.g. that link above now reports "We're unable to show this record to you."
I suspect the search index is somewhat out-of-sync and the backend machinery just needs more time to propagate all changes to all related places.
Or is there something more severe? Or do my edits wait in some queue for approval?
Is there any description of what is going on after updating indexed records and what is the typical delay until it is propagated to all places?
Best Answers
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This is a known bug that can happen when a record is
indexededited. The best thing for situations like this is to report the bug using the feedback tab on the page with the missing index. Leave incredibly detailed remarks with the url, collection name, film number, image number, etc. so that the team can find the error easily to fix it.1 -
Due to an issue with the FamilySearch Rights Management system, records in part of certain Historical Records Collections were mistakenly restricted following user record edits. This problem was fixed and validated on February 13, 2024. Record editing should no longer cause any kind of restriction or cause records to “disappear”. For the records that were impacted due to the defect, the data is not lost, just restricted from view. All of the records that were impacted will be completely restored in the coming days and weeks as we work through and restore the data. Thank you for your patience and also for reporting problems as you see them.
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Answers
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Hello,
I have a "This image has not been indexed" error. It was indexed at first and I was correcting some misspelling on the data of the links bellow. When I tried linking the record to a person it gave an error and now there is nothing left in the image, no index exist anymore.
image 410/604 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK4-X998-K?view=index
image 411/604 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK4-X99D-H?view=index
Does anyone knows how to solve this? Can you help me please?
Thanks in advance
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I've seen that message as well a few times, but then the index reappears after a moment. It's as if we are "seeing the petticoats." As the 0s and 1s process, we are seeing the behind-the-scenes workings.
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I think it must be a bug in the new index-correction tool. If you go to the previous and next images (409 and 412), you can see that these records are, in fact, indexed. However, either the original index was way off, or the correction bug has also resulted in Search losing track of these entries, because I can't get it to cough them up. (It doesn't help that I can't really read the language.)
I haven't a clue whether the right people will see this bug report here in the Community. Perhaps it would be worth your while to use the Feedback link on the two images that are showing as unindexed; you could give all of the details that you remember about the corrections you made, in case that helps them track down what happened.
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Hello,
Thank you for your answers!
I used the feedback tab like you advised me. I also sent an email to "eu_support@familysearch.org". Now I'm waiting.
Also, for information I just revisited another link that I have edited way before, which was working fine. The index of the image disappeared as well.
I will let you know when I hear back from them.
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Apparently, this problem is happening across many records/images.
In my case, I can see the indexing of a specific baptism entry in the old records viewer but nothing appears in the new image viewer. Also, it's interesting to see that the other entries on the same image are gone from both viewers after I edited the entry names on the image viewer.
I wonder if this is a technical issue or restrictions triggered by contractual reasons.
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A couple of weeks ago I changed the metadata on this Record: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2V-K3Y, to correct the individual's name from Thomas I Eddy to Thomas J Eddy (backed up by the handwriting on the image plus various other evidence).
This Record was already, and remains, attached as a source to the individual on FT: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/LWYG-LX2, and it can be viewed normally from there.
However, it is now no longer accessible via a Records search in the 1810 US Census (which is where I got it from, easily, in the first place) or more generally across Records. I have tried everything I could think of (apologies if I have missed something here, obviously).
Any idea what is going on here?
If editing metadata has the sort of knock-on effect that feels to be the case here, I feel like I shouldn't do it in future - is that right?
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@MandyShaw1 There are some existing problems with the new editing option. One of the problems is the record sometimes disappears. You'll find a few threads on these issues.
We've asked for a group dedicated to the procedure where we can chat with the developers and, hopefully, get the bugs ironed out.
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In my opinion, it's the new index editor continually inventing new and better ways to mess up.
That said, this particular shenanigan, where editing the record renders it restricted ("we're unable..."), has been reported before, by me: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/148052/new-index-editing-tool-problems-with-adding-entries#latest. The particular records mentioned in that thread have become unrestricted in the four months since then, but I don't know at what point.
N Tychonievich recommends reporting problems with the new editor using the Feedback tab thingy. I'm still basically convinced that this is equivalent to shouting into the void, but it's not difficult, so I keep doing it occasionally. However, without a link to the image containing the now-restricted record, I don't have a Feedback tab thingy, so I can't submit a report about your example.
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I just came on to the forum for the exact same issue. I corrected several mistranscribed names of people and places for an 18th century family I'm very familiar with as I've been working on a biography of one member for years and have tracked him through archives all over Europe. Suddenly I found myself unable to access any of the family. Granted, they are not related to my own family, but I couldn't find them on any tree on Family Search. In fact, I would gladly have started a tree for them if I knew how as I am, as mentioned, very familiar with them, and the relationships are clear in the records, even if the records haven't been linked. Anyway, I can't access any of the family now and I get the same message: "We're unable to show this record to you."
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I am noticing the number of search results for the specific surname decreased since yesterday. Many of those tweaked are not listed in search results anymore. I expect the rest will disappear soon as the search index will reflect record restrictions. That syncing seems to be just slower than expected. So, technically, this is correct behavior, I will just see records I can access.
However, it is still unclear why those records are becoming restricted when touched. This seems to be some system issue that should be investigated.
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It just occurred to me that we were both tweaking "foreign" collections. I wonder if that's relevent...
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As expected, today no tweaked items are listed in search results anymore. It also means I can't get the link to the record (image) and send feedback for the specific item. Instead, I've sent feedback via the Search page.
What we've found so far:
- Tweaking indexed data makes records restricted.
- Updating entries in the search index is delayed. As a side effect, tweaked records may appear in search results temporarily, however, the links are redirected to the "We're unable to show..." error page.
In the light of this, the subject of this thread is slightly misleading. Users are losing permission to see the record after tweaking indexed data. Let's hope my feedback will reach the right people and this issue will be resolved soon.
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I've been experiencing the same very vexing issue for the last few weeks. In my opinion, there is no greater issue with FamilySearch right now than this one. Its negative impact on properly doing research cannot be overstated. I just made a very minor name correction within an 1830 U.S. Federal Census record and am now getting the dreaded message of "We're unable to show this record to you. This record can only be displayed on certain accounts. FamilySearch must honor the agreements we have with our partners, record owners, and internal policies." It's getting to the point where I'm skittish about doing anything within the tool at all.
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I've just got a confirmation from the collection owner (Třeboň archive) that the indexing is the sole activity of FamilySearch and the archive is not involved in the processing workflow in any way.
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We are aware that data seems to disappear after the indexed information is edited. I would be happy to add your examples to the list. Please provide details for me to pass along:
- Person ID or link
- Source title, date, and link (if possible)
- Screenshots (if possible)
- Anything else that would help me identify where the bug is happening
Thanks
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Reproduction steps:
- Go to https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1804263
- In the Last Names field type "Pošovský"
- Select the first record (currently I can see 4 results of Pošovský or Posovský, but they increase daily), click edit, and fix the first letter P -> T (Tošovský or Tosovský)
- When searching again the same phrase, you can see the original entry still in search results, but not accessible. By tomorrow it will disappear from search results completely.
I edited approx 20 other P -> T records from the same collection. Unfortunately, I have no original links to them.
But as a reference, you can use the link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6PWW-NKWH in the original post. However, I can't remember what exactly was tweaked there.
Many thanks for your activity!
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I've just realized most of my edits contained non-ASCII characters if it could play some role.
My edits were only in the mentioned collection. I suppose all affected records could be simply collected (from the database) based on the "edited-by" field (= JanTosovsky).
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@JanTosovsky, I think what would make it easiest to track this down is to give a link to the relevant images.
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I realized some examples could be found in the browser history:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9S1-X6XJ?view=index&action=view (the first record is missing in the indexed data after tweaking)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91J-R3JR-1?view=index&action=view (the third record)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9S1-KRBN?view=index&action=view (the third record)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9S1-G23B?view=index&action=view (the first record)
and so on.
I hope they are not lost completely. My tweaks were shown in the index pane correctly after submitting my changes so I suppose data were stored in the database properly. However, once I left the edit mode and later tried to access the record via search results, I encountered the issue.
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@Maile L was my input sufficient or are you still waiting for some additional info?
As a seasonal programmer, I always appreciate the availability of reproduction steps that allow tracking the code flow in a debugger so it is easier to watch what is happening. These steps I already provided.
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Sorry @JanTosovsky. Covid has put me behind on work. I will look into this.
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I can support a colleague - link to
same problem for all items first 100 pages
Better would be link to page 101
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Thanks guys. I have reported this to the team over the editing feature. I really appreciate your diligence and your patience. Maile 🙂
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Poland/Prussian Records: I try to make edits only when I am quite certain. It takes time to edit, especially using the highlight protocol which often does not work properly. There are lots of terrible errors in many of the Poland records that make it difficult for people to find their ancestors and I would like to help facilitate the process. I am pretty good with Latin in which most of these records are written and I am also familiar with the Polish surname ending practices. But I am going to stop editing because now, each time I edit a record, your algorithm makes the transcript of that page inaccessible. It used to be that the transcript would correct after editing the record but now it just removes the transcript and it can no longer be saved. What a dirty trick! Can you please fix this?
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@Madwen From what I know, from my own experience and the comments of others, the system is not meant to remove it, but there is apparently some disconnect somewhere in the algorithm.
There have been numerous reports of the problem. Surely somewhere one or more of the engineers or groups of engineers is trying to drill down and find the problem and fix it.
@Maile L @Sam Sulser Can you confirm if this has been escalated to engineering from one of the many reports of the problem? Thanks.
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Here's one of the other discussions of this bug: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/535367#Comment_535367
In my opinion, it should have been a deal-breaker: they should have turned off or removed the new editor until this problem was fixed. Unfortunately, what we've gotten instead is dead silence and continued disappearances.
@Madwen, if you can track down the image to go with one of these edit-deleted entries, you should use the Feedback tab on it to report the problem. Yes, it's mostly just shouting into the void, but very occasionally, someone actually hears something.
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I've run into this too...
I also sent e-mail to FamilySearch support about some other records where I got the same error (request 276720), was told to call support during busness hours, called, was told to use the "Feedback" option on the image page.
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Yes, I tried to give Feedback but there was an error that said feedback was unavailable and to go to Community instead. Well at least I know I am not the only one with the disappearing record problem. Thanks for all the helpful responses. What a great community :)
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The Feedback tab is definitely the best way to let the team know about the problems you are having. It is not just shouting into the void. The tab is most helpful when the user is very specific about the problem and includes urls and steps for the engineers to reproduce the problem, as well as the user's email in case the team has any questions about their report. Vague complaints are not actionable and not including your email means they cannot get the detail they need to fix the problem. If you want an example, I posted directions here.
@Madwen We have sent bug reports on edits causing disappearances. I am sorry that the feedback button did not work. We have found that popup blockers often cause issues. If a blocker is not the problem, could you post a screenshot of the feedback error asking you to go to the Community? Please include the link where you were trying to post feedback. Thanks.
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