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I am related to this person but it shows no relationship (it is thru my paternal grandmother) and there is a find a grave hint of which it will not let me access. Find a grave is free and although Ancestry sold it the stipulation is it has to be free.
Although I have a tree on FS I do not like FS as a research tool I find much more information on My Heritage and Ancestry. Also, why ( not including Find a grave) why is a record not available on FS but is readily available on Ancestry or My Heritage. This has also happened to folks at the Family Search Center.
The problem with the community is that far too many people answer the question and they have no idea what they are talking about. It is as bad as people entering names because they are the same but so much info is so different.
Thank you Caryl
Answers
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@Caryl
I'm sorry that you are not pleased with the free help offered in this Community.
You'll find there are many current threads about the problems with hints from the FindaGrave index. The Engineers are aware and are working on resolving.
I've linked several of the relevant threads in this comment:Hope this helps.
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@Caryl Try looking on Find a grave website for the person you are researching —Best wishes Mary
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@Caryl my two penn'orth on the Community. As on other forums, people here, the vast majority of us ordinary users, learn how to judge the context of a question, and how best to answer it, by practice. If a comment doesn't really help, I just ignore it unless I think I have a better answer or can provide more detail or a different angle (or the existing comment is actively misleading). I have personally found the ability of the Community to answer (meaningful) questions meaningfully to be pretty high. Obviously we can't affect FS systems or information/rules directly, but any of us can involve moderators to escalate things (Flag button).
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Thank you for sharing your concerns. You’ve raised several important points, and I’d like to offer a bit of context. The FamilySearch Community is an open forum, and most responses come from everyday users who genuinely want to help others in their research. Participants bring different levels of experience, and while their answers may not always be complete or fully accurate, their intent is almost always sincere.
No one is trying to mislead or provide false information. Most contributors are doing their best with the knowledge they have, and sometimes they may not yet be familiar with the specific record types, regions, or methods involved. When an answer seems unclear or doesn’t fully address your question, it’s perfectly appropriate to ask for more detail or request supporting sources. That helps guide the discussion and allows everyone to learn together.
Regarding record availability, FamilySearch often does not have the same collections that appear on Ancestry or MyHeritage. This is mainly due to licensing and contractual restrictions. Commercial sites pay archives, governments, and private record holders for exclusive or semi‑exclusive access. For example, a county archive may sign a contract giving Ancestry the right to publish digitized marriage records, or a European civil registry may allow MyHeritage to host images but prohibit free redistribution.
Because FamilySearch is a free, nonprofit service, it cannot enter into many of these agreements. They cannot pay for exclusivity, they cannot charge users to offset licensing costs, and many archives require “no free redistribution” clauses. As a result, even when FamilySearch helps digitize records, they may be legally barred from publishing the images.
In fact, FamilySearch frequently creates the digital images but cannot display them. They often send camera crews to archives, digitize the records, and provide the archive with digital copies. However, the archive may stipulate: “You may index these records, but you may not publish the images.” In those cases, Ancestry or MyHeritage may host the images, while FamilySearch can only provide an index—or sometimes nothing at all. This situation is especially common in Poland, Galicia (Austrian records), German civil registration, and many U.S. counties.
Copyright and privacy laws also play a role. Different countries have different regulations: EU privacy laws restrict access to recent civil records; German archives often require paid access; Polish state archives allow digitization but restrict free publication; and some U.S. counties treat vital records as revenue sources. Commercial sites can pay for access; FamilySearch cannot.
FamilySearch’s mission is also different. FamilySearch is free, nonprofit, and focused on long‑term preservation and access. Ancestry and MyHeritage are commercial, subscription‑based services focused on acquiring exclusive content to attract customers. This difference in mission directly shapes what each site can legally host.
A record is often not available on FamilySearch simply because FamilySearch is legally prohibited from publishing it—even if they digitized it. Ancestry and MyHeritage pay for rights that FamilySearch cannot.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. The FamilySearch Community brings together people with many different levels of experience, and everyone participates because they genuinely want to help. Sometimes the answers may not fully address the complexity of a question, simply because genealogy can involve specialized knowledge, unique record sets, or regional history that not everyone has encountered yet.
If a response seems incomplete or doesn’t quite fit your situation, please feel free to ask for more detail or request supporting sources. That gives everyone a chance to learn together and helps guide the discussion toward the most accurate information.
We appreciate your patience and your willingness to engage thoughtfully. Your questions and insights help strengthen the Community and make it a more supportive place for researchers at all levels.
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