It appears that this new "feature" (when the hypertext surname is clicked on) takes one to a page where, among other facts about the surname, there is an advertisement for surname books, published by Ancestry.com, and being sold through Amazon.com, is found. Example: History of the Smith Family "A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the Smith family name as far back in history as possible."

Beth Perry Johnston wrote: > On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 3:46 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > >>Have you all seen the notice that was posted today about the new Message >>Boards feature? > > > > Oh, yes, and here's a copy of a response I sent: > > I'm not sure this is ready to fly yet. Here's the first post I looked > at (you can find it at > http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.washington.counties.franklin/384/mb.ashx > . > Because of the need to send text messages only, the links aren't going > to show up in this message, so you'll need to go to the actual URL to > check it out. > > Lloyd C. Vooge was born 13 Oct 1927 in Towner County, North Dakota. He > died 29 Aug 1986 in the Pasco area. Could someone please look up his > obituary for me? I am hoping that it will give his mother's name. > Thank you! > > Linked wrongly to a surname: > Lloyd > Towner > County > North > Dakota > Pasco > Could > Thank > > Not linked at all - the surname: Vooge > > Beth > > Enough USERS complain bitterly, maybe they'll fix it. Cheryl -- There should be no attachments on this message, unless I specifically mentioned them above.

[email protected] wrote: > Did anyone else receive their My Alerts email this morning as a garbled > mess? Mine arrived looking like the garbled messes that you see in pending > requests, if you admin lists, when someone tries to send a graphic attachment to a > list. Don't know what change they made but it isn't working--at least not for > me. > > Joan Mine looked OK in webmail (html based) and inbox (plain-text). Cheryl -- There should be no attachments on this message, unless I specifically mentioned them above.

Ok--this gets weirder and weirder. I can access my AOL mail either via my AOL mailbox OR by going to AOL's Webmail. Joan ---------------------- Mine came normally as always so it must be an AOL issue. Rick B

Marilyn- It has been suggested by many of us over the years...but I'd say--go for it--suggest it again at this time. Joan ------------- Has anyone suggested this to the BD team? If not, I'll send them an email. Marilyn **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

If the "Powers that Be" order a change like this, of course the board development team has to follow through, HOWEVER, I have to agree with other comments made that there are still many problems that need to be fixed first before the team starts developing new chaos. I, for one, would like to see them spending their time instituting a page numbering system for the "View Posts" link. This morning I had to check a poster's list of other posts to see if a message had been posted to another board before I moved the one on my board to the other board. Well, there were 512 posts (50 per page) and I was looking for the surname board which meant it was at the end of the list. If a page numbering system was in place I could have fished around using the page numbers until I found the correct board. Has anyone suggested this to the BD team? If not, I'll send them an email. Marilyn **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Ok--this gets weirder and weirder. I can access my AOL mail either via my AOL mailbox OR by going to AOL's Webmail. So...I went and took a look at the MyAlerts using Webmail (which I don't normally use) and My Alerts looked perfectly NORMAL when viewing it---but then I checked out the headers and underneath the normal headers was the garbled code I'd seen when I opened the message in my AOL mailbox. See below for the headers and truncated coding--which was much longer than the code I copied below--I didn't copy it all. Judging from the headers below it is that Base 64 encoding that resulted in the garbled code instead of plain text in my inbox version of My Alerts. Joan X-AOL-UID: 3142.745802724 X-AOL-DATE: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 4:52:05 AM Eastern Standard Time Return-Path: <[email protected]> Received: from rly-db05.mx.aol.com (rly-db05.mail.aol.com [172.19.130.80]) by air-db08.mail.aol.com (v121.4) with ESMTP id MAILINDB081-ac947c7d5ae170; Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:52:04 -0500 Received: from anclsmtp02.myfamily.com (anclsmtp02.myfamily.com [66.43.22.191]) by rly-db05.mx.aol.com (v121.4) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINDB057-ac947c7d5ae170; Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:51:42 -0500 X-VirtualServer: commbulk, anclsmtp02.myfamily.com, 10.8.10.12 X-Destination-ID: <[email protected]> X-MailingID: 00000::00000::00000::00000::::43039 X-Mailer: StrongMail Enterprise 3.2.0(3.00.196) Received: from smail02.ancestry.com by anclsmtp02.myfamily.com (StrongMail Enterprise 3.2.0(3.00.196)); Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:51:42 -0700 X-VirtualServerGroup: commbulk X-SMHeaderMap: mid="X-MailingID" Message-ID: <[email protected]> Received: from Unknown (HELO 10.6.15.10) (10.6.11.251) by smail02.ancestry.com (qpsmtpd/0.32) with SMTP; Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:51:42 -0700 X-Sender: <[email protected]> X-Receiver: [email protected] X-campaignid: myfam20080229023000004980 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Reply-To: <[email protected]> From: "Message Boards" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Subject: Message Boards: My Alerts Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:51:42 -0000 X-AOL-IP: 66.43.22.191 X-AOL-SCOLL-AUTHENTICATION: listenair ; SPF_helo : n X-AOL-SCOLL-AUTHENTICATION: listenair ; SPF_822_from : + TXkgQWxlcnRzIA0KDQogDQpCb2FyZDogQm9hcmRzID4gQWRtaW5pc3RyYXRvciBOZXdzDQ pTdWJqZWN0OiBOZXcgTWVzc2FnZSBCb2FyZCBGZWF0dXJlDQpBdXRob3I6IE1CX1N0YWZm DQpEYXRlOiBGZWIgMjggMjAwOCAgNzo0N1BNDQpodHRwOi8vYm9hcmRzLmFuY2VzdHJ5Lm NvbS9hZG1pbm5ld3MvMjAvbWIuYXNoeD9yPWFuDQogDQpCb2FyZDogQm9hcmRzID4gTG9j **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Thank goodness, mine are working. Maybe mine were sent before whatever change occurred to garble yours. Jim -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 9:05 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [BAd] My Alerts Did anyone else receive their My Alerts email this morning as a garbled mess? Mine arrived looking like the garbled messes that you see in pending requests, if you admin lists, when someone tries to send a graphic attachment to a list. Don't know what change they made but it isn't working--at least not for me. Joan **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-du ffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598) ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

[email protected] wrote: >Did anyone else receive their My Alerts email this morning as a garbled >mess? Mine arrived looking like the garbled messes that you see in pending >requests, if you admin lists, when someone tries to send a graphic attachment to a >list. Don't know what change they made but it isn't working--at least not for > me. > > Mine are fine and unchanged. Perhaps the problem is with AOL? Lynne

In a message dated 2/29/2008 9:06:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Did anyone else receive their My Alerts email this morning as a garbled mess? Mine arrived looking like the garbled messes that you see in pending requests, if you admin lists, when someone tries to send a graphic attachment to a list. Don't know what change they made but it isn't working--at least not for me. Joan ------------------------------- Joan, I received mine this morning at 5 A.M. and they look fine. Marilyn **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Did anyone else receive their My Alerts email this morning as a garbled mess? Mine arrived looking like the garbled messes that you see in pending requests, if you admin lists, when someone tries to send a graphic attachment to a list. Don't know what change they made but it isn't working--at least not for me. Joan **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

I wrote: if surnames are entered in the box by the poster but entered correctly. ...And, of course, I meant to write "if surnames are entered in the box by the poster but NOT entered correctly." Joan <---heading for coffee to wake up **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Nan- As it works now it serves no purpose other than to mess up the boards even further than were before--BUT...I do see a silver lining to the cloud IF the POB could be convinced to use the Surname box for this purpose AND to program the box to FORCE people to use the box correctly. What I'm saying is that if the order came down from above to add links to the board posts to take you to Ancestry surname resources...I doubt the POB told the programmers HOW they needed to accomplish that goal. So perhaps through feedback we can convince the developers that there's a better way of accomplishing the goal. My suggestions would be to improve on the wording below the box AND to add a nag/confirmation feature if surnames are entered in the box by the poster but entered correctly. I doubt it would be too difficult to create a nag that won't let you post a message with Smith/Jones/Jackson or Smith-Jones-Jackson etc. or even Smith and Jones families. What I'm envisioning is something like the reminder you get if you report abuse and fail to select reason. That would be a win-win situation because it would make our jobs as admins easier in reviewing new posts if posters were forced to use the surnames box correctly. Joan -------- I'm sure you're right, Joan. But that doesn't make it any less of a train wreck. Nan **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

I'm sure you're right, Joan. But that doesn't make it any less of a train wreck. Nan ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:36 PM Subject: Re: [BAd] New Message Board Feature > Jim- > > This isn't the type of "enhancement" that the developers would have come > up > with on their own to improve the board functionality. This is most likely > the > result of an order to implement the links that came from the top and had > to > be added. > > Joan > > ------- > With all the current problems that still need fixing why are they playing > around with more "improvements" that don't work? > > Jim > > > > > **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. > (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ > 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

They are trying to turn the boards into nothing but a sales tool for ancestry.com. I'll bet if you posted the below message on the boards, we'd be offered a link to "Annoyance family history facts," complete with the opportunity to purchase a book on the Annoyance surname. Nan ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 11:41 PM Subject: Re: [BAd] New Message Board Feature > OK, it's my turn to ask a 'dumb' question: > > WHY on earth would anyone even begin to think that this type of annoyance > would be good? Are the upper echelon so disconnected from reality? So > many > problems known as "bugs" need to be fixed & so many useful enhancements > have > been suggested by people that use these boards daily, I can only shake my > head > in disbelief and say "WHY??" > > So basically, it probably makes no difference whether we like it or find > it > useful OR what we give as feedback. The uppy-ups deemed it "needed" or > "good" > and we are stuck with it. > > OK, I feel better now I've had my fuss....... > > Sharon Dulcich > ----------------------------------------- > > In a message dated 2/28/2008 8:37:21 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > This is most likely the result of an order to implement the links that > came > from the top and had to > be added. > > > > > > **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. > (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ > 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Ian, Having spent years tuning linguistic rules for automatic tagging of names of people in documents, I can tell you from experience that it is far more useful to have a list of first names rather than a list of surnames. First names are one of the biggest clues which can be used to locate a surname. First names, occupations, relationships to other people and events (births, marriages, deaths, etc.) are the largest source of contextual clues available for automatically figuring out which words are surnames. People who do this for a living make lists of first names to enable this type of processing. While some may make lists of surnames, it is actually much less helpful. If you actually tried to perform such a task yourself, I think you would find it to be much more complex than you thought it would be originally. I spent over two years writing hundreds of regular expressions to capture all sorts of name patterns encountered in a single set of about 14,000 biographies. I haven't actually seen any of the linked posts yet, but I'll take a look as soon as I can. -- Mary D. Taffet Computational Linguist Ian Singer wrote: >> > Why can they not build a list of all the surname lists and then run each > message against that? I could do it under DOS so programmers must be > able to do it under whatever is being run there. > > Ian Singer >

Lately I've been seeing the following blurb on the boards under the surname box: Please enter only the surnames discussed in your post Sharon Dulcich ----------------------------------- In a message dated 2/28/2008 4:48:31 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Perhaps, if they did it that way we could convince them to add a blurb explaining how to use the surname box correctly when posting! We've all been wanting that just about forever. **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

OK, it's my turn to ask a 'dumb' question: WHY on earth would anyone even begin to think that this type of annoyance would be good? Are the upper echelon so disconnected from reality? So many problems known as "bugs" need to be fixed & so many useful enhancements have been suggested by people that use these boards daily, I can only shake my head in disbelief and say "WHY??" So basically, it probably makes no difference whether we like it or find it useful OR what we give as feedback. The uppy-ups deemed it "needed" or "good" and we are stuck with it. OK, I feel better now I've had my fuss....... Sharon Dulcich ----------------------------------------- In a message dated 2/28/2008 8:37:21 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: This is most likely the result of an order to implement the links that came from the top and had to be added. **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Ian- And how would this tell us whether a specific use of the word "Joseph" or "German" within a message body is a surname or a given name or location? It wouldn't. Joan ------------ Why can they not build a list of all the surname lists and then run each message against that? **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Jim- This isn't the type of "enhancement" that the developers would have come up with on their own to improve the board functionality. This is most likely the result of an order to implement the links that came from the top and had to be added. Joan ------- With all the current problems that still need fixing why are they playing around with more "improvements" that don't work? Jim **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)