On 2015-01-20 15:00:10 +0000, Jenny M Benson said: > Trying to discover who was a Hannah Paul whose death record I had seen, > I searched FindMyPast "Hampshire Marriages" collection, using the > Search terms Surname = PAUL and Spouse's First Name = HANNAH. One > result was returned, a marriage in 1830 and at that point I realised > that in editing an earlier search I had omitted to delete a time period > from the Search terms. > > I repeated the search using only the Surname and Spouse's First Name > and got no results at all. When I repeated the Search for a 40-year > time period (either side of 1800) there were 5 results returned. > > There is no indication on the Search page that Date is a required > field. I wonder how many times in the past I have failed to get a > result because I was searching on minimum criteria and omitted a Date. I just tried the same thing, as I often search with the bare minimum of data and now I am wondering what I may have been missing. Specific search page for Hampshire Marriages, I entered the Surname: Paul and spouse first name: Hannah - and NOTHING else. (First name field - blank, Marriage Year field still says YYYY, place still says start typing a place and spouses last name - blank) I got 5 results ! CHARLES PAUL 1804 BOLDRE JAMES PAUL 1792 ROCKBOURNE JAMES PAUL 1830 ALVERSTOKE JOHN PAUL 1770 BOLDRE PETER PAUL 1797 ALVERSTOKE Really strange that for two identical searches one seems to need a date range and another doesn't? FMP seems to have a mind of its own since they 'upgraded' the site. -- Tickettyboo

"Tickettyboo" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected] > On 2015-01-20 15:00:10 +0000, Jenny M Benson said: > >> Trying to discover who was a Hannah Paul whose death record I had seen, I >> searched FindMyPast "Hampshire Marriages" collection, using the Search >> terms Surname = PAUL and Spouse's First Name = HANNAH. One result was >> returned, a marriage in 1830 and at that point I realised that in editing >> an earlier search I had omitted to delete a time period from the Search >> terms. >> >> I repeated the search using only the Surname and Spouse's First Name and >> got no results at all. When I repeated the Search for a 40-year time >> period (either side of 1800) there were 5 results returned. >> >> There is no indication on the Search page that Date is a required field. >> I wonder how many times in the past I have failed to get a result because >> I was searching on minimum criteria and omitted a Date. > > I just tried the same thing, as I often search with the bare minimum of > data and now I am wondering what I may have been missing. > > Specific search page for Hampshire Marriages, I entered the Surname: Paul > and spouse first name: Hannah - and NOTHING else. (First name field - > blank, Marriage Year field still says YYYY, place still says start typing > a place and spouses last name - blank) > > I got 5 results ! > CHARLES PAUL 1804 BOLDRE > JAMES PAUL 1792 ROCKBOURNE > JAMES PAUL 1830 ALVERSTOKE > JOHN PAUL 1770 BOLDRE > PETER PAUL 1797 ALVERSTOKE > > Really strange that for two identical searches one seems to need a date > range and another doesn't? FMP seems to have a mind of its own since they > 'upgraded' the site. > > -- > Tickettyboo > It's clearly not working in any correct and rational manner Tickettyboo. Good luck if you want to try and report this to them. Normally, the reporting of an issue to a company (online or otherwise) gives you some sort of ticket or call number, and a way to track the progress up until its closure. Not so with them. I have reported several issues and they've all simply disappeared down a black-hole. Tony Proctor