I have found that in most cases the way to get usable results is to do a search within specific records rather than the person's name (even with dates and location) in the general search engine (Texas Deaths, then "John Smith", for example). I still get a little frustrated when I also get "Smithington" though alternate spellings like "Smithe" and "Smyth" can be useful. Elaine Oakes >>>I am glad to hear to you found new records in the newfamilysearch I find it a dispiriting experience So many multiple copies of the same data, and trying to narrow it down to something useful is a tiresome task I return every now and then in the hope it will improve as it has since it was launched but still a long way to go I just hope they keep the old familysearch open as the new is hopeless at present Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK)

Hi Elaine Just to be perfectly clear, I am very grateful for access to the vast amount of records made available by the LDS and the various databases are an excellent resource separately My gripe is with the newfamilysearch site, the search engine has it appears been designed by a three year old with no idea of what they would require from a database, it has such potential yet is defeated by the search engine It has improved since its inception but has such a long way to go to be usable If you search for someone specifically in England, you do not want two thousand times the data for everyone in the USA, Canada and anywhere else you get results for and why do we need five to ten hits for the same record? I know the IGI is outdated and cannot carry the volume much less the type of records becoming available but a more sensible search mechanism is needed than the throw a dart at method we have presently It is as useless as new search on Ancestry Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) >I have found that in most cases the way to get usable results is to do a search within specific > records rather than the person's name (even with dates and location) in the general search engine > (Texas Deaths, then "John Smith", for example). I still get a little frustrated when I also > get "Smithington" though alternate spellings like "Smithe" and "Smyth" can be useful. > > Elaine Oakes

Nivard, I agree with you totally. I am very grateful for the new documents and records available. I appreciate all the hours, days, weeks and months of work that went into getting them ready. The search engine is the BIG problem. I live in hopes that it will be improved upon. Jo ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nivard Ovington" <ovington1@sky.com> To: <paf-5-users@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 4:27 PM Subject: Re: [PAF-5] PAF-5-USERS Digest, Vol 6, Issue 65/New FamilySearch > Hi Elaine > > Just to be perfectly clear, I am very grateful for access to the vast > amount of records made > available by the LDS and the various databases are an excellent resource > separately > > My gripe is with the newfamilysearch site, the search engine has it > appears been designed by a three > year old with no idea of what they would require from a database, it has > such potential yet is > defeated by the search engine > > It has improved since its inception but has such a long way to go to be > usable > > If you search for someone specifically in England, you do not want two > thousand times the data for > everyone in the USA, Canada and anywhere else you get results for and why > do we need five to ten > hits for the same record? > > I know the IGI is outdated and cannot carry the volume much less the type > of records becoming > available but a more sensible search mechanism is needed than the throw a > dart at method we have > presently > > It is as useless as new search on Ancestry > > Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > > > >>I have found that in most cases the way to get usable results is to do a >>search within specific >> records rather than the person's name (even with dates and location) in >> the general search engine >> (Texas Deaths, then "John Smith", for example). I still get a little >> frustrated when I also >> get "Smithington" though alternate spellings like "Smithe" and "Smyth" >> can be useful. >> >> Elaine Oakes > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PAF-5-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message