Well Nivard all I can say is it does work for me and I prefer it over the old search. You can craft a much more intelligent search and if used correctly I believe it works very well. I seriously doubt that my family is any easier to find than anyone else's. I have been a member of Ancestry since Dec 2002. Over the last 11+ years I have used the old search quite extensively. New search is not hopeless nor is it not fit for purpose. It does have a learning curve. It is not as simple as the old search. If you have in fact, watched all of the videos and read the help instructions and still cannot get it to work then I suggest there is something wrong with your search technique. Perhaps you should try Ancestry support and ask for help. And yes I have taken the time to read the many comments. Some make sense, some don't. Some are about Ancestry New Search some are about the relationship between Family Search and Ancestry, and some are about Family Search search not working. Basically they were almost all from people with some sort of grievance to air, which is what I've come to expect anymore. My guess is that there are tens of (if not hundreds of) thousands of people each day using the new search feature quite successfully who don't waste their time constantly complaining about something that is over and done with. Most all of these comments pretty much have one thing in common. Basically everyone is saying I've used this for years and it works for me. Don't change a thing. In other words stop messing with it. OK I get that. There are people that don't like change. They don't want the website to change, they don't want the search to change, not sure that want to see all the new records added each month. They don't want the company to grow and expand it's offerings. Those people just want everything to stay the way it was. The blog post and many others over the years explained the reason the change was made and why it was necessary. As hardware and software changes the programming has to keep up with it. After a certain point in time it is no longer feasible to try to maintain old coding and old functionality. But one thing I will agree with. All of those that don't like it can certainly leave Ancestry after their subscription expires or right now if they want. If they are not satisfied with the product as presented or they think they can find a better deal elsewhere then that is what they should do. Leave and find something that does work for them. Don Varner On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 01:15 PM, Nivard Ovington wrote: I am not entirely sure what new search was designed to do, clearly not research I can only assume you haven't used Old search or you have done very little research on Ancestry or perhaps you are blessed with an extremely easy to find family I have been using Ancestry for well over a decade, I am well used to its foibles and idiosyncrasies but this latest incarnation is pathetic New search is hopeless, it is not fit for purpose IMHO (and many others opinions) When it was first announced I tried to use it exclusively, I gave up in frustration after a week Since then they have revamped it a few times, each time I attempted to use it but went back to Old search (or Real search if you will) I have watched the many videos, read the various how to's and nothing helps You get varying search results even using the same search criteria, you can't locate things you know are there from previous use of old search etc etc So if you find it usable, good for you, I and many others do not Do take the time to read the comments on the first of the three links you posted < http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/03/10/a-fond-farewell-to-old-search/?sf2105824=1 > I very much doubt that anything will change as they simply don't listen, its all about getting millions of hits in their eyes Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK)

I agree Don Varner. I have been using Ancestry since 2002. I have had easy and hard family to find. I am familiar with both old and new search and I find new search vastly better than old. I don't know what people are doing to get the thousands of inapplicable records when they do an exact search, because I don't. If I specify born in Illinois, exact, that's all I get! Some ideas I have: People are typing in their own nameplaces, when they need to select from the drop down listsPeople are typing in a placename WITHOUT specifying what the placename is for, ie birth, death, marrriage....so they will ge a record back for AYTHING in IL, birth, death, marriage, lived in, etc...My cousin was doing this without even realizing. I just think everyone has had over a year to become more familiar with new search. Instead of clinging to the hope that Ancestry wasn't really taking old search away, they should have been using and becoming more with new search. Now every list and Facebook page I am on has been taken over with Ihate New Search and I am quitting Ancestry! discussions! > ------------------------------- > 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

Thank you for your sermon Don most amusing Like you I have used Ancestry for well over a decade and I can say with confidence I have helped many over that period, I assume you don't research for others, no clearly not I have long been an advocate of using Ancestry over other sites but no more To suggest that I and many others are not conversant with search techniques is quite honestly laughable As you clearly haven't used Ancestry to the extent others have I shall leave it there Ancestry have the largest collection of records for the UK bar none, but if you can't find the records you seek or it is such a joyless fight to find them then yes I shall leave and good riddance say you I have watched the many videos and read the blogs etc, half of which are out of date, they attempt to convince everyone that new search works It doesn't except for the obvious Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 12/03/2014 03:42, Don Varner wrote: > Well Nivard all I can say is it does work for me and I prefer it over the > old search. You can craft a much more intelligent search and if used > correctly I believe it works very well. I seriously doubt that my family > is any easier to find than anyone else's. >