Genealogy Chat

The don't show this match again option does work, I use it all the time. Currently I have around 18 pages of matches that I keep in view and have had contact with the respective members, and around 10 pages of 'discarded' names which I am not interested in.

Discarding matches doesn't remove them altogether, but just hides this member away from view. It is the member that is hidden away, not the underlying name.So, there isn't for example, any way of removing 'John Smith' from the search routine.

Occasionally, the system reports a match but when you look at it, it is for a different person altogether. This apparently can happen if the other member has uploaded a new gedcom in the period that the match was last run and you looking at it. It usually sorts itself out in time, but if not, GR can fix it if you report it to them.

At the end of the day, if Hot Matches are not your cup of tea, then don't bother with them. Personally I do find them useful on occasion even though I tend to do most of my searching manually.

I'd happliy wade through 100 pages of hot matches for one gem. (and I have been a member for more than a year.)

Susan,

I have no problem with people taking long shots, and finding matches and making new contacts is the whole point of GU.

I agree some of the matches created are completely weird and off the wall as well as the simply irritating ones that are not quite the same enough.

Elizabeth,

when you have been a member for a year or so and get the same mismatches suggested at regularly repeated intervals you will be fed up too.

At one point I had 36 pages of hot matches, which weeded down to 6 I wanted to keep. I would rather have spent time checking out the interesting ones, but I was too fed up by the time I had spent a couple of hours discarding the dross.

I had one that seemed wrong BUT it was actually the place of birth guessed at that was wrong and the links were correct, so not all of the hot matches are wrong because the places of birth are on different contacts.

I'd made a guess that an ancestor was born in Australia because hubby and children were BUT she was actually from Cornwall! Actually saved me having to try and check the info as someone else provided me with the wherewithal to get further back, so I'm quite grateful for the mismatch.

I'm not so grateful when the hot matches come up with totally different names!!!

Su

Peter,

I can understand it isnt straight forward, but there must be some effective way of filtering. People with a John Smith in their trees must be having a terrible time. My own bugbear is Willam Watson, the sibling of an ancestor, who produces loads of matches which would be interesting but pretty irrelevant even if exact. There must be some probability formula that these clever computing people could apply where there are large numbers of a common name. Or what about at least a means of blocking the repetition of the same matches time after time we once you havedeleted them. There used to be a `dont show this match again' option, not that it worked. If repeats could be blocked from your list after you had checked them out the first time they appeared that would help a lot.

If the computer did it all it would take a lot of the fun out don't you think?
I only joined genes a week ago and already I have found my grandmother's sister's grandaughter and got details back to 1599 on her line. All through hot matches....and made a lifelong friend I hope...Liz.

I agree it is frustrating, but that's the way it works at present. Here is what GR say on the subject.

"Why don't you match the place with Hot Matches?

At the moment we just match the name and year of birth. However, we may make changes to the way system works in the future and add in the place of birth as a match. The problem is that members add the place in different way, or it can be mis-spelt. Some might add the town, others the full address. This makes it difficult to match. By keeping the search broad we feel you have a greater chance of a match. "

Dear Pamela

I agree - I get loads of matches with Australian birthplaces for Lancs and Hants relatives - it drives me daft!!

Also it always seems to be the same person - one on the fringes of my tree rather than someone I'm more closely linked to.

Saying that - I have had one or two really good ones.

I agree matching places of birth etc,. would make the system work much better.

Best wishes

Maria

Does anyone else get irritated at the pointlessness of some hot matches they are provided with?

How can their possibly be any match between two people who share a name and birth year but were born on different continents?

I imagine a lot of people simply ignore their list, but I have found some useful contacts through mine so I do tend to check through it at intervals.

I don't mind if matches with the same name and birth date but no place of birth come up, (though I won't bother to get in touch) but it is really irritating when people with no possible connection are matched. Even when I delete them there they are back next time. Its all a horrible waste of time scrolling through this rubbish. Could place of birth as well as name not be matched to reduce these mismatches, or at least be offered as an optional filter?

Pamela