The Ordinances Ready app is not just another ordinance crawler. It goes well beyond the scope of the previously available programs or apps. It is interesting that some of the criticisms that I and others have leveled at the other ordinances crawlers are now being marshaled and rehashed by critics of the Ordinances Ready program. The two main issues are, as usual, duplicates and accuracy.
First of all, you cannot fault the Ordinances Ready program (or any other ordinance crawler for that matter) for either the duplicates or any lack of accuracy in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. From a practical standpoint, neither of these issues is any better or worse because some users of the program end up duplicating temple work or doing an inaccurate name. The issues of duplicates and accuracy would be problems with or without the Ordinances Ready app or any other ordinance crawler. The duplicates come from multiple submissions of the same individuals over an extended period of time lasting over 100 years. The problem of duplicate records and the transferred problem of duplicate temple ordinances was first discussed as early as the 1890s when there were only four temples in operation. See Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTemples > Chronology.
What is the problem with duplicate entries? Can the duplicate problem be resolved? Are there more or fewer duplicates than there were say about ten years ago? Would abandoning the Ordinances Ready program help solve the duplicate issue? With respect to the duplicates, it is important to understand that once a name is "submitted to the temple" the issue of duplication is moot. The only way to resolve a shared duplicate is to perform the ordinance. It is this shared file that is the main objective of the Ordinances Ready app. If the app cannot find a name related to the requesting user, the app will profer a name from the oldest part of the previously shared names whether or not the suggested name is a relative of the requesting party or not. In this way, the duplicate issue is being addressed. Ultimately, all of the names in the backlog will need to be done. Only then, can the remaining duplicate entries by resolved from a practical standpoint. Actually, there are dramatically fewer duplicate entries than there were even a short time ago. It is important that the names in the backlog be completed and any duplicates in the backlog eliminated. Meanwhile, those who can should diligently check for duplicates before submitting any names and no, abandoning the ordinance crawlers entirely would not affect the number of duplicates at all.
We also need to recognize that the duplicate problem has been addressed by the Family Tree programmers and that a huge number of reasonably identifiable duplicates have been eliminated or are marked by the program. The duplicates that are left are almost all nearly unidentifiable "dark matter" that only becomes visible when additional research is done on the names in the Family Tree. Without the additional research, the duplicates are invisible to the program's built-in duplicate detection algorithms. Numerically, there are very, very few people who can do research at the level that detects these hidden duplicates. This fact immediately raises a serious problem; if the people who have the knowledge to find the duplicates simply avoid using the Ordinances Ready app to assist in their research and rail against the app, then those additional duplicates will be processed and done by unknowing users anyway and the duplicates in the "shared with the temples" category will be there in any event.
One the other hand, the inaccuracies in the Family Tree originate from a variety of causes primarily dealing with uninstructed or negligent contributors. The reality of having a universal and collaborative Family Tree is that the inaccuracies will eventually be corrected and overall, the Family Tree will become a standard for accuracy. Allowing the vast majority of the users to rely on the Ordinances Ready program for "names to take to the temples" magnifies the efforts of those who have the knowledge to correct entries. This is the result of the Ordinances Ready app decreasing the number of people who feel compelled to comb the Family Tree for green icons and at the same time make arbitrary changes that are not based on historic source records.
Now, what about the researchers who have the capability of looking at source records and finding new people for the Family Tree? We will keep doing our job. Even with going on 200 temples, the supply of names shared with the temples will outstrip the number needed to keep everyone busy. As I have been saying from some years now: the FamilySearch.org Family Tree is the solution, not the problem and I would add that the Ordinances Ready app helps to add to that solution.
There are a number of other side benefits for using the Ordinances Ready app and I suggest that you read the following post for additional information: "How Ordinances Ready has changed my way of doing research."
Genealogy from the perspective of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon, LDS)
Monday, December 9, 2019
Friday, December 6, 2019
We have a winner!!! Contest is already over.
We have a winner!!! Contest over. My contest for a RootsTech pass did not last long. Almost immediately we had not just one person added to the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, but an entire family. Way to go.
Thanks to all those of you out there who started looking.
The winner is Cathy Crandall and here is the family she entered into the FamilySearch.org Family Tree.
If you have submitted an entry and it is correct, way to go. I will still look at what you submitted and send you an email thanking you for your entry.
Win a free pass to RootsTech by adding a new name to the FamilySearch Family Tree
As an Ambassador for RootsTech 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah from February 26th to the 29th, I am authorized to give away ONE complimentary RootsTech 2020 4-day pass
($299 value) to one of my lucky subscribers or followers.
The Pass includes the following:
- Over 300 classes
- Keynote / General sessions
- Expo Hall
- Evening events
It does NOT include any paid lunches or paid labs.
Hmm. So I decided I would promote the FamilySearch.org Family Tree and recognize a valuable effort on the part of one user, so this is how the winner of this FREE PASS will be decided. When I finish writing this post, I will post it online including on Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. To win the FREE PASS, you must do all of the following:
1. Find and post one new deceased person not previously in the Family Tree with at least two supporting verifiable sources to the FamilySearch.org Family Tree. The name cannot be a duplicate of an existing name. I will check all of the entries' sources and I will also check for duplicates.
2. Send me an email that has as the title "Contest Entry" that shows the date and time the email was sent to me at genealogyarizona@gmail.com with the name and ID number of the newly added deceased person. The email must contain your name and contact information. Note, if you have previously purchased a RootsTech Pass and you win, you can obtain a full refund of the price.
3. The first person with a verified email entry will win the FREE PASS. As soon as I can confirm the information in the Family Tree, I will announce the winner with a subsequent post. From my previous experience, I sometimes continue to get entries for a considerable period after the contest has ended and I will try to notify everyone who writes one way or another but after the end of December 2019, I may not continue to notify entrants especially if they are sending me ads for their products or websites.
4. This offer ends on December 31, 2019 whether or not a winner has been selected.
Pretty simple? By the way, I usually get only a very few entries to these annual contests so you might try and even if you don't win you will still have one new name in the Family Tree.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
5 Hidden Pages on the FamilySearch.org Website
There are quite a few "hidden" pages on the FamilySearch.org website. What I mean by "hidden" is that these pages are not in any of the easily discovered pull-down menus. They are also only marginally publicized by FamilySearch. Usually, after the initial blog post announcing the new page and perhaps a few pop-up notices on the main startup page, these pages go invisible to the casual user and even those who use the program almost daily, they soon fade into the background of things we once knew about but have forgotten to use.
The first of these pages is not the Timeline. However, this link on every person's detail page is usually ignored. The actual hidden page is on the Timeline page but unless you go to the Timeline page, you are not likely to ever see this "hidden" page and use it.
Yes, it is the Map page. Here is what happens when you click the slider switch to "turn on" the page.
Now you not only have a timeline you also have a map showing every place identified on the person's detail page including sources and Other Information. In addition, there is yet another level to this page. Down at the bottom of the page, there is a button to "Show Route." Clicking on that button shows you the chronological movements of your relative or ancestor. Here is a more complicated example.
You have to zoom in to see the details of all the movements.
Well, that was pretty simple. What about the next hidden page? Here is Number 2.
This pop-out page comes from clicking on the light bulb icon located in the lower right-hand corner of each page. These links can be quite specific and helpful. They are context-oriented so as you move through the pages on the website, the content changes to provide detailed instructions about the items showing on each page. You have to keep clicking on the icon as you move through the website to see what this means.
That brings us to page Number 3.
We begin by clicking on the Help link in the extreme upper right-hand corner of each page. I suppose I could consider every page in the drop-down menu to be hidden, but I am really only going to look at the last item in the list, "Helper Resources."
When you click on this link, you don't just get one more page, you get a whole part of the website that is hidden.
You could spend some time exploring the resources that are linked from this page but I am going a step further for hidden page Number 3. We start this journey by clicking on the last item on the list, "Additional Resources."
Remember, you are now two clicks down into the parts of the website that are not visible to the casual user. Now we are going to scroll down this list to the section entitled "How to Use FamilySearch." Here we find a link entitled, "FamilySearch.org Basics." Hmm.
This link doesn't take us just to another page on the website, it takes us to a whole new website.
It takes you to The Family History Guide.
Here you have hundreds of additional pages with thousands of links on a whole encyclopedia of helpful subjects. You might want to go to The Family History Guide startup page and watch the Overview Video and see what this website is all about.
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| thefhguide.com |
We are now back to finding hidden page Number 4.
To get to this next hidden page, we need to go on a short trip to the very bottom of some of the pages on the FamilySearch.org website. Here we find a link called the "Solutions Gallery."
Here is the Solutions Gallery.
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| https://partners.familysearch.org/solutionsgallery/s/ |
We have now come to hidden page Number Five.
There is a link on the FamilySearch.org startup page that says "Volunteer." The Volunteer page has a number of further links.
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| https://www.familysearch.org/ask/volunteer |
I could have had ten or more hidden pages, but I will stop at five.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
How can I #LightTheWorld?
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| https://www.comeuntochrist.org/2017/christmas/25-ways-25-days-calendar |
Each Christmas, we celebrate the life of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. By following His teachings, we let his light shine—in our lives and in the lives of others. This year, use this calendar for inspiration as you plan your Christmas activities to help #LightTheWorld by serving those in need.Here are 25 ways in 25 days.
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| https://www.comeuntochrist.org/2017/christmas/25-ways-25-days |
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| https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world |
Sunday, November 24, 2019
#LightTheWorld Watch "The Christ Child": A Nativity Story
The Christ Child: A Nativity Story | #LightTheWorld
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great blight: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Isaiah 9:2
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no bend, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6-7
Saturday, November 23, 2019
This is Family History
Here is a short video from FamilySearch that touched my heart.
This is Family History
This is also Family History:
Those of us who are working to preserve family history and submit the names of our ancestors to the temples are also family history. Lest we forget.
This is Family History
This is also Family History:
Those of us who are working to preserve family history and submit the names of our ancestors to the temples are also family history. Lest we forget.
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