* Relationship between FH and 'Find my Past'

[DAVIDSAMWELL]

I have downloaded my tree onto Find My Past and have used their hints. I note that Find My Past Hints are also indicated in my tree on FH. When I accept a hint on Find My Past and click for it to be added to my tree, does it automatically get added to my tree on FH and/or likewise if I accept a hint on my tree in FH does it automatically get added to my tree on Find My Past.

[tatewise]

No, FH never automatically adds data to any tree, as that is the cause of so many false data entries in other products.
All data must be added to FH manually, after thorough research confirms it is correct.

[Gowermick]

All data must be added to FH manually, after thorough research confirms it is correct.

I agree totally with Mike Tate! It is an exteremely bad habit to get into!

Never add to your tree by simply clicking ‘Add to my Tree’, even if you may think it seems a reasonable match. Always thoroughly research the suggestion before adding it manually to your tree. In my time I’ve seen some pretty big howlers suggested by sites such as Ancestry and Findmypast, such that I’ve reached the stage of Never adding anything from anywhere, without a very close scrutiny.
Only today I saw a hint on Ancestry purporting to be a match for one of my ancestors, the only trouble was the person in the hint was born in Prittlewell, Essex and my ancestor was born in Bethnal Green -duh

[DAVIDSAMWELL]

Message received - - - and Advice noted, with thanks.

[Johnr65]

I can't understand how the FMP 'hint' system works-they more often than not give hints that in no way correspond with the person in your tree, either with completely wrong names or wrong years of bmd's and even duplicated hints, Anc is bad but FMP seem to be worse!

[mjashby]

All 'Hints' systems use some form of 'fuzzy logic' which tend to give a broad range of 'matches' depending on the fuzziness of the logic! They are generally designed to just provide Hints on possibilities to check; and not definitive answers. FMP would have to provide details of how their system has been built in order to gain a clear understanding and I doubt they would provide detailed information for 'business reasons'; and, as I understand it, FMPs Hints System is also still in Beta, and doesn't provide comprehensive coverage of all of the records indexed on their site. You certainly will get a wider range of potential matches when running direct searches so don't rely wholly on Hints.

Hints Systems (Fuzzy Logic) tends to lead to a situation in which the more search criteria that is used from your local record, the wider the range of 'matching records' you will get, e.g date ranges alternative names etc. This type of search system also usually attempts to take into account that the search data provided may not be accurate; e.g; was Fred Smith actually Fred Smith, or was he Frederick Smith, Fredrick Smith, Alfred Smith, or Thomas F[rederick] Smith; or could records have been miss-transcribed, spellings may be inconsistent, could people have used alternative names, etc. etc.

Perhaps if you think along a slightly different tack; how many poorly constructed family trees have you come across on Ancestry elsewhere, caused by people who have used very narrow search criteria/logic and then forced family structures together simply because a year of birth and name matches perfectly? This was a major criticism of so-called family historians who used (and still use) the IGI (FamilySearch), Ancestry etc. and treat these resources as definitive sources without any regard to the range of historical records which are omitted from a specific database for whatever reason, miss-transcription, or simply no longer exist (if they ever did).

Mervyn

[Gowermick]

I can't understand how the FMP 'hint' system works-they more often than not give hints that in no way correspond with the person in your tree, either with completely wrong names or wrong years of bmd's and even duplicated hints, Anc is bad but FMP seem to be worse!

You infer by that last statement, that Ancestry is better. Based on my experience over the last few weeks I tend to disagree. They may not be worse than FMP, but they are certainly not better.
Their logic sometimes beggars belief. For exaple, I find a possible marriage for someone in 1750, and they provide a suggested a match for someone born 1628!

[tatewise]

Somewhat related, there is advice on refining search filters for several online web sites in the Help & Advice FAQ pages for the Lookup Missing BMD Records and Lookup Missing Census Facts Plugins:
plugins:help:lookup_missing_bmd_records:frequently_asked_questions#how_are_bmd_searches_refined_to_adjust_the_number_of_matches|> How are BMD searches refined to adjust the number of matches?
plugins:help:lookup_missing_census:frequently_asked_questions#how_are_census_searches_refined_to_adjust_the_number_of_matches|> How are Census searches refined to adjust the number of matches?

[johnmorrisoniom]

You can also have a problem with FMP if you record BMD events with Quarter Dates. FMP ignores them completely.
e.g. if you have an individua; bn Q1 1872, then the FMP hint will show DOB Unknown.
I reported this to Calico Pie over a year ago.

[ColeValleyGirl]

John, it might be productive if you reported the problem to FMP as well -- two (slim) chances of getting it fixed!

[tatewise]

The get a better handle on that problem, try clearing Tools > Preferences > Use quarter date display format so the Dates appear as btw Jan 1900 and Mar 1900, and btw Apr 1900 and Jun 1900, etc.
Also try some other forms of Date Range and Date Period that both include and exclude specific day numbers.
e.g. btw 1 Jan 1900 and 31 Mar 1900 and frm 1900 to 1901, etc, etc.

Depending which ones fail, then the problem may be to do with any Date Range/Period or just those without a specific date.

Does the same problem apply to MyHeritage hints?
If not, then it is more likely a FMP bug rather than FH.

[ColeValleyGirl]

The Findmypast API documentation says:

Dates should be passed as YYYYMMDD but can be passed with MM and DD as 00 if they’re not known

so it's possible that FH isn't substituting the unknown month or day, but rather disregarding the whole date.

[Gowermick]

Just a reminder that one ought not quote someones birth as 1960 Q1. This is the quarter the birth was registered, and to quote that as the birthdate could be very misleading, as it could be up to 4-5 months out, due to the 6 weeks grace given to register a birth, and then time for entry to make it to the GRO.

As people have found out, not every system recognises Q1(Q2, Q3 or Q4) , some using M, J, S & D, so best avoid it altogether.

To my mind, when I can’t narrow down a birth date, I simply use year birth registered on GRO, and accept that even this could be out by a year ( my dad was born 1915 but registered 1916 )

[Johnr65]

Very interesting comments. Ancestry is as you say just as bad and also their idea of British counties is a complete nightmare unless you live in the UK you'd have no idea that Watford where I was born is in Hertfordshire, as according to Anc it was originally in Norfolk!

[tatewise]

Folks, this is in danger of going off topic!

[Johnr65]

Have complained to FMP about their 'hint' system and they replied and asked for examples which I've just sent them; to add insult to injury I found one hint that was duplicated!