Genealogy Chat

I have a couple of people on my tree with very common names so get lots, and lots, of hits which are not relevant and take ages to sort out. Anyone know how to deal with this? Thanks

The main reason for GR is to match with other members trees is it not?

So what is the point of putting Adjusted"surname. E.G. Instead of John Smith call him John Htims. Might as well leave him off altogether and save all the bother.

Sorry, I do not believe that the main reason people become members of GR is to seek the help of other members in tracking down their ancestors via census and other records.

It certainly is not the main reason I became a member, nor is it the isn't the reason that most of the 200 plus contacts I have made on here have become members either. .We are firstly interested in making contacts with our names. Seeking help with censuses and other records comes second,

Each to his own, I suppose.

Blimey Margaret, bet you didn't expect to spark such a debate!!
For what it's worth, I agree with Jonesey - edit your famly members' common surname in some way to stop masses of hot matches. You can always search other members' trees yourself if you so choose.
Jan

I agree with InspectorGreenPen that most GR members want to make contact with others searching the same lines rather than cadge some census credits. It is therefore counterproductive to falsify entries on one's tree. It is also morally dubious to hide one's own names while searching the trees of other members.

Peter

Margaret, not sure whether you meant the hot matches, or just that when searching anywhere, there are too many possibilities?

So far as hot matches are concerned, I do not spend time "cleaning" these up. I see that I now have 206 pages of hot matches, so at 20 per page, that is 4,120 matches. Many of these will be a single matching forename, surname and age, with the birthplace in a different county, or even a different country! I do sometimes look at page 1 to see if there are any new hot matches with multiple matches to my tree.

So far as searching with a common name is concerned, the rule "start with what you know" is absolutely key. Look for rarer names:
siblings forenames,
surnames of witnesses at marriages,
places of birth etc
that you can positively identify with your family and search sideways with these.

Also, don't overlook lodgers and neighbours - often they may be related, and even if not, can sometimes help in moving from one census to another.

John Smith 1884 +/- 2--- 1972 hits
John Smith* 1884 +/- 2--- zero hits
John Smith. 1884 +/- 2--- 2 hits
So you can see that it only needs a small modification to cut down hits.

Hmm, have checked my tree for tree matches and record matches for my John Smith:
0ver 5,000 tree matches and 900 record matches
However, most of my hot matches come via the Wilkinson surname
- I wonder if the John Smith hot match has been turned off by GR?