Genealogy Chat

See below.

My latest batch of so-called 'Hot Matches' contained the following: Two or three genuine matches, which, as I've been adding to my tree, have become more frequent, although any that can furnish me with any information I don't already have are much rarer - it's frequently the case that one person has researched a tree and three or four others (probably quite close relatives) have copied it, so what appears as four or five hot matches is effectively only one. A couple of hundred people who shared a name and year of birth with someone in my tree, but were born in a different county, and sometimes a different continent. This, at least by the standards of Hot Matches, is normal. A few people who shared a name but neither year nor place of birth. This is not normal. A few people who didn't share a name with anyone on my tree. This is completely bonkers. Has anyone else had this?

How often are you supposed to get Hotmatches? I haven't had any for months. Liz

Michael Yes, quite often get 'hotmatches' of names totally alien to me. I don't even bother to look at my hotmatches these days - unless I am feeling particularly bored or mindless! Lizzie You only get hotmatches if you elect to have them. Go into My Account, scroll to bottom, where it says do you want to be notified by email, change to Yes. I know that the way the question is phrased suggests the hotmatches will come anyway, and that by saying Yes you are only opting to get an email to tell you they have arrived, but I found when I put No, not only did I get no email, but also no hotmatches. Tina

I am still getting 4 pages of A-H as normal. If anyone wants William Cox born anywhere..... Actually last time I matched with a member who shared William as an ancestor and was able to give me quite a lot of information including the maiden name of one of his daughter-in-laws so I now have even more Cox's to match with. Recently I have had a couple of good genuine hot matches and received quite a bit of help from them so I am not complaining - not too much anyway.

I used to get cross at getting names pf [eople born in different places - unitl last time. I was sent an Alice Clements born in Norfolk, whereas my Alice Clements was born in Wallsend Northumberland. No doubt the person with the Alice Clements in Norfolk would have deleted their hot match. The reason I sent an e-amil was that hte father of my Alice Clements was born in that past of Norfolk, and, yes, it is the same family. We have exchanged information. So they do work sometimes. Anne

I never get anything past E mostly Davies and Bird, I can't understand why I have not had a match for Barber, Banham or Bacon, I thought these were fairly common names. I have also had matches for names that are not on my tree. Caroline

Hi YES Hot matches has gone barmy, most definitley. I have just had 2 long pages of Unk Unk Unk Unk. What on earth use is that ????? We would all be related to each other by that info. I also have approx 40 pages of discarded h/m's that cannot be completely deleted. Apparently this is being looked at. Having said all that I have found several genuine matches and lots of info. Only look now when I am stuck.

Caroline- want Bacons? You can have mine, because that's all I seem to get on Hot Matches apart from Allen. Surely somebody at GR would have figured by now that sorting alphabetically is a waste of time. Names should be sorted by relevance.

Yes, I too have have just trawled through pages and pages of 'Hot Matches' that aren't!!!! I sent an e-mail to GR asking them if they could match where born, but they said it would be difficult because people enter place names differenty to each other that it wouldn't work! Wendy

I had to laugh at the e mail sent by GR this morning. It was a list of potential matches that have been added lately. There are over 92 thousand potential new names added that I might like to look at. The surname is.... UNKNOWN!!!!!

I have had so called 'matches' for people that I have never heard of. Most of the rest are, as you say, from people who have copied my tree then passed it on to other people.

It could do with filtering a bit better than it is but understand why there is a problem with place names. I find the most frustrating thing is when I get a good match and so make contact. For instance I have contscted two individuals regarding an ancestor born in Walthamstow (according to the cesnus returns) and all I get back is 'not mine' or even better 'mine was born in Great Waltham!!'. 'Yes I know', I reply 'they are likely to be the same but even if they aren't I wouild be interested to know more so I can exclude your relative.' they then come back and say 'Sorry mine is an Essex boy'. So I give up!! I must admit I have had some success but not a grreat deal - part of the problem is the nature of this site - the number of people seriously searching is only a very small proportion of those on the site. You can see that from the quality of some of the postings elswhere on the site.