I am confused.
I tried to search the SSDI at Rootsweb using a wildcard option on the Social Security Number as shown in the image to the right. I got no results. I must be doing something wrong. There are numerous individuals in the SSDI whose Social security numbers begin with the numbers "333," yet I kept getting 0 results.
Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? I feel like I must be missing something, but just do not know what it is.
This little problem started because I tried to search for my uncle in the SSDI using only his last name (Neill) and the first three numbers of his Social Security number (333). He is in the SSDI (Roger Neill-1937-2006), but I could not pul him up using a search of the last name Neill and 333* for his Social Security number. His entry in the SSDI is not a big concern to me; the fact that I can't pull him up using his last name and a wild card on his social had me confused.
Users can post a reply to this blog entry...just be kind to me if I'm overlooking something obvious.....
I have no idea why the wildcard doesn't work in this field but I tried it the way you did, I added a dash ie. 333-*, I tried using * for just the last number and got nothing even when I had used both a first and last name. When I put in the whole number and no name I did get my record. I tried the wildcard in other fields so it seems that the ss number is the only field that it doesn't work in which is quite odd.
ReplyDeleteOn http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/ssdi/fields.html they seemed pretty consistent with specifying which fields could use wildcards. They didn't mention that the SSN was one of them. So, I would assume you cannot use wildcards there.
ReplyDelete