21 November 2013

No "Non-Full" Context and Blank Results--Virginia Immigrants at Ancestry.com

[note: as of 2:30 pm 21 November 2013--this was fixed.]

Databases that clearly don't work when they are released always make me wonder if the ones that I "think" are really working, are in fact, actually working.

Ancestry.com recently released it's "All Virginia Immigrants, 1623-1666." This post is not about where the information was obtained or how accurate it is.

All search results were accurate as of 10:15 am. central time on 21 November 2013. 

This post is about the fact that the database search is not working. A search for the last name of Smith in the database resulted in 255 hits. I have no way of knowing if that is accurate or not.

What is unclear are the results. The "Vew Full Context" link is returned for each hit. There's no "partial" context to know which entry I'd like to view.



And when I do click on "View Full Context," this is what I get.


Something's not working here.

Ancestry.com--is it too much to ask to have these new/updated databases working before they are released? I'm certain most of us can wait a little while longer to see if our long-deceased relative is in a database with names from 1623-1666.

And....things like this always make me wonder if the other databases that I think are working are actually working they way I think they are.