It's been broken for months upon months! The Ancestry record collection "Web: Obituary Daily Times Index, 1995-2016" has been preventing me from editing my citations for records in this collection. This is a really useful record set for me, and not being able to cite to my satisfaction is frustrating.
Editing citations is part of my routine. Not only do I save transcriptions, but I also include additional details I may want for the future, in the "other information" field. This saves me unnecessary "re-researching" in the future. My citations my not be up to genealogical par (in fact, I know they're not!), but they work for me, so long as I can be consistent. I've learned it the hard way, consistent documentation is key, and it's a step I won't skip lightly.
Sure, I can still save the fact. I can check the boxes why I accepted the hint. The citation is listed under Ancestry Sources, and I can still select the facts to attach to the record. For casual users, they may stop right there (if they even bother to go this far). I, however, want to take one more step and edit the citation itself...and this is where it all goes wrong. I've submitted feedback numerous times, but there's really no easy way to say "Hey, Ancestry! This is broken!"
Upon editing the citation and clicking save, I'm presented with this screen:
While the Ancestry presented citation details are still available to view (not edit, once it's broken, it's broken), there's a solid disconnect in the background, preventing me from updating and saving any of my own changes. In the past, I've found the citations screen doesn't like certain characters, such as a ~ (tilde) or \ (backslash), so I always take the extra step of changing or removing these characters. I actually do go back and refer to my citations, and it's the "other information" field I generally want to see. This field isn't displayed on the "view citation" screen. It's only accessible by opening the citation editing screen. Once editing is broken, I can no longer open the screen, so I can't see this field at all.
I've tried several times over the last 8-ish months, each time hoping the save will miraculously work. I've given up hoping I'll be able to fix the old incomplete citations. I'll just have to accept I'll have a handful of un-editable citations in my tree. I really have 2 viable choices:
- Save the fact with the "standard" Ancestry citation (accepting some citations won't meet even my lower standards)
- Skip using these hints entirely (making them fully available for future use and editing without having to keep a list)
I won't bellyache about how much users pay in subscription costs, or how every feature should work every time. I know not every problem is a quick fix, and there has to be a priority in how developers spend their time. I guess I simply wish is there was a way to know a real person reads user feedback...to know they have this problem on a list to be fixed...and to have a way to know when it's finally resolved. While I know Ancestry is busy rolling out new features (equally as important to a company trying to both attract and retain users), I sometimes wonder if the money grab of new users has become more important than maintaining less exciting features dedicated researchers depend on.
Since the accuracy of hints and Thru Lines are inextricably intertwined with the validity of user trees, by way of the algorithms, ensuring dedicated researchers have the tools and record sets they need to create accurate trees is a huge benefit to Ancestry. Good trees provide good hints, and better Thru Lines for everyone. I don't think this is a me thing (because this is the only record set where I'm having the issue). But if by chance you're using this collection, you edit your citations on Ancestry, and you're not having the same issue, please let me know!
Image by Annica Utbult from Pixabay