Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Geni.com adds Record Matches and Smart Matches

I received an email from Amanda of Geni.com yesterday, saying:

"Delighted to let you know that Geni.com now has historical records and Smart Matching™ which will help our users enrich their family trees, and the World Family Tree, with historical data and discover unknown relatives! The World Family Tree is a global initiative by Geni.com that shows how everyone in the world is related. These technologies make the World Family Tree a more accurate and better documented resource. 

"Smart Matching and Record Matching are unique technologies developed by our parent company, MyHeritage. Here's some more info about them:
  • Smart Matching™ automatically finds matches for family trees on Geni.com among billions of family tree profiles on MyHeritage. These matches allow Geni.com members to grow their family tree, discover new ancestors and relatives, connect with other family tree owners and reunite with long lost family members.
  • Record Matching compares the profiles in your family tree to billions of historical records in MyHeritage's online digital archive - and lets you know whenever we find a relevant document. In addition, once a record is confirmed and added to the World Family tree, sources and citations are automatically created, allowing users to view information in the right context."
Amanda had a very complete blog post about the technology in Introducing Record Matches and Smart Matches™ for Your Family Tree on the Geni Blog yesterday.

I wanted to take a look at this on my own Geni account - it's a Basic account (meaning I don't pay for it).  Did they have matches for my people?

Here is my Geni.com home page:


Over on the right of the screen above, there is an area titled "Matches" with a small red "NEW" highlight.  There are names of people in my Geni database, and a number of matches shown in the oval with a blue background.

I picked my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver, from the list - he had 12 matches:


On his profile page above, under the "Matches" heading, there are 0 Geni matches (gray background), 2 Record matches (tan background) and 10 Smart Matches (green background).

I clicked on the "Record Match" icon (the tan background) and saw:


The two record matches for Frederick Walton Seaver were from the Fitchburg [Mass.] Sentinel newspaper.

Further down this page are the Smart Matches - 9 from MyHeritage trees (which are separate) and 1 from WikiTree:


How does this compare to the Record Matches on MyHeritage?  Here is the list of Record Matches for Frederick Walton Seaver on MyHeritage:



There are three Record Matches for my grandfather - the two newspaper articles and the WikiTree entry.  There were also nine Smart Match entries for him.  

So it appears that the system finds all of the Record Matches and Smart Matches that MyHeritage finds.  I note that the databases that MyHeritage accesses are those on WorldVitalRecords, and access to those database requires a Data Subscription to MyHeritage/WorldVitalRecords.

Of course, the Record Matching system did not find ALL of the available records for my grandfather, since MyHeritage/WorldVitalRecords does not have ALL of the available records.  For instance, I know my grandfather is in the available U.S. census records from 1860 to 1940.  He is on Find A Grave, has birth and marriage entries in the Massachusetts Vital Records, and is in the World War I Draft Registrations.  MyHeritage/WorldVitalRecords does not yet have all of the U.S. Census records (although they have said they will have them soon), but it does have Find A Grave (the Frederick Walton Seaver, Sr. entry is available - why didn't it find it?).


Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver


5 comments:

Saskey said...

Hi Randy,

I, too, have the "Basic" Geni account. It displays matches, however, if I wish to examine matches including trees, or contacting the associated person, Geni invites me to purchase a subscription. So, I gather that Geni takes the data I uploaded for free, and charges other users to access and use that information; however, if I wish to see what they have done with my information, I have to pay. Do I have that correct.

Thanks for the great articles.
Craig.

Linda Schreiber said...

I tried geni.com, briefly. Luckily, I just added a few deceased people as a test. Then I really explored the site.
And, yes, you upload your data "for free", and they charge other users to access it, and they can't contact you without paying. And if you want to see what the others have done, you have to pay.
If you really want a wild ride, check out their on-site complaints. Someone adds living children to another person's tree, and the tree 'owner' can't remove them 'without paying', and sometimes not even then. Many, many, many similar problems....
And trying to contact tech support through their own system sends you into an endless loop of 'click here' screens. It literally loops back, after a dozen or so attempts, and you start over.
Trying to get help through the forums is interesting.... No one from the company seems to pay any attention. There are long strings of truly valid problems and complaints, and serious problems, and they just let us vent to each other.... Finally, messages like **Is anyone from Geni listening??** get no response.
No other contact with Geni seems to be available.
I avoid Geni like the plague. Everything I have seen is disreputable.

Amanda at Geni said...

Hi Craig and Linda,

I'm Amanda and I work for Geni. Please allow me to help address some of your concerns. Apologies for lumping my responses into one comment; I was unable to reply individually to your posts.

Craig,

No, you do not have to pay to access your own data. Basic users may add unlimited profiles to the tree and complete merges for free. Access to Tree Matches is a Pro feature. Tree Matches are matches we find in your tree with other profiles on Geni. If they are a match, users may merge the profiles and benefit instantly from each other's work. Geni is a collaborative genealogy website and everyone is working together to build the largest, most comprehensive family tree of the world.

Linda,

I'm sorry to hear you were unhappy with your experience on Geni. I'd like to address some of the points you made in your comment and help clear up any confusion.

1. "yes, you upload your data "for free", and they charge other users to access it, and they can't contact you without paying. And if you want to see what the others have done, you have to pay."

Our Basic account is free and allows users to add unlimited people to the tree, complete merges and contact other users. Public areas of the tree are available for everyone to view. You can even see a list of our most popular public profiles here http://www.geni.com/popular . We do offer premium subscriptions, which gives you access to additional features to help grow your tree faster. Our Pro subscription gives access to Tree Matches, enhanced search and priority support.

2. "Someone adds living children to another person's tree, and the tree 'owner' can't remove them 'without paying', and sometimes not even then."

We take privacy very seriously. All living profiles on Geni are private. If you have found your child on Geni and would like the profile removed, a request may be submitted directly to us here http://www.geni.com/safety/contact . Please note you do not need a subscription to delete profiles from the tree.

3. "Trying to get help through the forums is interesting.... No one from the company seems to pay any attention."

We check our Community Help forums regularly. You will even find several Curators helping to answer user questions. Our FAQ's are very helpful and provide the answers to many of the questions found in the forums. Unfortunately, many people do not take the time to read them before venting their frustration. Please note contacting customer service directly is a premium feature.

We're very excited to bring Record Matching and Smart Matching to Geni and we truly believe these technologies will provide our users access to incredibly rich and valuable data for their family history research. I hope you give Geni another chance and check out our latest enhancements :-)

Thanks,
Amanda
The Geni Team

Saskey said...

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Amanda. You state, "Our Basic account is free and allows users to add unlimited people to the tree, complete merges and contact other users"

However, when I click on the "contact" link, I receive an invitation to pay:
"You have requested to contact ******* ****** who is another member of MyHeritage, in order to explore a family connection through Smart Matches that both of you received for your trees. You are one step away from possibly making an exciting discovery.

This function is part of Enhanced Smart Matching which is available to Premium or PremiumPlus members of MyHeritage only. An upgrade of your site is required, and that will allow you to contact an unlimited number of people regarding your Smart Matches."

Could you tell my how I may contact other users with the free account?

Amanda at Geni said...

Hi Craig,

I think I see where the confusion lies. Contacting users on Geni is free. However, in the example you stated, you are attempting to contact a MyHeritage user through a Smart Match. Please note a MyHeritage Data subscription is required to view Smart Matches and to contact the Site Manager on MyHeritage.

For more information about Record Matches and Smart Matches on Geni, I recommend reading our blog announcement linked above or reviewing our FAQs http://help.geni.com/forums/21882243-Record-Matches-Smart-Matches-