All I want to do is check the Collin County, Texas, Marriage Index, 1800-2010 results for the surname Brinlee. So, while working in one of my Member Trees on Ancestry (more about Ancestry Member Trees and New Search later), I obtain results for Martha Jane Brinlee that include this database. I then click on that database to do a search therein. I enter the surname Brinlee and click the box for “Exact Search.” This brings up a nice, juicy list of 102 results. I click on one of the names in the list. That brings me to the following page:
Not only is this not the page I want, I have to log back in!!!!
And this is the 17th time this has happened to me today (yes, I have been counting).
So I log back in. And get this page:
Um, now to get out of this promotional page I have to go up to “My Account” and then hit the Home page, because there is no other way to get out of this promotional. Sorry, Ancestry, I’m just not that interested in “Jumping the Pond.” This is the third time I have been put into this loop (the other 14 logins I have had to do happened right in the middle of searches - and this has not been an uncommon occurrence, especially since the transition to New Search). I have even tried pulling up the Collin County, Texas, Marriage Index through the Card Catalog - same results. So obviously I can forget doing “card catalog” type searches.
Not that I’m paranoid or anything (well, actually, I am), but Ancestry takes every opportunity to log me out and offer me a World Membership, but what I’d really like is Ancestry Pro:
For Pros and Serious Amateurs: Ancestry Pro
Tailor your own searches!
Get a Chromosome Browser with your AncestryDNA!
But Ancestry is not geared toward pros anymore. It is geared toward the Tree People. the people who never get out of the public member trees, whose research consists of creating a tree, using the matches with other trees to attach to their trees (and sometimes the records suggestions). I have to admit, it is easier to pull up good, relevant results that way than it is through New Search.
And yes, I know how to tailor New Search in Advanced Search - but that is far more time-consuming than Old Search and does not visually present the results in the manner that works best for me. The old, crisp, space-saving arrangement of search results by category let me know at a glance what the records situation for a particular ancestor might be. Need to tweak? I’d add a couple more searches, this time with wildcards or common misspellings or (when possible) the Soundex option selected - that might add a few records. This would take a few minutes and let me know what things might be missing and need some special tweaking to find.
I could put up with New Search if it weren’t for these Endless Loops. I just want the option of a decent records search, whether while I am inside an Ancestry Tree or working through the card catalog.
By the way, just now, as I was writing this post, I hit the “Home” button and got this screen:
Logout Number 18.
Instead of logging back in, I hit the back arrow to get back to some search results, and got the first screen above.
Perhaps this is a bug that has just hit the system this weekend. But that paranoid voice in my head keeps telling me: “This is Ancestry. Do not leave the Tree. Do NOT leave the Tree!!!”