FamilySearch Wiki talk:Feedback

The comments will be consolidated where appropriate and posted on the Project Page.

If you have possible solutions for a posted comment, please share them here as well.

If pertinent to the topic, please include your level of experience with the wiki and your skill level with the "wikitext" editor or the RichEditor  (or the VisualEditor in the future),

Global Searching
Global Gazetteer of Cities and Towns Worldwide Directory of Cities, Towns, and Regions in United States

Etiquette hint: At the end of posts four tildes (~) leaves a signature so we can easily track who posts info. Jimgreene 17:13, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Emphasis on helping people use the wiki
I am updating a series of Facebook lessons for beginners. At present I am developing a lesson on use of the wiki for research. I have left two comments on talk pages of articles that are woefully out-of-date. And most of the pages for new to the wiki are geared to recruiting people to contribute to the wiki, not helping them use it. I found some comments from Janell in 2011-2012 stating the same and suggesting that there should be more of an emphasis on helping people use it. I make the same plea now. We have been working with hundreds of 18-22 yr old LDS Missionaries, and they are lost with the orientation given here Ken Knight 04:41, 16 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Ken, Your feedback has been received and I also captured your other comments from the “Tour” page and the “Wiki Basics” page. I will forward them to someone who can make a decision and will summarize your comments for the feedback page so that a response can be posted there. By the way, you mentioned a series of Facebook lessons for beginners. Could you eventually provide the link to those wiki lessons you are creating (for future reference)? Thank you for your feedback. Luccagenes 19:44, 16 February 2015 (UTC)


 * Ken, I see you have gotten responses from Sandra and Giuseppe. Have all your concerns been addressed? Luccagenes 03:01, 22 February 2015 (UTC)

Help Wiki
In Help Wiki Basics under Getting Started, an option for Find an Ancestor is given. However, on the right side bar, there is no Find an Ancestor option. Frustrated!MamaDee9 18:14, 13 May 2015 (UTC)


 * We apologize for the frustration. The right side bar was changed, but the information on the Help:Wiki Basics page was not updated. The find an ancestor information can be found by clicking on "About the Wiki" option on the right side bar. The Help:Wiki Basics page has been updated. Parrisl 06:03, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

FamilySearch Wiki is NOT user friendly
To: Whom it May Concern From: Elder Glen A. Dolberg, Full-time missionary in FCHHM

The FamilySearch Wiki openly calls itself a type of encyclopedia, and we all know that encyclopedias are whales in the oceans of knowledge and in the seas of information. From a designer’s view, the FamilySearch Wiki is a marvelous, magnificent creation – literally a whale of enormous magnitude! From a user’s view, the FamilySearch Wiki is a mammoth, mountain-sized creature – literally a monster of unequaled monstrosity! Every page is overloaded with long lists and lumbering lumps of links which overwhelm and mystify. In the effort to include everything, to cross reference everything, and to accommodate everything including everyone’s ideas via wikis the monster grows ever bigger and harder to harness. Unless the user is determined to harpoon this leviathan in order to extract some desired information, one or two looks at the enormity of this beast quickly discourage any further use. Just reading the multiplicity of notes, directions, and tips can take up hours of research time. Ready access to any information becomes more rare by the minute. Suggestion: think SIMPLE – think USER-FRIENDLY

SSDI
Found it confusing to find more information via the SS5 ?? and how to access it. The paragraph on how ancestry has a page???

Limited time on FamilySearch Wiki
Wiki missionaries and I assume the public as well, keep losing edits and added content due to the page timing out before we can finish the corrections or re-writes. We sign in and check the 'two weeks' box and 20 minutes later we are no longer signed in. This is very frustrating especially after you lose 2 hours worth of work. Sjkennedy 01:50, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

Session Failures
I am repeatedly getting a session failure notification when I try to patrol. This happened this morning so I gave up, and this evening it's happening again. It takes 4 or 5 tries to mark one entry patrolled--sometimes it never goes through. S. Birdsong 01:57, 2 August 2015 (UTC)