Smart or not so smart matches on MyHeritage

The instant discovery technology embedded in the MyHeritage site affords a quick method for folks to add to their family tree without doing any research. The blog post with accompanying video explains how it works.

Instant Discoveries™ allow new users to progress from small tree seedlings, with only a handful of individuals, to large blooming trees with many branches, in just minutes.

Since its implementation I have been offered quite a few suggestions via instant discovery but have chosen not to add them as none have been related to my direct line of ancestors but rather to distant family members.

The Smart matches in MyHeritage also offer another way of discovering family members and since the implementation of Instant discoveries my Smart matches have risen exponentially.
Herein lies the problem - when I investigate the Smart matches offered, too many times I find that they are matches back to my own data that someone has added to their tree via an Instant discovery

Here's a great aunt appearing on my tree with citations for death and burial.

Now I find I'm offered a Smart match on another tree, same person indeed but no sources.

When I further investigate that profile on the other tree, I find the only source citation is a link back to my tree as the information has been added via an Instant Discovery but stripped of the event citations in the process.

I had confirmed several of these so called Smart matches before I discovered what was going on. 

So MyHeritage, do let me know why I should waste my time confirming what I have already input and perhaps explain why the event citations are not added in the Instant Discovery process. 

I have no problem with people finding and using my carefully researched data, but I don't wish to reconfirm it via smart matches every time it is used. Why not give them the source citations too so they can check it for themselves? Surely this would be a more responsible manner to promote verified data.

What do other MyHeritage users have to say on this topic?

Image: Men, Horses and Engine and Out She Goes!  https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryqueensland/7028676357/in/album-72157629699403213/

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/11/smart-or-not-so-smart-matches-on.html

In Thirroul - Trove Tuesday

This week we have had the delight of the birth of a new grandchild and attendant baby sitting duties for his elder brother in Thirroul, NSW. This beachside spot nestles below the escarpment at the very base of the Bulli Pass. The history of the surrounding coal mines, accidents therein, and strikes for better conditions are all well detailed in the newspaper collections in Trove but I came across this evocative description attributed to C.G.B. and published here in 1892.

1892 'Thirroul.', The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), 19 March, p. 639, viewed 12 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16218472
Tomorrow we return home and leave the new baby 'peaceful, through dreaming time with face serene'.

In Time and Place - Trove Tuesday

   

This week Alex Daw, Shauna Hicks and Fran Kitto have published their reviews of the successful History Queensland "In Time and Place" conference held in Brisbane. Looks as if I missed some excellent sessions but it was not the time and place for me to be there as we travelled southwards for grandparent duties while we await the birth of another grandchild. Luckily we have arrived in time and are now in place as resident babysitters.

With an emphasis at the above mentioned conference on Queensland local history, this article tweeted by @TroveAustralia last week caught my eye. In 1921 this article detailed the movement by the Historical Society of Queensland lobbying to have local history studies included in the school curriculum.

1921 'LOCAL HISTORY.', The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), 10 November, p. 6, viewed 6 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20502592

Thanks are due to the many historical societies across Australia who work towards preserving and sharing their local histories.