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FamilySearch.org "Submitted by" - Categorized in: Feature SuggestionsFeature Suggestions

4 posts. Started 31 May 2006 by MaxHaiflichJr. Latest reply 2 Jun 2006 by lkessler. RSS 2.0 feed for this topic RSS
1. Max Haiflich (MaxHaiflichJr)
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Joined: Sun, 7 May 2006
0 blog comments, 13 forum posts
Posted: Wed, 31 May 2006 Permalink
In getting GEDCOMs from LDS, they do not include the info of who submitted the data to them. You can look it up on site, but you can't download it. I have had to mark, copy, and save it, then include it in my PAF5 Source citation manually.

Is there anyway that Behold could do that and include it in the .bho file? I mean, after you get the other LDS related improvements done.

Max Haiflich, Jr.
2. Louis Kessler (lkessler)
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Joined: Sun, 9 Mar 2003
287 blog comments, 245 forum posts
Posted: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 Permalink
I don't think I'm going to add any "web scraping" to Behold itself. Behold will get its data from GEDCOM files and soon directly from selected databases of some Genealogy Programs.

But, I could consider writing a simple separate program designed to get data from familysearch.org. Maybe I'd call it FamilySearchDownloader. You select the starting person's Name and AFN, and it might go out to the site, do a first request for the person by name, get the GEDCOMs, find the ones that include that AFN, collect the names and AFNs of all the people related to the first and continue until there is noone left to find. It might be really neat, and then things like looking up the submitter from the site can be automated as well.

But I wonder first of all how many people might find something like that useful, and secondly if it is legal - the Family History Centre might consider getting records that way to be a copyright infringement. I would need to get their full approval first, or I wouldn't do it.

Louis
3. Max Haiflich (MaxHaiflichJr)
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Joined: Sun, 7 May 2006
0 blog comments, 13 forum posts
Posted: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 Permalink
Louis,

FamilySearch.org does not provide a way to download the "Submitted by" information. It's a separate selection on each individual, or family group, listing. You can view it, but not download it. I have questioned them about it and they claim it's to protect the "living" submitters. Doesn't make much sense to me, but that's their excuse. I'm still negotiating with them about it.

I also know that their reason for limiting downloads to a single family group or 5 generation pedigree file is rooted in the old limitations of 64K files sizing. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Also, you are correct in requiring the AFN number to select desired person to research. There can be dozens of listing for the same name. However, i'm not sure their search function is capable of limiting it that way.

They seem to be a remarkable mixture of sophisticated and antiquated thinking and programming.

Max
4. Louis Kessler (lkessler)
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Joined: Sun, 9 Mar 2003
287 blog comments, 245 forum posts
Posted: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 Permalink
"They seem to be a remarkable mixture of sophisticated and antiquated thinking and programming."

That's a great way to say it. They are of course the geniuses behind the invention of GEDCOM, yet they haven't updated it in, what, 10 years?

Louis

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