Is anybody else completely disgusted with the new and improved relationship calculator on 2010?

I have purchased FTMs 2008, 2009, and 2010 but I'm about ready to chuck FTM for something better. I was assured by online support back in the late spring 2009 that the 2010 edition would have the relationship problems fixed. So I bought FTM 2010. Frankly, 2010 is worse than the 2009 version! The 2009 edition at least showed my direct lines accurately with only problems in the collateral lines. But 2010 shows a direct line multi-great grandfather as my "father-in-law of great grandmother of stepfather of brother-in-law of father-in-law of sister-in-law of 1st cousin. . . " Of course, this isn't the only incorrect relationship. I have thousands like that. I have tried to fix this in any numerous ways, from detaching individuals to deleting individuals and checking preferred spouses, parents etc. But as with the 2009 version, the convoluted relationships refuses to be fixed. Does anybody know how this can be fixed easily without redoing complete lines?

In fact I have been requesting help from the online support on this since FTM 2009 came out, asking when this problem will be fixed, is there an update coming soon, etc. At this point, I am disgusted with the continuous run around by online support on this issue, and their quite unhelpful and insulting, "We regret any inconvenience you have experienced with the Relationship Calculator. We will send your feedback and comments to our development team for review."

Is there another program someone would advise as better? Or even a way to fix this problem? It drives me crazy!

Although I can't answer your question (other than to suggest FTM 2009 is the answer), I did want to endorse your main point. Quite why they chose to show the relationships in this way is a mystery, and surely it wouldn't have been difficult to have a configuration option to allow people to specify how they wanted the relationships to be shown.

I wonder if the feature was introduced as too many people couldn't understand what "second cousin twice removed" meant, or it was just the whim of a development team who get paid on the number of "enhancements" they make to the product.

Bizarrely, after I posted my previous message on this, I went back to my tree and found that in some parts of the tree the relationships are still shown in the old format. It's all very confusing !

Sheila,

Please go to the new Knowlege Base website at

http://ancestry.custhelp.com/

and enter 5036 in the Search Support box on that page.

Hope that helps,

Russ

antonyfarmer,

Please go to the new Knowlege Base website at

http://ancestry.custhelp.com/

and enter 5036 in the Search Support box on that page.

Hope that helps,

Russ

Thanks - I'd got my tree sorted so I didn't have any "no relationship found" people - all are blood relatives or direct spouses of blood relatives. Perhaps it is down to this interpretation issue making different decisions between the two versions.

It seems odd to see a relationship such as "Great Grandson of 3rd Great Grandfather of Antony Farmer" - when in FTM 2008 it is described as second cousin twice removed.

Antony

Thanks for the help topic. Unfortunately, it didn't tell me anything more than I already knew. I just wish the developers would have used common sense when configuring relationships. I've been told repeatedly by support that I have an error in my relationships, but when I tell them it read fine in Family Tree 2009 (at least direct lines) and that my relationships have been checked and rechecked so many times, they seem to think I'm dimwitted! I even have one section of my direct line that shows grandparents correctly, except for one set that are inexplainably with the same convoluted relationship! It's crazy!

Antony,

The current version did update this calculator and from what you said, you are seeing it. A Cousin is not as direct as Great Grandson ....

Russ

Sheila,

The Developers, I think and from what I have seen in my files, have calculated the relationships correctly.

It a couple of files that I have seen from other users, there this was the issue, there WERE relationship issues in the file. It the several that I have looked at, it was from a Merge "gone bad".

What happens in the "one set" that does not show up correctly?

Have you looked at the Relationship Tab, on the People workspace, Person tab for any of those individuals?

Have you looked at the Parentage, Marriage, and Data Error Reports?

I do not think you are "dimwitted", but only trying to help you resolve this issue. And can only tell you of my experience with relationships not showing up correct.

Russ

I had considered the problem with a merge, since I did merge one side of the family tree with another early on, but, again, why would those relationships appear as grandparents in 2009, but not 2010?

Of course, I've looked at the Relationship Tab in the People Workspace. Can't find anything out of the ordinary there either.

The parentage and marriage reports showed up the same information on relationships as well.

As for data error reports, I had the usual data errors such as "Missing Marriage Date" or "Birth date missing" etc. It took me an entire day just to get through all reported data errors for 15,000 people!

I'm at a loss, completely. The only logical thing I can come up with (other than the obvious limited configurations from the developers) is that there was a huge quirky problem when I uploaded from 2009 to 2010. And yes, I uploaded entirely new files in two different ways, GEDCOM and FTM, just to try and get a logical relationship.

However, if I go to the Relationship Calculator, the "preferred" logical relationship can be chosen from the drop-down menu, but it reverts back to the crazy relationship when closing the calculator.