New login page?

[Carpathian]

Why, just why, did anyone think it would be a good idea to redesign the login page and force us to have to endure being faced with those horrible 'smiling' faces with their inane toothy grins. They look like outcasts from some failed 3rd-rate teeth-whitening advertisement. What could possibly be the point of this change?

We're already customers who want to login as easily and as simply as possible. We don't need unnecessary cringe-making distractions like this.

They have new and different smiling faces posted now. Maybe the smiling faces will be changed monthly, like a billboard. Not that I'm disputing their revision of trying to be more attractive by adding smiling faces to the sign-in page. It amounts to window dressing.

But that's cheap and easy thing to do. Symbolism is not a substitute for substance. I hope this is not a sign that FTDNA is failing in it's original interest and dedication of being primarily a genealogical website. Time will tell.

[clintonslayton76]

On the subject of LOGIN/LOGOUT

My biggest complaint is not with the useless login page, but the entirely broken logout. Like many of you, I maintain several kits, so I am logging in and out all day log. Houston, we have a problem. It shouldn't be this difficult.

On this subject, why is there no "remember me" function at login. As an admin, I have to navigate through the weirdness of "impersonation" and numerous browser tabs and occasionally just have to login again with my admin credentials (as opposed to my personal kit) and the re-typing of this becomes most annoying.

[clintonslayton76]

Off on a tangent here.

Yes, I received a link to the new, better and more secure Findagrave today. I thought it was just fine as it was.

I think it is wonderful resource to find your ancestors' place of burial and hopefully their headstones too. But when people "helpfully" add inaccurate information it just irks me. When they decline your edit to correct the half-baked information I get especially irked.

===================================
Yes we are off on a F A G tangent. I will add only one awful example and not darken this topic again. I recently found an 1870 census snippet added as a PHOTO to a grave I manage, for a family that I have researched for over 30 years. The "helpful" PHOTO was a census record that did not contain the subject of the memorial, but showed his parents. A single census record for a couple has never constituted proof that a subsequent son was born where the census was found, no genealogist would accept that. But because it was posted as a PHOTO and the poster does not provide contact information, it will require intervention by FAG/Ancestry to remove the offending non-evidence. Any service that allows graffiti with no recourse is hardly a useful resource.
I cannot afford to sponsor over 2000 mems to keep inaccurate information from posted as PHOTOS and FLOWERS. The function of edits and linking have destroyed the evidential value of that site, and encourages "defensive" strategies on the part of some managers to use UNKNOWN burials to pre-empt the inaccurate "linkings" that sneak past managers who have lives to live. This got past me while I was in the hospital and could not respond to edits and such for over two weeks. It would not have mattered because this non-evidence was dropped in as a PHOTO, I would never have an opportunity to be made aware that it was there, or to disapprove it.
FAG needs to go back the way it was, with no Ancestry-style "linking" to other people. Noting parents and other relatives in the memorials text was good enough, and does not have the appearance of a "proven" relationship. Enough said. (My keyboarding is extremely limited so pardon any gaffes.)

[matthannan]

The login page can be entire reloaded with CTRL-F5 on Windows. It was bugging me yesterday and then I remembered the CTRL-F5 is far more powerful than a regular F5 or "Refresh" in the browser.

My biggest complaint is not with the useless login page, but the entirely broken logout. Like many of you, I maintain several kits, so I am logging in and out all day log. Houston, we have a problem. It shouldn't be this difficult.
Unfortunately, my CTRL-F5 trick does not work on the logout page.

[ltd-jean-pull]

Ancestry is beta'ing the "new look" for Find A Grave.

Translation: now you can more easily dredge the half-baked (or unbaked) "research" that shows as F A G Edits and Family Links as if it was documented.
Another formerly helpful tool designed by volunteers, compromised by the "family-tree-in-an-afternoon" mentality from its original purpose: to locate and show gravestones and nothing more.
NOTE: This is not a benign as the unnecessary change at FTDNA login. This is another reason why I do not want to see FTDNA succumb to copying the 500-lb gorilla in "genealogy" (which is not the point of Ancestry).

Off on a tangent here.

Yes, I received a link to the new, better and more secure Findagrave today. I thought it was just fine as it was.

I think it is wonderful resource to find your ancestors' place of burial and hopefully their headstones too. But when people "helpfully" add inaccurate information it just irks me. When they decline your edit to correct the half-baked information I get especially irked. Apparently my information didn't agree with their information. Their information certainly can't have been the original records.

This was from someone with severe volunteer-martyr-syndrome whose Bio makes it quite clear that we all should be inordinately grateful for all they do for everyone else. And then they complain how busy these half a million memorials keep them!

When you manage half a million memorials chances are you're not very familiar with Gloucestershire parish records and may not even know that the GRO index has mother's maiden names as well. It's annoying when someone won't transfer because this is your gtgtgt-grandmother and they stick to the guidelines, but make it clear they're a busy volunteer (well, transfer some memorials to people who are happy to manage their own relatives and stop being such a whiney martyr).

[mlcarson]

Login page broken again

It's completely broken again for me in Chrome but works fine in IE or Edge. This time there is no error but the "Sign in" button just doesn't do anything with Chrome. Suspect its a problem like before related to cookies or something because Chrome is working fine on another PC for the site.

[clintonslayton76]

It's catching...

Ancestry is beta'ing the "new look" for Find A Grave.

Translation: now you can more easily dredge the half-baked (or unbaked) "research" that shows as F A G Edits and Family Links as if it was documented.
Another formerly helpful tool designed by volunteers, compromised by the "family-tree-in-an-afternoon" mentality from its original purpose: to locate and show gravestones and nothing more.
NOTE: This is not a benign as the unnecessary change at FTDNA login. This is another reason why I do not want to see FTDNA succumb to copying the 500-lb gorilla in "genealogy" (which is not the point of Ancestry).

[chmada]

Fix software bugs and bandwidth issues first

It is an uncomfortable situation as a user to see the login page changed to something that we really don't need to see. A simple login page asking for credentials would be appreciated.
If this corporation really wants to address the serious issues, fix the recurrent bugs that seem to be in all of the tools/processes and please get more robust servers and bandwidth. This is one of the slower sites that I access and it can often become painful to even think about logging in.

[Caburn]

I'd just like to say that I much prefer the latest 'Login' page - the one with with the 'This Page is Currently Undergoing Maintenance' message, as without the smiley photos it is far more pleasant to the eye - but I think at the very least it ought to have a couple of boxes for entering one's Username/Kit No. and Password.

[mlcarson]

That new login page is really working well for FTDNA.

"This page is currently undergoing maintenance

We'll be back very soon.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

Phone lines continue to be open during regular business hours.
713-868-1438"

[betadams]

I see the lady (top right) everytime I log in to my Yahoo Home Page - she appears in the adverts that run down the right hand side - "equity sponsered by readers digest"
it reads.

[Caburn]

Why, just why, did anyone think it would be a good idea to redesign the login page and force us to have to endure being faced with those horrible 'smiling' faces with their inane toothy grins. They look like outcasts from some failed 3rd-rate teeth-whitening advertisement. What could possibly be the point of this change?

We're already customers who want to login as easily and as simply as possible. We don't need unnecessary cringe-making distractions like this.

[clintonslayton76]

Since I started this topic...Chrome has worked best for me

I have not experienced the login problems, but I encounter the "Houston" message from time to time.
I use Chrome and Windows 10 Pro on my laptop, and Chrome and Win 7 64 Pro on desktop, but a savaging by a Chevy Tahoe while cycling May 3rd rendered me out of it for the first 2/3 of May, and working my way back from paraplegia means that I am not accessible to my desktop until I am able to get upstairs. So I am working from laptop until then.
I have noticed that MS has "upgraded" my IE to 11 w/o asking, and I have never used Edge. This has rendered some pages where "Save link as" reflected the type of file in IE10, and now IE11 defaults to .htm. This is annoying but can be worked around. But I have certainly found Chrome to be the most reliable browser with FTDNA, haven't tried Firefox in years and use IE for occasional two-monitor sessions upstairs when I wanted to sign into FTDNA twice.
As so frequently stated, why am I seeing a newly-designed login page when I am already a GAP admin and an individual customer? I am trying to get my Y candidates to spring for 111 markers and some SNPS, so are they paying for (and is my Project helping pay for) this gratuitous waste of page design?

[Carpathian]

I'm aware of what it means now - but only thanks to these forums. If I was a visitor, or an existing customer who doesn't frequent the forums, I still wouldn't know what a GAP was - unless I happened to be a group administrator.

And I've just realised the login page doesn't even display properly on my laptop. How many devices/browsers have they tested for?

My laptop is old, but not yet a museum piece - I have the latest version of Chrome, for goodness sake! I can only see two rows of the smiley faces. For the third row, I can only see the tops of their heads.

Can I scroll down to see the rest of the picture (and whether there's anything more interesting and informative)? No.

Typically these new "improvements" are implemented without adequate testing. Then customer complaints are ignored while tinkering might occur behind the scenes to try to remedy the situation.

You aren't missing anything by being unable to see all of the new smiling faces. There's nothing else of importance to see. In these times, that which is a novelty of design is considered as progress, and often that which was previously basic and formerly reliable becomes rendered dysfunctional.

[Tmason]

I'm aware of what it means now - but only thanks to these forums. If I was a visitor, or an existing customer who doesn't frequent the forums, I still wouldn't know what a GAP was - unless I happened to be a group administrator.

And I've just realised the login page doesn't even display properly on my laptop. How many devices/browsers have they tested for?

My laptop is old, but not yet a museum piece - I have the latest version of Chrome, for goodness sake! I can only see two rows of the smiley faces. For the third row, I can only see the tops of their heads.

Can I scroll down to see the rest of the picture (and whether there's anything more interesting and informative)? No.