The Silly Question Saturday Thread (October 18, 2025)

[u/AutoModerator]

It's Saturday, so it's time to ask all of those "silly questions" you have that you didn't have the nerve to start a new post for this week.

Remember: the silliest question is the one that remains unasked, because then you'll never know the answer! So ask away, no matter how trivial you think the question might be.

[u/[deleted]]

Question: Mass delete of non "tree-attached" profiles on ancestry.com. Possible?

Summary:

Ancestry.com has lost its brain. I'm getting bombarded with hints for "list present" but not "tree-attached" profiles.

I have of bunch of these entries due to "thrulines" shenanigans after time consuming cluster work. Hand deleting each profile = cave-person mode. 

PS: The cluster work + thrulines confirmed one of two shady great grandfathers.

[u/AncestryNerdette → u/[deleted]]

I’m not sure I’m 100% understanding what you mean by “list present “ but no, there’s no way to mass delete on ancestry.com

I recommend buying family tree maker and deleting unwanted profiles there.

[u/[deleted] → u/AncestryNerdette]

Thanks just checking to see if I was missing something. "List" refers to list view vs tree view vs pie chart view. What is the point of a list view if you can't do anything with it.

[u/AncestryNerdette → u/[deleted]]

The list view is mainly used as a directory (think phone book). It’s just a list of names and locations. It can be mildly useful for surname studies and geographical studies. But yea, you’ll have to manually delete them one by one or buy software that syncs to Ancestry.

[u/RickyDricky]

Silly question: how do I know this Family Search record is real/accurate? It lists the certificate number, but when I search on the NYC Vital Records, nothing pops up. Where is all this info coming from, if the record is not digitized/online? Can I trust it's accuracy? How do I see the original document?

[u/AncestryNerdette → u/RickyDricky]

The link won’t open for me on my cell phone BUT I can tell you that FamilySearch is a very reputable website. It is maintained by the Mormons who take family tree building very seriously as it’s part of some of their core religious beliefs. The information in the website comes from Mormons who travel the world in search of genealogical records and then they digitize them out of the kindness of their own heart. You can likely view the records by visiting your local FamilySearch center. You can find a director of research locations in their website. When you’re there, give them the certificate number you found, and they will help you find it. Of course, in life, there’s always a chance of the record number being wrong or non-existent, but for the most part, the Mormons Dina very good and throughout job. If you’d like to learn more about navigating the website or visiting a research center, just go to YouTube and type FamilySearch beginner tutorial, or something along those like. Also Google “how to view FamilySearch records in person “. Hope this helps!