Two Changes to the FamilySearch Family Tree

Depending on your level of involvement with the FamilySearch.org Family Tree, you may or may not notice two interesting changes. The first involves the internal messaging system. Here is a screenshot showing the location of the link to the messages. If you have a message or messages pending, there will be a red dot.

There are several categories of messages. The new change is that previously when changes were made to people you are watching on the Family Tree, you would receive a weekly email message advising you of the changes. Now, that messaging system is being internalized into the FamilySearch website and will appear in the Messages area. Because some people never look at their email and others never look at the Messages posted on the FamilySearch website, this is still an imperfect communication method. But there seems to be some logic in internalizing the notifications. Since I open FamilySearch almost every day, I will do what I have been doing and read all the messages. But if you are thinking that sending a message to another user of the program is going to solve a problem, you should realize that there are probably fewer people who look at the website regularly than there are people who look at their email. 

The other new change is more subtle than the messaging system. Here is the announcement. 

After receiving many requests, FamilySearch is excited to announce that patrons can now edit the dates and places found within indexed records. As you find incorrect dates and places on an index, verify the correct information, make the edits, and help yourself and others achieve family history goals!

Here is a link to the complete instructions about the new opportunity. 

https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/editing-dates-places-indexed-records/?et_cid=1706913&et_rid=107108866&linkid=CTA&cid=em-idx-9805