CWG search engine ... any contacts ?

[Gary Jucha]

Is anybody directly or indirectly associated with the CWG website ?

I was wondering if there might be a possibility to request a couple of extra "search terms" to their database ?

One which would be extremely helpful would be a search term of the fallen by "Regiment" ..

And another which although not so important, a search term by "Service Number".

To add either would not take too much of an alteration, .. just an addition to the main menu linking into the database.

Anybody else agree of disagree with this thought ?

Gary J.

[Matt Dixon]

Send a PM to Terry Denham on the Forum, he is the man in the know on all matters CWGC.

[Peter Bennett]

From memory there used to be a regiment search option, I don't know the reason it was withdrawn, although if of course one was to abbreviate or misspell a regiment it would throw up a nil response.

There are so many errors with service numbers plus prefixes and suffixes it might defeat the objective.

[Gary Jucha]

Peter,

Good point on the service numbers !

Also, thinking about a search by "Regiment", .. it would throw up thousands of hits if chosen by "year". (Which would return a "too many hits to list").

The "Regiment" search would possibly have to go down to "Month" and "Year", and even then, a search using "July" "1916" would return a massive number of hits.

In saying that, .. how useful would it be to be able to do a month by month Regimental tally !

It would be so useful in building up a data stream for a specific Regiment !

Gary J.

From memory there used to be a regiment search option, I don't know the reason it was withdrawn, although if of course one was to abbreviate or misspell a regiment it would throw up a nil response.

There are so many errors with service numbers plus prefixes and suffixes it might defeat the objective.

[Terry Denham]

You have to remember the main purpose of the facility.

It is there to help relatives find the burial/memorial location of their loved-one. That is CWGC's target audience. The search engine is not provided for research purposes and CWGC has no remit under its Royal Charter to provide such research services or expend its funds on them. We here are a minority user of the database and we tend to forget that.

The vast majority of CWGC funding goes to grave/memorial maintenance as that is their prime function. Minimal amounts will be spent on other activities such as administration and the provision of data.

There was a option to select the regiment when the database first went online but it caused too many issues as I understand it and it was withdrawn. There are over 2000 'regiments' in the CWGC list from which a user could select. Opportunities for mistakes and subsequent complaints abound. Also, as Peter says above, there are too many error issues with the service numbers to make any search reliable (prefix, no-prefix, typos etc).

The suggestions you make (though desirable from most of our points of view) would cost a reasonable amount of money from CWGC's limited budget which would only be diverted from grave maintenance - a move which would get very few votes.

[Jacksmum]

The Webmaster is willing to look at suggestions. Some months ago after the Website had been "upgraded" one of the things I had found most useful had been dropped. This was that if you looked up a "J Smith" on the Menin Gate, in "Reports" it changed colour, so that you didn't go back to the same man. Days after I asked for this facility to be reinstated, it was done and once again, the names changed colour if they had already been looked at. The GWGC do understand that some of us use it as a Search Engine.

Can you not get the Regimental details form "Soldiers Died"?

Jacksmum

[Gary Jucha]

Terry,

I appreciate your input ... and thanks for the reply ..

I can see now exactly the reasoning behind the removal of the regiment search, ..

A shame really, as it would be so useful for data "crunching" !!

Regards and thanks ..

Gary J.

You have to remember the main purpose of the facility.

It is there to help relatives find the burial/memorial location of their loved-one. That is CWGC's target audience. The search engine is not provided for research purposes and CWGC has no remit under its Royal Charter to provide such research services or expend its funds on them. We here are a minority user of the database and we tend to forget that.

The vast majority of CWGC funding goes to grave/memorial maintenance as that is their prime function. Minimal amounts will be spent on other activities such as administration and the provision of data.

There was a option to select the regiment when the database first went online but it caused too many issues as I understand it and it was withdrawn. There are over 2000 'regiments' in the CWGC list from which a user could select. Opportunities for mistakes and subsequent complaints abound. Also, as Peter says above, there are too many error issues with the service numbers to make any search reliable (prefix, no-prefix, typos etc).

The suggestions you make (though desirable from most of our points of view) would cost a reasonable amount of money from CWGC's limited budget which would only be diverted from grave maintenance - a move which would get very few votes.

[Gary Jucha]

Well yes .. "soldiers died" is fine in printed form for look-ups ..

.. But in an "electronic" format, .. the detail could be held in a spreadsheet format, which increases the "sort and search" functions 10 fold !

Imagine .... a search by "date" .. by "Service number" .. By "Cemetery" .. by "Surname" .. all linked to a specific Regiment.

... so many possibilities to tie down a Regimental "Casualty" listing ..

Regards

Gary J.

The Webmaster is willing to look at suggestions. Some months ago after the Website had been "upgraded" one of the things I had found most useful had been dropped. This was that if you looked up a "J Smith" on the Menin Gate, in "Reports" it changed colour, so that you didn't go back to the same man. Days after I asked for this facility to be reinstated, it was done and once again, the names changed colour if they had already been looked at. The GWGC do understand that some of us use it as a Search Engine.

Can you not get the Regimental details form "Soldiers Died"?

Jacksmum

[Hywyn]

Gary

There is another thread running at the moment refering to Geoff's Search Engine which has been off line for a bit. His facility should be able help you. It literally is an all singin /all dancing search engine. An excellent feature is the Including section which can search the Additional Information field where the addresses are. Ideal for looking up villages, towns etc.

Hywyn

[Guest]

Hi Gary. Here is Geoff's wonderful machine.

http://www.hut-six.co.uk/cgi-bin/search14-21.php

[Gary Jucha]

Just checked out Geoff's search engine ....

.. Well, it's search capacity/depth certainly helps in narrowing down some of the search patterns, ...

Although with the regiment it seems you still have to add some criteria (ie. a start letter to a surname, etc.)

.. But he's done heck of a job tying everything in so far !!

I presume Geoff "haunts" this forum ?

Cheers

Gary J.

Hi Gary. Here is Geoff's wonderful machine.

http://www.hut-six.co.uk/cgi-bin/search14-21.php

[Hywyn]

Gary

Geoff used to be a Forum Member.

Not sure about this adding a start letter etc.

I've just tried Royal Welsh Fusiliers with 10th in the unit and it returns 769 hits.

Hywyn

[Gary Jucha]

It's ok now .. I've got the hang of the search function ....

.. Geoff's done an excellent job !!!

Gary J.

Gary

Geoff used to be a Forum Member.

Not sure about this adding a start letter etc.

I've just tried Royal Welsh Fusiliers with 10th in the unit and it returns 769 hits.

Hywyn