G2G: Buggy Connection Finder Bugging Me Batty

Question

Good Day everyone!

Short Thing:  Running the Connection Finder with the WikiTree Browser Extension (WTBE) is doing something weird, or its buggy, batty or just plain wacker dacker doodaley doo!

The Connection Finder with the WTBE says I'm 14 degrees from a person, but both the parents of that person are my 22nd cousins, and 23rd cousins!  WHAT????

Long Winded Thing:

Every month when our 1000k badges arrive in the mail, I spot check a lot of the recipients to see if I am related, or just connected!  

Lancaster-5309 catches my eye, and the WTBE says I'm 14 degrees from her.   But something else catches my eye!  A name along that twisted path between me and her; is someone I know!  That name is my cousin!

Not giving up, I run the WTBE between her father and me, and a very different picture emerges!

Lancaster-5310  Thomas Lancaster (1920-2004)

Your 22nd cousin once removed  Your common ancestor, Margery Basset (abt.1240-1280), is his 21st great-grandmother.  Your common ancestor, Nicholas (Stapleton) de Stapleton (1236-abt.1290), is his 21st great-grandfather.

Not giving up again,  I run the WTBE with her mother and me!  The picture gets even darker and more sinister!

Ruby Aveline (Stone) Lancaster (1924-2011)

Your 23rd cousin  Your common ancestor, Margery Basset (abt.1240-1280), is her 22nd great-grandmother. Your common ancestor, Nicholas (Stapleton) de Stapleton (1236-abt.1290), is her 22nd great-grandfather.

Is this True!  IT IS TRUE!   Her Mom and Dad are cousins!  And they are MY COUSINS! 

Not giving up for a third time:  I run the WTBE between her mother and father!  OMG! Her mom and dad share grandparents a few generations back! I suppose that is an easy mistake to make when you don't study genealogy!   

Given the Above, I would like to share two things:

Thing 1:  We might have a buggy connection finder!

Thing 2:  When you run the connection finder with the WTBE, run it again on another related person!  You might just discover some dooda la diddley waddely wiidaly! (dirty laundry)

Moooahahahhhahaha! 

Now I'm off to see if my wife is my cousin!!!!!!!!!!!

I will let you know!  

(Edit:  I was calling the WikiTree Broswer Extension (WTBE) by the wrong name)  It works with Google and Fire Fox, and I always thought of it as the "Google extension"..... my bad!  

If you don't use it, you can read all about it here.  It just has some odd behaviors, but it is very kewl!

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1490020/have-you-seen-the-wikitree-browser-extension?show=1490020#q1490020

Comments

Sorry David, but what do you mean by the "Google App Extension" or "Google Extension App"? What browser are you using?

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The Connection finder will return different results than the Relationship finder.

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Jim  go here and read all about it! https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1490020/have-you-seen-the-wikitree-browser-extension?show=1490020#q1490020

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Ah, the Wikitree Browser Extension. Not Google, not an app :-)

If you temporarily remove the extension, do you get the results you expect?

Answer 1

I don't see a bug here.  Can you explain where you think there may be a bug?  Are you not just getting a little mixed up between the Connection Finder results and the Relationship Finder results?  There is a pretty high chance that you will be more closely 'connected' to a cousin than related to them, as the possibilities of a connection (through marriage) are much higher than your chance of being someone's cousin.

Comments

Ian, I did explain it! But, for clarity:

WikiTree says Lancaster-5309 is a 14 degree connection.

(A connection implies not blood related)

WikiTree says her Dad and Her Mom are my 22 and 23 Cousins     That implies blood connection!

By human logic, if a mother and father are related to me, then by golly, their kids are too!

Lancaster-5309 is my BLOOD COUSIN, but not according to WikiTree.  Nope, Wiki say we are 14 degress....nothing more!

So, by logical conclusion, there has to be a flaw in the process somewhere!

What I am saying to everyone is to double and tripple check when trying to find how related to someone, because sometimes, like in my case, it doesn't make the connection properly!

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David, when I check your RELATIONSHIP to Lancaster-5309 I get David and Donna are 23rd cousins.

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Sorry to repeat myself, but I think you are getting mixed up between connections (going through marriages) and relations.  Does the page say '14 degrees' and 'Your 23rd cousin once removed' (or whatever it should be)?  If not, is this a new profile which hasn't gone through the system?  If not, please click the '14 degrees' circle and see if it updates the page with the correct information.  If that doesn't help, let me know (as it may be my fault).  

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Thank you Melanie!  You just confirmed there IS A PROBLEM.   The connection seems to work for you, but doesn't for me, in this instance.

This would never have been a problem, and never discovered if I had clicked open the parents first.  I was not looking for her parents, I was looking how I was related to a fellow WikiTree member in the 1000 club. What this tells me, when I do this again, I need to check the PARENTS of the WikiTree member!  Others trying to do what I am doing should be aware they should make sure by connecting to other family members of that person just to make sure! 

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David, Ian seems to be correct, there's a difference between the Connection Finder (showing the 14 degrees because it doesn't care if you are "related", just if there is some relationship) and the Relationship Finder (showing the 22 and 23rd cousins).

The Connection Finder will always find the shortest path, which in this case is closer than the relationship path. This person is 14 degrees away, but a 22nd Cousin once remove or 23rd cousin, something like that.

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David, if you go here you can see the 14 degree path between you and Lancaster-5309 (you can also see the generational path). On that same page, if you click the "Connection through a common ancestor" radio button and run Find Connection again, you will see the 48 degree path between you and her, which is also the path showing that she is your 23rd cousin (as she is to me).  Bottom line is there can be many connection paths between 2 people, some short some long and as Jonathan has pointed out, that degree indicator at the top of a profile just shows the shortest path, which may or may not be along blood lines.