This is a general question about using Brian Lawson's census index numbers in the new style Ancestry census "fill in the boxes to find a person" facility.

In the old system, you just put in the first 2 blocks of digits, and an exact birth year calculated from the age and census year. In the following example, looking in 1861 for Catherine Cannell nee Kelly b circa 1816, it would be 4417 / 45 and 1819 in the "birth year."

CANNEL Catherine 42 Dou 4417 45 63

Then, with absolutely nothing else filled in, clicking "search" would (in 90% of cases) bring up the name you were looking for, or the weird version supplied by the transcriber.

In the new format, there doesn't appear to be any way of inputting the index numbers, so the only way of locating this particular Catherine Cannell would be the standard "names, dates and places," which is like finding a needle in a haystack if the transcriber has misread the entry. If it hadn't been for the fact that I had a "saved" page from a while ago of my Thomas Caine, hatter, who was living with a hat manufacturer and his family in 1861, I wouldn't have been able to have found the entry I was looking for.

This is what Ancestry actually have in their database for this family:
1861 Isle of Man Census
about Thos Caine
Name: Thos Caine
Age: 20
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1841
Relation: Apprentice
Gender: Male
Where born: MA??, Isle of Man, Isle of Man

Civil Parish or Township: Conchan
County/Island: Isle of Man
Country: Isle of Man

Street Address: View image
Condition as to marriage: View image
Education: View image
Employment status: View image
Occupation: View image

Registration district: Anglesey
Sub-registration district: Holyhead
ED, institution, or vessel: 4b
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 63
Household Members: Name Age
Robt Connell 48
Cath Connell 42
Robt H Connell 19
Elli P Connett 12
John J Connett 10
Wm N Connett 7
Arthur T Connett 5
Margt E Connett 3
Amy J Connett 9 Mo
Thos Caine 20
Eliz Orebbur 26
Jane Chmstian 16

View original image
View

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Having now found this entry, if I want to locate it again, I record it as a "find a page, not a person" reference, in this case it's "Conchan district 4b, pages 11+12."

Am I right in thinking that BL's census index numbers are redundant as far as Ancestry is concerned, or am I missing something ?

Jean C