Comments from a merge are now showing in "Other Information"

steele jean

I have merged a person (L5JB-TX8) and am now seeing my merge Comments under "Other Information" for Residence on the details page of that person. This is not needful and a distraction to the residence information. Can you return it to a cleaner format?

"Most vital information and relationships match. No details conflict. ID numbers: G8XZ-TSP and L5JB-TX8"

codyhawkins1

This is a bug. It was introduced around September 7th. There is no easy way to remove the reason from the merges that have already happened. However, a fix will be in place shortly to stop this from happening anymore. Thank you for reporting it!

Suzanne Adams1

Dear Guest,

Thank you for contacting FamilySearch regarding residence information that has been added to the "Other information" on the details page of the person L5JB-TX8. Below is a step by step guide to deleting the information you wish to remove from the "Other Information" area. We hope this resolves your concern. If you need further help, please contact us. Thank you for contacting us in Community.

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-correct-other-information-in-family-tree

How do I correct Other Information in Family Tree?

Article Id: 1273

April 20, 2020

Sometimes, the Other Information section in Family Tree contains inaccurate, duplicate, or unhelpful information. You can correct or delete this information as needed.

Correct information when you can. Delete information that it is wrong, duplicate, or unhelpful. Some examples of information to delete are below:

• Inaccurate information that you cannot correct. 
• Duplicate copies of an alternate name, event, or fact.
• Minor spelling variations of a name.
• The Stillborn event if a child was born alive and died a short time after birth.

Steps (website)

1. Navigate to the Person page of the individual.
2. Click the Details tab. 
3. Scroll to the Other Information section.
4. Click Edit  by the information you need to correct or delete, which may include common information such as:
   • Alternate Name
   • Residence
   • Military Service
   • Immigration
   • Occupation
5. If you need to correct the information, follow these steps:
   1. Enter the correct information.
   2. Enter how you know that the information you just entered is correct.
   3. Click Save.
   4. If possible, attach sources that provide evidence for the change you made.
6. If you need to delete the information, follow these steps:
   1. Click Delete.
   2. Enter the reason you are deleting the information. 
   3. Click Delete [event type].

If this does not work

Sometimes, when you try to delete a Stillborn event, the Delete option is not available. To fix this problem, first edit the Stillborn event. Then repeat the process. The Delete option shows, and you can delete it.

Steps (mobile app)

1. Navigate to the Person page of the individual.
2. Tap the Details tab.
3. Scroll to the Other Information section.
4. If you need to correct information, follow these steps:
   1. Tap the event you want to correct.
   2. Tap Edit.
   3. Enter the correct information.
   4. Enter how you know that the information you just entered is correct.
   5. Click Save.
   6. If possible, attach sources that provide evidence for the change you made.
5. If you need to delete the information, follow these steps:
   1. Tap the event. 
   2. Tap Delete [Event Type].
   3. Enter the reason you are deleting the information. 
   4. Tap Delete.

If this does not work

Sometimes, when you try to delete a Stillborn event, the Delete option is not available. To fix this problem, first edit the Stillborn event. Then repeat the process. The Delete option shows, and you can delete it.

 

Steps (Family Tree Lite)

In Family Tree Lite, you can only edit vital information. The Other Information section is not available.

 

steele jean

Yes, I know how to fix it on the details page; however, why should I have to fix it, if it wasn't there until the merge... This is a new development 2 days ago. That means I have to go into everyone I merge and edit their residence information to get rid of the "reason for merging" where I didn't have to before.

steele jean

Yes, I know how to edit "Other Information"; however, this was not an issue until 2 days ago where my "reason to merge" comments are now coming across on the details page under Residence. That means I have to edit every person I merge to get rid of that, whereas I didn't have to do that before.

CDBurk

@steele jean,

Did you manually remove the reason statement from the "Other Information" field? I could not see your reason statement in the Other Information field, but it does appear in the Latest Changes where it is supposed to appear.

I could not see even in the Latest Changes where you removed the reason statement, so I am confused about your post. The Latest Changes track all changes made to records, and these items cannot be edited or deleted by users. Could you verify other places where you see your merge reasons as Other Information instead of in the Latest Changes where it should be posted? This would be helpful to determine whether there is a system-wide issue.

steele jean

L5JB-TX8 Mary Afterkirk

Look at her 1935 and 1940 residence listing under the "other information" section.

"Reason This Information Is Correct:

Most vital information and relationships match. No details conflict. ID numbers: G8XZ-TSP and L5JB-TX8.

Last Changed: September 9, 2021 by "

Those comments should be in the Latest Changes and not carry over into the Details page. They are also showing up under the name if you click on "edit". Not on Mary Afterkirk, but I have seen it on others today.

Paul W

Hopefully, this was a temporary bug - I would wait a day or two to see if this behaviour continues (when merging other IDs). Otherwise, CDBurk ( or another moderator) will hopefully escalate your report for further investigation.

Incidentally, I carried out (ostensibly) the same action yesterday, but did not experience the behaviour described - nor have I ever noticed it in the past. Things like this do happen - often on a very temporary basis - so, as I say, I would see if it happens again over the next couple of days before expecting any detailed investigation.

If others report this, or the problem persists, it certainly does need to be looked at.

Paul W

@CDBurk and @steele jean

Yes, it's happened to me now!

Here is the screenshot. Must be a bug.

However, I also carried out a merge involving the spouse of this individual and did not get this happening:

Also, I merged two IDs for a son of this couple and the reason statement appears on the 1881 census source I attached for him, but not the 1841 & 1851 sources, where he is found on the same record as his parents.

steele jean

OK...thanks for the common sense answer and taking a look at the person's detail page to understand the problem. Do we need to notify the engineers?

CDBurk

@Paul W And @steele jean,

This concern has been forwarded to a specialty team for further investigation. Whether this is a "bug" or just a new enhancement related to what appears for sources that have been moved through the merge process is yet to be determined. Hopefully a message will be posted here in the Community when this has been thoroughly reviewed.

Paul W

@CDBurk

Thank you for your action & response. I also noticed this behaviour yesterday in the Vitals section. It will be interesting to have it confirmed whether this is by "accident or design".

Gordon Collett

I did a lot of merging the past few days and have not seen this problem until today. Just to confirm it is spreading to more users. The top name was on the surviving record. the second one was brought over in the merge:

This is on Petra Andersdatter Taranger LH3K-6FJ. I'll leave it in case tracing how it got there is helpful. Definitely a bug. What is interesting is that according to a post from 2016 that both Paul and I have comments on, (at least I'm pretty sure that is you, Paul W), that has been pulled up from someone adding a comment, this bug first appeared then and they manage to squash it. So I'm sure they well be able to again: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/51136/why-is-the-reason-statement-for-merging-two-people-showing-up-as-the-reason-statement-for-the-marria#latest

Paul W

@Gordon Collett

Yes, that seems to be me, although I believe the issue I was reporting was a bit different to this one (even different from the one the original poster was reporting) and was the result of adding a source (say for a census record), where the reason statement came across if the birth details (previously not inputted on the ID concerned) were added during the source attachment process. I'm sure I still see this happening.

In this case of course, it is the merging process that causes a similar behaviour. I certainly hope it is a bug (especially now I've found the reason statement can be carried over to the Vitals section, too) - otherwise, this is going to cause far too much clutter.

steele jean

Agree.