Home› Welcome to the FamilySearch Community!› FamilySearch Help› Family Tree

What can you do to change errors on the Ancestor Discovery Pages?

Bruce Michael Emero
Bruce Michael Emero ✭
December 23, 2021 edited December 23, 2021 in Family Tree

I've found an incorrect burial place and a statement that said my parents "had at least 1 child". My parents had two children. Then, the child that was listed appeared as Bruce Emero, deceased. Imagine my surprise to find out I was dead! I traced this back to someone having added a third child by that name to my parents record with no references or sources, even though my name, Bruce Michael Emero is correctly listed as the second child. I deleted the 3rd child, parent relationship

These are indeed "discovery" pages. The obvious problem here is that this misinformation if unable to be corrected can be perpetuated simply by sharing the page. What to do?

1

Answers

  • Brett .
    Brett . ✭✭✭✭✭
    December 23, 2021

    @Bruce Michael Emero

    Bruce

    Welcome to the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.

    I am just another 'lowly' User/Patron ...

    'Yes', you are correct, the "Discovery Pages", in "Ancestors.FamilySearch", about our Ancestors, can be (and, often, are) riddled with errors; and, lets say (to be kind) somewhat 'misleading'.

    But ...

    That Said ...

    Not all of what you 'see' on "Discovery Pages" are mistakes.

    Please be advised/aware, that ...

    Often, what appears to be a perceived mistake, on the "Discovery Page", is just the way that the "Discovery Pages", displays information/detail, about the individual/person, from "Family Tree", of 'FamilySearch'.

    The "Discovery Pages", in "Ancestors.FamilySearch", are ONLY, simply, to enable (SOME of) the individuals/persons, in "Family Tree", of 'FamilySearch', to be "Found" (ie. located), by ANYONE, doing a search on the INTERNET, for such an individuals/persons.

    The "Discovery Pages", in "Ancestors.FamilySearch", are NOT any form of definitive "Resource" for Genealogy/Family History research.

    The "Discovery Pages", in "Ancestors.FamilySearch", are simply to bring OTHERS, not aware of; or, already associated with, "Family Tree", of 'FamilySearch', TO discover 'FamilySearch'; and, especially, to enable them, to participate in, "Family Tree", of 'FamilySearch', if the so desire - nothing more, nothing less.

    And, the "Discovery Pages" DO NOT list "Living" individuals/persons.

    [ Unless, of course; as, you discovered, a User/Patron has made a MISTAKE ... ]

    ONLY "One" Spouse", will appear on "Discovery Pages", if an individual/person had more than one spouse.

    For starters ...

    Here are some of "Knowledge Articles", in 'FamilySearch':

    What is the purpose of discovery pages in Family Tree?

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/purpose-of-discovery-pages

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/purpose-of-discovery-pages

    Where does the information on discovery pages come from?

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/information-on-discovery-pages

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/information-on-discovery-pages

    How do I fix errors on a Family Tree discovery page?

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/fix-errors-on-a-family-tree-discovery-page

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/fix-errors-on-a-family-tree-discovery-page

    Changes to Family Tree do not show up immediately on the discovery pages.

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/changes-to-discovery-pages

    https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/changes-to-discovery-pages

    I know, that this may help/assist, somewhat; and, I hope, that this gives you some, insight; and, perspective.

    Brett

    0
  • kathryngz
    kathryngz ✭✭✭
    December 24, 2021

    @Bruce Michael Emero , the only way to correct information on the Discovery version of the page is to correct it on the regular page . . . and then wait. It may take as long as a week or two for changes to show up. That's because once the Discovery pages are generated, they are static (i.e., not linked to the regular version of the page). I was told by a manager at FamilySearch that they periodically run a program to "refresh" the Discovery pages to show changes made to the regular person page.

    Hope that helps!

    0
  • Julia Szent-Györgyi
    Julia Szent-Györgyi ✭✭✭✭✭
    December 25, 2021

    The "discovery" page uses weasel words (such as "at least") because of the possibility of living profiles, which are not publicly visible. Only the person who entered a living profile can see it.

    If someone entered a profile for you (or anyone else) and erroneously marked it "deceased", this needs to be corrected, not just detached. You have a choice of how to proceed: either contact the person who created the profile and ask for the status to be corrected, or edit the profile's death info to ask FamilySearch to make the status change. The first method will only work if the contributor is currently active on FS and is the only person to have edited the profile in question. The second method may take a little while but works regardless of who has touched what.

    0
Clear
No Groups Found

Categories

  • 30K All Categories
  • 24.2K FamilySearch Help
  • 125 Get Involved
  • 2.7K General Questions
  • 442 FamilySearch Center
  • 461 FamilySearch Account
  • 4.4K Family Tree
  • 3.4K Search
  • 4.7K Indexing
  • 639 Memories
  • 6.5K Temple
  • 322 Other Languages
  • 34 Community News
  • 6.6K Suggest an Idea
  • Groups