Someone keeps create a duplicate tree
For some reason, a certain user keeps creating a duplicate tree for dozens of members of the family tree. I had merged them, but today when I went back on, I saw that he had unmerged all of the profiles. I started going through the tedious process of merging them all again, only to find that he seemed to be online at the same time trying to unmerge them. I have sent him a message trying to find out why he insists on creating duplicate profiles for all these people, but I've had no response. I have put hours into this branch, not only attaching records but uploading photos from family albums over a century old. I would hate to see all that work get lost. Is there anything I can do to protect these profiles?
Best Answer
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The user creating duplicate profiles probably has a reason. Thankfully those duplicate profiles should not cause any of your Memories you have attached to be lost when the profiles are merged.
If you check the Latest Changes/Change log is that user attaching new sources to those duplicates? It might be that they have run across some new records that they are using to create the duplicate profiles from - but not likely from your description.
If the user does not respond to your requests then you have to decide whether merging the profiles is the best approach. Is there any indication that the profiles are not duplicates but are separate people? If that were the case then they should not be attached to the same family.
Hopefully the user will respond kindly to your requests to collaborate and discuss why the duplicates are needed.
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Some people don't like the idea of a single tree for all of us. Do keep trying to message the person and help them understand how Family Tree works.
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"Is there any indication that the profiles are not duplicates but are separate people?" No, they created new profiles for dozens of people in this part of my family. At first I just thought it was someone who didn't know what they were doing, but when I got back a few generations, I found that they had attached some records I've never seen before (non-indexed ones that took some work to read, especially because most of them are in Spanish!), that provided some really useful information. It's really frustrating that they are trying to keep those on a separate profile.
ETA: I just heard back from him. He said, "I have chatted with support and duplicate trees are allowed even though they would like to have just one - it is not a requirement. They suggested I should just ask you not to change my records." Then he complained that I had created more work for him by merging things.
If it wasn't for the new records he has found I wouldn't mind, but it's very frustrating knowing that they're out there attached to a whole branch of duplicate profiles.
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His response: "I have chatted with support and duplicate trees are allowed even though they would like to have just one - it is not a requirement. They suggested I should just ask you not to change my records." Then he complained about how I'd made more work for him by merging the profiles. *sigh*
I wouldn't mind except that he has found some non-indexed records with information I haven't seen anywhere else. It's very frustrating having those all attached to a whole branch of duplicate profiles.
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Yes, it would be 'nice' if they would merge the duplicates (no real reason to keep them separate). I would probably at least make a note in the 'original/older' profiles that the others are duplicate or maybe the user would be willing to compromise and title/identify those as duplicate.
If you want to take it further I would ask them if Support gave them a case number - you could call and express your point of view on the case. Allowing duplicates in the same parent relationships makes things more difficult to keep track of - also at least follow those profiles so you can be alerted to the changes (maybe you can go on and attach/duplicate the changes making them redundant).
Maybe a special team at FamilySearch would be willing to review the profiles. Hopefully you can reach an amicable conclusion - it will probably take a little time.
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There are no support cases numbers any more so support would have no way of linking the two users or their cases. Not sure all of the reasons behind the change but it was made several months ago and does limit the type of coordination suggested. One questions do the duplicates show as possible duplicates in the system. If so it is likely that some other users will merge the records and the user trying to keep them separate will eventually become very tired of unmerging.
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It is true that very little is required in Family Tree. But FamilySearch continues it efforts to promote Family Tree as being a single tree with one record per person and to get people to understand that concept. To quote just one Help Center article:
A duplicate record occurs when Family Tree contains more than one record about a person. If Family Tree finds a possible duplicate, the Research Help field shows a red exclamation mark and the words "Possible Duplicate. "
You can review the possible duplicates and decide if they are about the same person.
If they are about the same person, merge them. (https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-merge-possible-duplicates-in-family-tree, emphasis added.)
The Overview page at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/overview states:
The World's Largest Shared Online Family Tree
Those who start a Family Tree on FamilySearch aren't just piecing together their family story—they're contributing to the creation of a global, unified family tree for mankind.
The FamilySearch shared tree uniquely strives to have just one public profile for every deceased person who has ever lived. Descendants contribute what they know about a person to a single, shared profile.... (emphasis added)
There is also the article titled: What is the purpose of FamilySearch and Family Tree?
The overall purpose of Family Tree is to help you discover your family and, in turn, discover a bit about yourself.
Family Tree is different from other similar genealogy sites in that it is a single, public tree linked together in families, rather than a site that only allows users to create and manage their own private trees. This distinction means that everyone works together on the same data, allowing for the potential to connect every member of the human family.
Family Tree compares records and sources in order to help you resolve mistakes or duplication in records... (https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/what-is-the-purpose-of-familysearch-and-family-tree, emphasis added)
Maybe sharing some of this might help. Also pointing out that everyone else that comes across these will merge them so that in the long run, as gasmodels said, they will get merged. Then, of course there is the issue he does not understand: he has no records in Family Tree. Anything he enters in Family Tree belongs to Family Tree as a whole and all its users have the right to modify it. It is no longer his.
As it states in the Terms of Use:
You also understand and agree that as part of this license, we have the right to create (and to allow others to create) and use derivative works from your Contributed Content by combining all or a portion of it with that of other contributors or by otherwise modifying your Contributed Content. (https://www.familysearch.org/legal/terms)
But to support Support, you really don't have the entire conversation, just his version of it which he will, of course, use to defend his point of view. You don't know how many times or in how many ways he asked if he had to allow merges before the support person gave up and said something like "you really should merge, there really should be just one copy of each person, but no, there is not an absolute requirement."
Do these individuals show up as Possible Duplicates? Is he marking them as "not a match"? Would you be willing to post the ID numbers of a couple of these people? It would be interesting to see if there is anything in the records that would suggest why he wants them separate or if he is just on a futile quest to make Family Tree work like Ancestry or My Heritage trees.
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