How do you fix incorrect information in Memories if submitter is dead?
Family Search and Find a Grave tell me that they cannot change some information unless the submitter changes it. I have sent e-mail messages to those people who submitted Ann under an incorrect name. Because I am 70 yrs. old! I am afraid that they might be deceased by now. If so, the missionary told me that Family Search would be so busy fixing errors that they could not do their "important work." They have no answers about what to do if the submitter is deceased and information is found to fix errors in the past. RE: Ann Marston KWV7-JXJ (our ancestor, a pioneer and incorrect person Edith Marston (LZZ7-3358) who "fit the profile" and family thought was our ancestor. See details page for Ann. If a new researcher sees the wrong name on photos or titles, they will assume that they need to add Edith back in.
This problem will become larger as older researchers die and younger people try to start doing genealogy. Has no one thought of this? Marla
Mistakes should be able to be fixed, not left as a mistake.
Answers
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FamilySearch Family Tree is an open collaborative database where anyone can update the family tree.
you, me and everyone else.
why do you think you cannot update a record?
see
Making changes within FamilySearch Family Tree
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUYT0_CvbBU
How to Correct Relationships
Correcting Mistakes in Family Tree
https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/correct-mistakes-family-tree
now if you are talking about FS Memories (attachments, photos, pdfs that are uploaded thats a different story)
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Mod Note: One post has been edited to remove personally-identifying information.
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No. If a mistake exists someone will find it and try to incorporate it back into a person's profile, so mistakes will become bigger and bigger. New researchers do not know as much when they start. They think they have found new things and do not read notes. Please see the personally identifying info which you removed. In this case, please review and give me an answer that will not cause more problems in the future. Marla
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I AM speaking of the Memories section of the person's profile. If the person who attached the info is now dead, there is nothing you can do (that I know of) to change their headings or make comments.
Example was given in my original comment. Sorry that I did not make it more clear. Our pioneer ancestor was "Ann Marston." After a few generations, her birth entry (baptism or christening) could not be found, but one branch of the family DID find an "Edith Ann Marston" who "fit" the profile and possible age. However, someone did more research and found that Edith died in childhood. -- However, well intentioned members of the family had already changed her name both on her Details page and on Memories to the person called "Edith Ann." If a new researcher does not read my notes about how this mistake happened, they will change the name back. The best solution is to change both her details page and the Memories page so that the name "Edith" is not mentioned. Also, histories need to be changed to show that the people who wrote them were not correct. If this is not done, Edith will again appear and the wrong person and parents will be again put into the profile.
I have had to fix similar errors on my ancestors and for other people, so I know what I am talking about. Ignoring the problem will not fix it, there will only be more errors made by well-meaning, younger people who do not know that Ann (and her husband) were illiterate when they married. Ann has no church entry for baptism as an infant. The researcher stopped looking when he or she thought he had the correct person. Ann's parents probably did not have the time or perhaps the inclination to have her baptized as an infant. She was a young child when it was done. --even later than the child Edith was baptized.
Ann died in an accident after she and her husband immigrated to Utah.. Apparently, she left no records about her life in England. Look at her photo taken in the USA. She probably never learned to read or write as they tried to survive in the Utah territory. --Marla E. Morgan Bezold
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Who has the authority to look at this on a case-by-case basis? The "buck" has to stop somewhere. I have had to go to Find a Grave, Family Search, and the State of Utah about another member of my family who was a pioneer. I finally found the right person and wrote to them. The incorrect records were fixed. I may not be here on earth to fix this if we just wait and stall.
(This problem also applies to identification of photos). If we just wait, more mistakes will be made. The older generation will be gone. We need to do something NOW!! (This is also another problem I am trying to fix!)--MB
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See draft above. Problem still has not been answered.
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I guess its not all that different that what we would do if we found a printed BOOK someone had compiled - that had an error(s) in it.
we wouldn't go change the book - it is what it is - and it is the creation of someone else.
BUT we could very much let people know of the error and why it is an error and what information we used to determine it was an error.
All of us - can very easily add notes/comments under a Memories item and let other users know of a resource that has an error or mistake. Genealogy is full of compiled items we find that have errors. If we are the author of the item we could change it . But if we are not - we dont - but we can surely make a good effort to help others recognize the error - and share our analysis of it and our conclusions. In FamilySearch that can be done via notes and comments on the item - or we can even create a new memories item that discusses research errors etc.
Here are various examples of items I have done to point out errors etc. with other researchets
https://www.familysearch.org/photos/gallery/album/703092
again - the point is not to change someone else's creation/compilation - but create my own item that explains why I think such and such is an error and allows me to warn/help others in their research of the family and avoid copying the mistakes on some resource.
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