GEDCOM File Uploads Cause Lots of Duplicate Profiles
I would like to suggest that the ability of ordinary users to upload GEDCOM files created by third-party genealogy software be completely discontinued.
Unfortunately, these uploads have the capability of creating duplicate profiles. Often, these duplicate profiles are, unfortunately, not cleaned up responsibly by the user who made the upload. This is especially a problem for profiles of people who lived long ago, since the number of descendants who can cause the problem, over and over, can be quite large.
Especially for people who lived long ago, there should be lesser need to create new profiles. It is quite likely that a profile already exists in the Family Tree.
Family Tree needs to work diligently to stop the useless creation of new, duplicate profiles. One important step would be to turn off the GEDCOM file upload feature entirely.
Comments
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Similar requests have been made over a period of many years - probably over the whole ten years since Family Tree was first released. FamilySearch employees rarely respond to issues now, but on the forum that preceded "Suggest an Idea" (GetSatisfaction) we were advised (by an employee) that statistics showed GEDCOM inputs were only one of a number of reasons for duplication of profiles - and not the most problematic.
If FamilySearch hasn't found this a serious enough issue to address by now, I'm afraid there appears to be little likelihood of your suggestion being adopted any time soon.
BTW - my personal experience has been that relatively few of the huge number of duplicates I have encountered have involved the GEDCOM factor - most relating to the transfer of IDs from the nFS program to Family Tree. However, many users do share your feelings on this matter.
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