I have discovered serious errors with numerous profiles through recent changes
I have recently come across a LOT of changes initiated by a single user, Sharon, done on June 19, 2022, where she changed the names on existing profiles to something totally different. On the profile of Patrick J Welsh (Welch) L6RG-4LZ, she changed his name, then changed the names of almost all his existing children to "Wrong Mother", examples being profiles L461-PZP (Walter Welsh), GMN7-28H (Minnie F Welsh), still left as Wrong Mother are G6BG-DT3 and 943L-PZ9. Husbands of the Welsh children were also changed to "Wrong Mother". Thank goodness the source documents were left attached so that names can be restored. The worse is profile G9HH-LRV for a Mary A Rourke (married surname), a female that she changed to a male Sterns West Welsh who now shows as married to Thomas Rourke G9HH-NNS. I've spent hours trying to restore the profiles but it will take days to sort out the mess she has created. Can someone please check on this as it is a travesty to those of us who actually care about what we do?
Sincerely,
Marjorie Luce
Answers
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So this is a world tree where people work collaboratively together. While some kind soul here may fix your situation for you, it is really up to you to work with the person you mention and reverse her changes.
This kind of thing happened to me a while back, and I sent that person a message indicating she had mixed up 2 people. I had done my research on the person she had mixed up, and was able to give her several sources as to where THAT person should be in the tree. I referenced several sources which backed up my position about the person who should be reverted back. I offered to fix her changes for her if she wished. The way I left it was something to the effect that if I did not hear from her within 2 days, I would go ahead and reverse the changes she made. I thanked her for caring about our line, and was eager to hear from her. I did not hear back, and I reverted all the changes she made. We have to take care of our ancestors in this world tree.
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@MarjorieLuce, it sounds to me like this Sharon person missed the memo about this being a shared, communal tree, and not her own personal sandbox. These types of "corrections" are how some people do things in their private trees on sites like Ancestry and MyHeritage.
As Gail said, step one is to send a message to the user using FS's internal messaging system. To do that, just click her name on one of her many changes and choose Message. As politely as you can manage, point out that she has created utter chaos with her edits. Suggest that she read up on the Tree or get some training in its use before making any further edits anywhere.
For cleaning up, you'll want to make extensive use of change logs. You should not need to re-enter any names or other conclusions. For example, on "Wrong Mother (1852-Deceased)" (G6BG-DT3), scroll down to the Latest Changes box in the right-hand column and click Show All. Scroll down to the bottom of that list and click Restore next to her actual name to undo Sharon's change.
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Some new contributors here try to make over into their own family whatever part of the tree they happen to find. They have no idea they are working in a shared tree. So try to be gentle with them.
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I reviewed the record and she is basing that wrong mother as she added a death date of 1878 to the mother Mary with no proof or documentation, but a Mary is still living with the family in the 1880 census and there are birth records for the children she changed names. Not sure what trail she is following but she is ignoring the sources attached. Definitely send her a message trying to educate her, but change the information back, restoring information is not too hard. Follow the profiles so you can monitor for any other strange changes.
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One post has been edited to remove personally identifiable information.
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These people do not collaborate. They change things without proper verification. I have seen some of these trees on Ancestry also and when I try to tell the people they are incorrect I am ignored. My family tree is totally messed up on here. I have taken pains and money to verify through proper channels, funeral homes, genealogy groups and connecting older family members. I’m 73. I will no longer deal with this. It took a long time to straighten up one mess on here. The Mathis lineage now is messed up. It’s not worth the aggravation.
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