Would it be inappropriate to type "FICTITIOUS PERSON" into the Life Sketch?

HESM

I understand that alert notes are meant to contain warnings and life sketches are meant to contain life events. However, in the case of a fictitious person who comes from a known fraudulent genealogy, would it be inappropriate to write a fictitious person warning in the life sketch and set it to appear on the about screen? Otherwise, it seems very misleading for the PID to have an about screen with a life sketch claiming life events that never happened. It seems like a more honest approach would be to type "FICTITIOUS PERSON" into the life sketch and set that to appear on the about page so that patrons visiting the page are not further misled by the fraud that has been committed in the past. It would help to prevent the fraud from being perpetuated. I am interested to hear what the correct answer would be here: allow a fraudulent life sketch? or publish the truth even if it looks like a warning?

Julia Szent-Györgyi

I'd lead off the Life Sketch with "Fictitious Person", and then continue with the details of the originating fraudulent genealogy. That is, after all, the true and correct biography of that nonexistent person.

I'd also add a Fictitious Person alert message.

Gail Swihart Watson

@Paul W I'm sorry such a terrible thing happened to you. However, I can see the use of "Fictitious Person" in an informative way, as opposed to vindictive. I think a "fraudulent genealogy" could happen through innocent intentions, but the word fraud seems an overkill. It is usually connected with a crime of some sort.

If the life sketch itself is fiction, but about a real person, then we are talking something different. I have actually encountered this and in re-reading it just now, I added a paragraph at the bottom stating that the events described have no proof. What I failed to add, because I hate confrontation, is that sources exist which prove that much of the life sketch never happened.

I would use the alert if a fictitious person is linked which adds on a long fictitious line.

Paul W

There are other ways around this but, for "security" reasons I would not wish to mention what I did when a user added a whole branch of her alleged family members, whose assigned names were really too dreadful to repeat.

She actually messaged me to condemn me for my vandalism, when she was the one producing IDs that showed her vindictive relationship to her "relatives" - real or imagined.

As FamilySearch is very slow to react to reports of such IDs being added ("The Devil" and "His Wife" IDs stayed around for quite a while after being reported), sometimes you have to act as you think best, especially if the names assigned to IDs (much worse than "The Devil", I can assure you!) are likely to cause distress to some users.