Not-a-Match: view comments from others

W Andrews

When attempting to merge, got this message:

"Merge Warnings

• Another user has marked these people as not-a-match.
• The duplicate person has been merged several times before. Use extra care when determining that these 2 people are the same person."

This is good to know. There should also be a link to "view comments from others" so we can learn why some have concluded not to merge.

genthusiast

Was the attempted merge from a Research Help - suggested duplicate?

I like the Idea however - reason statements for 'not a match' conclusions will only appear if they were included on such decisions. Of course they may or may not be detailed or helpful in determining a reason for such a conclusion. Typically any reason - such as '[names, dates, places or relationships] do not match' - may be all the reason given.

Thus the person attempting the merge that displays this warning could approach this in at least two ways:

1. Ignore the message and continue merging - giving reason statements for the merge.
2. Go to the Collaborate tab and begin a discussion/note including both IDs contained in the merge warning. The basic question - is whether those Following/interested in the profile think/thought that the two IDs were not the same person. Include any reasoning about why they should/might be a match/merged.
3. Do both 1&2.

I would suggest that 'extra care' means that if option 1 is chosen - go ahead and do option 2 as well - for the benefit of collaborators on the profile. Generally I think the more detailed but concise reason statements given - the better for collaboration in the long run - but profiles with edit warring may need longer statements to resolve problems collaboratively - which may mean editing prior statements (if possible).

The same sort of warning appears for profiles with Alert Notes (discussed on new person pages group). Implicit in a person profile with Alert Note should be the assumption that the profile already excludes merging with anything but exact duplicates of prior conclusions - so the Record/Search engine hints should have a stricter hint suggestion routine - in my opinion.