Stop people from changing my correct tree!
I am tired of having to try to change my tree back to right. Your website won't allow deleting a person from my own personal tree. I am not going to be using this tree anymore or adding anything to it. No one should be able to change my personal tree except for me!
If someone wants to mess up their tree, that is their business. If they want to add to theirs from mine, that's their business too. I do not want my tree to be incorrect! Do not allow anyone to change anyone else's tree!
Answers
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I take a lot of pride in making sure that the information I enter into my tree is accurate and complete. But, other people have been putting incorrect, poorly researched information in my tree. Crowd sourced genealogy can only work if everyone does good research. It is obvious that this is not happening. Please return to individuals having their own trees that they alone control instead of anyone being able to change information no matter how poorly they conduct their research.
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Number one: It's a collaborating tree
Number two: learn to contact those who made wrong changes
Number three: learn to tell them about the sources
Number four: learn the patience of repeating corrections and repeating messaging until the ones who made the errors pay attention to messages and realize their error.
I practice this all the times, eventually all that is left are those newbies.
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@PatriciaMurray-Preston, as W D alluded to, you're operating under a serious misconception.
You do not have a separate tree on FamilySearch. Nobody does. It's a single, collaborative tree, intended to have one and only one profile per deceased person.
A shared, open-edit tree like this has both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that anyone -- including you -- can edit anything. One disadvantage is that anyone -- including your clueless cousin -- can edit anything. If the latter overpowers the former for you, then you should indeed work elsewhere.
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@JohnHP "Return to"?
The Family Tree on FamilySearch has been a "One World Tree" from the get-go. Telling it to change to an individual-trees model is like telling your local bookstore to start lending books like the library does.
If the shared-tree model is not working for you, there are many individual-tree options to choose from.
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Family Tree is an excellent resource but you should not rely on it as the sole repository of your tree. It is important to keep a copy elsewhere where no one else can amend it. Personally I regard my copy elsewhere as my "main tree" and add to Family Tree from there.
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I am having this same issue. I was notified about new information found for a portion of my tree. When I went online to check it out I found that some changes had been made that were not correct for my lineage. The name and birthdate were changed. The wife was changed. The place and date of death was changed. This is very frustrating. I now have to go find my notes and correct these errors. I am sure the person they thought they were making corrections to is their relative but he is not mine. There are many people with the same name, you have to be careful when you are researching records to NOT jump to conclusions. That is why I do not make changes until I can find the information in an official record and attach that record.
If the idea is to have one tree for all then there needs to be a better way to control making these type of changes without sighting any records.
In addition, I have found multiple records for what appears to be the same person but each record has a different ID number. There is no way to have someone actually take a look and see if these separate records should be merged. I like using the family search site. I like the idea of one tree, but I think there needs to be a better way.
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@Penny Barrow, if it was once in the Tree, then it's still there, in the profile's Change Log, and you shouldn't need to re-research anything to restore the correct values.
You're right that the person who made the incorrect changes was probably mistaking your relative for his. In addition, it's likely that he was operating under the same kind of misconception as the person who started this thread: many people do not understand what FamilySearch means by "shared tree". They think they're working on their own, separate copy of the tree, just as they would on Ancestry or MyHeritage. I wish there was a reliable way to alert them that they're making a false assumption, but unfortunately, the whole problem is that they're unaware that they're making any assumptions.
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@PatriciaMurray-Preston @JohnHP @Penny Barrow
Here are a few articles from the Help Center that might be helpful:
The World’s Largest Shared Family Tree
How do I change vital information in Family Tree?
How do I see what changes were made about a person in Family Tree?
How do I undo an incorrect change in Family Tree?
How do I undo a merge in Family Tree?
How do I correct parent-child relationships in Family Tree?
How can I prevent other people from making inaccurate changes to Family Tree?
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Well I learned a lot today, thanks to this discussion. I was able to see the history of changes and got my records back to where I think they should be. In addition I made sure that all records had a link to where the information can be validated. Also learned to add information as to why something is not accurate or at least not definite. Found several inconsistencies with birth dates as recorded and ages on census records. These are the older records where there are no birth certificates. So the data stands as not confirmed. I know my grandmother lied about her age all her life, so most official records did not agree with each other. She was born at home in 1896 and when it came time for her to collect social security they could not verify her age. She had a hard time but finally found a relative that gave sworn testimony of her real birth date. SO just because the census gives an age it might not be correct. Wow, that was too much information, LOL! Thanks for the tips.
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There are various advantages and disadvantages connected to the Family Search tree being common to all users, and the addition of incorrect data is one of the disadvantages. The solution, in my opinion, is to follow all the profiles in which you are interested using the Follow function, and if you notice incorrect data being added then attempt to contact the person who provided the data to point out any inaccuracies and to explain why it should be changed. If that does not work, then change the profile(s) yourself to reflect the real situation. Sometimes that may take a while, especially if merges have been involved, but it is worthwhile and part of the responsibility that we all have to maintain the common tree which is, after all, an excellent resource.
If there are any differences in opinion as to what the "correct information" actually is, and you are unable to resolve these differences with the other user, then I would suggest contacting the FamilySearch team and explaining your position, backed up by evidence. It is important to remember however that we all have different ways of approaching and viewing our family history research and one person's way of doing things isn't the same as another's. I would therefore suggest that unless information is factually inaccurate that you don't bother about small inconsistencies. You can always add a note to the profile explaining any issues that you have with information on that profile.
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You may also want to become familiar with the new Alert Note feature.
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I fully understand where you are coming from. Whilst all trees on FS are in the public domain, my advice to anyone is to have their own personal tree on places such as Ancestry etc. I have mine on RootsMagic and know that all information contained there is correct.
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@PatriciaMurray-Preston @JohnHP @Penny
As @Maile L pointed out: using the “COLLABORATE” tab on the person’s page and setting the note to “ALERT” will inform others to take caution when making changes. Do this for every person you think is 100% correct.
Assume that everyone who comes after you is naive and uninformed. Explain your research and process in the “REASONS” boxes.
I can’t tell you how many people are attached to sources without any reasons to at least inform others, if not to show that you have verified your work.
I know the FS team create trees based on records without reasons, setting a bad example. But this can be curbed by the Alert Note function and polite explanations for the work you’ve done.
The Alert Note comes up as a text box in orangey-yellow when you
-land on their page,
-attach sources or try to
-merge IDs.
Please also go back to review each person and attach sources with reasoning where they are not done so automatically:
“OTHER” tab, residences don’t attach or record properly in some cases; also add occupations and attach (“TAG”)sources with reasoning.
“FAMILY” tab, make sure marriages are events with reasoned sources; TAG them.
Make sure the same reasoning and explanation is added to all the “VITALS” sections; if sources are available TAG them.
”SOURCES” tab: check all your sources have full reasoning given. This includes explaining date/name issues or how you traced one person to another
**stating that is is the X record from B database, which is obvious from the source itself, is not good enough reasoning**
It’s very hard to change something when there are warnings and explanations available everywhere; and much easier when there’s nothing to provide obstacles or show that proper research has been conducted.
Otherwise, there is the “Latest Changes” from the three-dot menu on the right of the name next to the ‘share’ trivector - where you can restore much of your work in a quick and painless way. Hopefully, after you’ve contacted the person and explained their errors so they can go back and review their work in the same way. Link to this discussion for support of your argument!
Hope it all gets better <3
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