Sources being added by missionaries?
Hi,
We have noticed that people not connected to the person on familysearch are adding sources, (they appear to be missionaries from the African countries). This has been noticed with french records and census records for England. The problem is that quite often they are making mistakes, linking incorrect people, not linking all the people on the record, adding duplicate or wrong people to familysearch. Is this something that is a pilot project?
Answers
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I've also noticed these adds quite often. The work is reminiscent of the Census Project - just adding names for the clicks.
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Is anyone else seeing in their "Notifications" that people from other countries (Ghana, Kenya, etc.) are accessing/posting "Social Programs" (United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007), of your deceased relative's records or is it just me? Is there some reason they only access that info? Thanks for any help.
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It's not just the NUMIDENT record set. I've also seen US Census records added. The NUMIDENT series is relatively new, and relatively simple, so it could be a good project for beginners adding to the FSFT.
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Hi @islandmaid and @Judy Kain Jones would you mind providing links to any examples of what you are seeing?
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US 1900 census added with no reason statements to:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MK67-GBM
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MK67-GYW
I messaged the user:
Hi, Re your recent changes to William Fraser MK67-GYW and Margaret Chisholm MK67-GBM. There are several problems with the 1900 census you attached to them.
1/ The children on the census don't match the children in the family.
2/ The census is for Pennsylvania USA in 1900, but the 1901 census for Scotland is already attached to William and the children showing they have not emmigrated.
3/ The DOBs and ages for William and Margaret don't match.
4/ The census shows they arrived in the USA in 1883/4 and the birthplace of the younger children confirms this, but the couple you attached this to were having children in Scotland right up to 1892 and the 1891 census for Scotland is already attached.
5/ You have attached the 1900 census to Margaret Chisholm. But she died in 1895.
These are clearly two different families.
Regards, Colin.
As expected, I got no reply.
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Here's another one NUMIDENT added last night: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MHDH-9CC
@ColinCameron I had one a few weeks ago where the same wrong census was added to a family several different times, giving a woman extra children born after her death. I corrected each time, with notes. Then I researched the family to which that census pertained and attached it there. It seemed to be the only way to stop the problem.
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Should I be concerned about this?
A non-related stranger from the African country of Cameroon has created a Social Security source and linked it to a person on my watch list and has done the same for his spouse.
It seems like a red flag to me that a person from Cameroon would be doing this to Iowa records. Is this a sign of a scammer looking through the database, and should I be concerned? Is there anything I need to report?
Thank you!
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How do you know the user is from Cameroon?
FamilySearch's Family Tree is open-edit: anyone with an account -- from any place on the globe that doesn't restrict access to FS -- can contribute to any profile for a deceased person. I don't see how the person's location makes any difference whatsoever to the value of such contributions.
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According to the research wiki page for this recently released collection, this Social Security collection has 146,872,508 source records for deceased people.
Also recently, there have a few complaints posted here in Community from people feeling overwhelmed because their Hints lists went from a few dozen to hundreds of hints.
It sounds like someone has put together a group of volunteers to help take care of hints from this database. I would hope with thorough instructions on how to attach hints correctly and now to not create a bunch of duplicates in Family Tree. If done well, such a project could be very beneficial. If done poorly, it will lead to the same complaints as some of the census projects.
I highly doubt there is any concern with scammers here. What scammer would so blatantly announce his presence by actually attaching the source and announcing to the world "I was here!"? Red flags are not usually proudly waved by the person being flagged.
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Mod Note - posts were edited to remove other's usernames.
The Family Tree is a shared tree and anyone can edit the data, including attaching hints. I do not see anything in the NUMIDENT records that are not already public, so no, there is no need to be concerned about someone attaching a hint. For example, there is far more information in the Tree about Eva than is listed in this NUMIDENT record. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KSV-PNPY
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@Maile L I've been patient with the NUMIDENT adds, but one that has just occurred bothers me.
The profile of my 2C1R G7HD-1KP already had the correct Social Security NUMIDENT attached. A contributor has now added a 2nd NUMIDENT based on similar (not even same) names.
A person cannot have 2 SS records, 2 fathers (different given names), and be born in 2 different locations on 2 different dates. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/changelog/G7HD-1KP
Thanks for anything you can do to help this project be successful rather than disruptive.
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Closer look, it's Father and the Son. Read carefully the record. The son listed the name of his parents. That is how his father has 2 records, one by spouse.
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@W D Samuelsen contact me please
TWO DIFFERENT FAMILIES, not father and son.
Cousin John Joseph O'Connor was born 25 June 1921 in Philadelphia, and died 9 April 1988, parents John O'Connor and Mary Donnelly.
The newly added (and deleted) record is for John J O'Connor born 19 October 1921 IN NEW YORK and died 28 December 1982, parents THOMAS J O'Connor and Mary Donnelly.
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And it's getting worse.
That same NUMIDENT was added again last night - but attached 13 times to the wrong 3 people. See:And the mother profile changelog: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/changelog/KG27-TVN
@Ashlee C. As I said several weeks ago:
Thanks for anything you can do to help this project be successful rather than disruptive.
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Thanks @Áine. This does look odd and I'll see if I can dig into what's happening.
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The duplication has been verified and the teams are looking into a fix. Thanks.
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@joemartel Thanks. Do you know if it was a one-off, or were many profiles affected? I happened to see that one (or those 13) because I follow the profiles of close family members.
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