Is the user "TreeBuilding Project" taking the tree forward or wasting time?
Today user "TreeBuilding Project" added a source record index https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KWF-ZSBL (which is from the "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007") to profile GFS1-ZS6, Amelia Matthews.
Now, this is actually quite an interesting index record - it implies Amelia married 4 times (to Messrs Osborn, Leonard, Ness and Empson). Her profile already has the marriage to Roy Ness - but also a marriage to Glen Wrighter Harbaugh. So that's potentially 5 marriages implied by the existing profile and the newly attached source index.
And what has user "TreeBuilding Project" done with this (genuinely) intriguing information? For Amelia's own profile, they've added a dated custom event "SocialProgramApplication", an undated custom fact "Social Program Correspondence", a custom fact "Race" (value white) and an undated Custom Event "PreviousResidence" of "Seattle, King, Washington, United States".
They have ignored her death date of June 1994 which is there on the record.
They have done nothing with the newly implied spouses - although that could be a tangle.
They have created 2 custom events/facts ("SocialProgramApplication", and "Social Program Correspondence") that I would regard as genealogically irrelevant. (The source record created by the events isn't irrelevant - just the events.)
They've created an undated Custom Event "PreviousResidence" of "Seattle, King, Washington, United States" when the correct input should have been an undated (standard) Event of type "Residence" of "Seattle, King, Washington, United States". (This mistake I find appalling - creating a Custom Event instead of a Standard event is nonsensical).
I asked whether "TreeBuilding Project" is taking the tree forward or wasting time?
- The Custom Event "PreviousResidence" needs to be corrected to a standard "Residence", so that's wasting time for the people coming after.
- The creation of genealogically irrelevant events wasted the time of "TreeBuilding Project" (assuming it is a real person, which I beg leave to doubt).
- One big problem is that the death date has been ignored - since the source index containing the date of death has already been attached, what - if anything - will prompt a careful researcher to find that date? Potentially nothing - so more wasted time.
Then there are the implied husbands that have been ignored - to be honest, that could be a complex story and I would advocate leaving that to one side awaiting serious research into that family. Nonetheless, what will prompt such a person to look at the NUMIDENT source again? Has the opportunity for such a prompt been lost? I'd have added something to the Collaborate tab along the lines of "Apparently also married to …."
