Too many unrelated sources attached to individual.

JuanZuluaga3

A user has attached 136 sources to individual https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/K4TR-X73 . However, a very large part of sources does not relate to the individual. For instance,

• 53/135 ~ 40% of sources are about events that took place before 1913 (this individual's birth) (and of those 53 events, half happened on 1829 or before).
• very many of the sources are about people whose only relationship with the individual was sharing a lastname — no ties of family, godparenthood, employment or slavery have been noted by the user.

This source hogging causes trouble to other users that try to attach those sources to relevant people in the tree, because now they will have to be detached (at risk of mistaken merges and so forth).

Perhaps the user in question does not know how to keep a sourcebox, or is trying to win a contest for the number of sources.

I already contacted the user via chat, but she is not responding, and meanwhile keeps adding sources. I also used the "report abuse" link — no response yet.

sc woz

@JuanZuluaga3

Thank you for your careful work on this record. In the FamilySearch Tree, sources should be attached only when they provide direct evidence about the individual or their immediate relationships. When unrelated records are added, it becomes difficult for other contributors to evaluate the person’s identity, life events, and family connections.

If you are the contributor who attached these sources, please take a moment to review them and remove any that do not pertain to this individual. If you are not the contributor, you’ve already taken the right first step by reaching out politely. You may also use the Report Abuse option if the pattern appears intentional or disruptive, though it’s important to remember that the threshold for true abuse is very high and is based on clear violations, not differences in research approach.

Unrelated sources can be removed. Any contributor may detach a source when it is clearly not about the person. This kind of cleanup is a normal part of maintaining the shared Tree and helps keep the record accurate for everyone.

FamilySearch supports collaborative cleanup. If a source is clearly unrelated — for example:

• Events that occurred long before the person’s birth
• Records about individuals who only share a surname
• Sources from unrelated families, locations, or contexts

— then any contributor may detach it, as long as they include a brief explanation.

There are a few limits to be aware of:

• Moderators cannot “lock” the source list
• FamilySearch does not bulk‑remove sources
• There is no mass‑detach tool; each source must be reviewed individually

Maintaining accurate sourcing protects the integrity of the shared Family Tree and supports effective collaboration among all researchers.

Nyx773

In summary:

• Keep reaching out to the misguided user.
• Keep reporting the abuse to support.
• Until the unlikely event that the situation is resolved by the other user or support, it's up to you and others to clean up the mess.

Additionally, to spot errors promptly:

• Follow every profile of interest to you.
• View your Following list every time you log onto FamilySearch.