System Checking for Duplicates Sources before adding

LegacyUser

David Townsend Palmer said: Before allowing a user to add a duplicate of a source that's already there in the target individual's Sources, Can FamilySearch please check for duplicates, if found, popup a msg, saying, "Duplicate! Do you really want to add again?" It would be nice if you could also do this for sources added from Ancestry. But the way that FamilySearch and Ancestry structure their pre-made citations (ie lumping everything into one database of "England Births and Christenings" -- this seems impossible.

LegacyUser

Paul said: David

As partly discussed in your topic on the 1851 census, these "duplicates" are rarely exactly that. You will probably find they all have different URLs. This reflects the fact that there might have been multiple indexing projects relating to the same events. For example, some of the christening events for certain parishes in Northumberland have been separately indexed four or five times! This CAN be due to poor record keeping, but sometimes one record might have been from indexing of the original parish register, another of the Bishop's Transcripts version and others of existing transcriptions that have been published in book form.

Whatever the situation, you do (unfortunately) need to add them all (yes, I know this produces "clutter" in the Sources section!), because they do not always have identical information attached. Again, as an example, one burial "source" might have a person's age, another their parents' names and other versions either both, or none, of these facts.

It appears there is a desire at FamilySearch to try to "retire" the less useful sources, but this appears to be a more difficult task than was anticipated (when the intention was first announced several years ago, by a senior FS manager).

LegacyUser

Paul said: I omitted to mention two other factors whereby additional sources for the same event (say a christening or a marriage) can be produced. This can occur if:

(1) For whatever reason, a microfilm was indexed twice, or

(2) If there has been duplicate filming of the same records - and both films were indexed.

A combination of some or all of these factors is the probable reason of there being the 4 or 5 sources for the same event (with different URLs) in my Northumberland example.

However, until FamilySearch find a way of sorting out the problem (by identifying and retiring the least useful sources), the situation remains the same. You need to attach them all to the correct ID, mainly to avoid the possibly of them being attached to a wrong ID by another user.

LegacyUser

David Townsend Palmer said: If a source entry is exactly duplicate, ie, text, URLs, film numbers, everything, could FamilySearch popup a msg to dissuade attaching?

At that point, FamilySearch could disallow entirely, or, allow the user to override.

Do exact duplicates sometimes appear in the record Source Hints? If they do not appear, how does FamilySearch prevent them from doing so? Could the same logic be applied to this proposed popup?

In this URL,
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1...
Is the "NFW6-PQB", the ID for this one discrete source?

Many thanks your patience.

LegacyUser

Jessie Hearle said:

Once a record is attached, using the standard FamilySearch web browser source linker, you must detach a source from one ID before attaching it to another person.

There are a few ways to attach the same source to more than one ID, but it is less common

the case

LegacyUser

Jessie Hearle said: This is a screenshot from the Family Tree iOS mobile app, because it is easier to compare sources using the multiple screen option. You can compare the urls and see that they are different, even though the indexed information is the same.

LegacyUser

Jessie Hearle said: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/619...

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/619...

Both of these urls point to a single event indexed or filmed twice.
For the purposes of FamilySearch they are different sources.

LegacyUser

Jessie Hearle said:

https://familysearch.org/ask/productS...

LegacyUser

Adrian Bruce said: I'm rusty on this - but I thought that (a) exact duplicates (as defined by exactly the same URL) would never appear in a Profile's Source Hints and (b) if it was already attached to one profile then it could not be attached to the same profile a second time.

I emphasise that the definition of "exact duplicate" is simply that the URL is the same.

Now, having said all that, exact dupes do occur on a profile but I think that's a symptom that something has gone wrong somewhere - I've forgotten where.

If I'm wrong I'm sure someone will be along to correct me - please!

LegacyUser

Paul said: The exact (i.e same URL) record hint should never appear on the ID to which it has already been attached. However, it is possible (either because of a bug or some other "quirk" in the system) for these exact, duplicate sources to find their way into the Sources section of one individual. If this happens, you just need to detach one of the duplicates to resolve the problem. Obviously, a double-check on the two URLs is necessary to ensure they are identical.