Stop allowing GEDCOM files to be imported into FamilySearch FamilyTree. PLEASE
I left the person a message asking that they delete the duplicate records and stop using a GEDCOM file to add people to FamilySearch FamilyTree.
A number of us have requested that the option to update the massive family tree be removed, but our requests are evidently falling on deaf ears. It would stop the madness and also stop duplicating ordinances that have been done many, many times.
Note: I have no problems allowing GEDCOM files to add a person's records to the Genealogies section, but the additional process to add people (or overwrite existing records) to Family Tree must stop.
Comments
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Elizabeth Kathleen Bugby said: I really do not think that they even read our suggestions from these boards & it is really frustrating. I'm sorry!0
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Kenth Guzman said: Hello brother Huber,
We all understand that is frustrating when we find duplicated records of our family.
Let me tell that even we can do many ordinances for the same person on earth, in the Heaven there is not duplicated records.
Keep in mind that many people around the world dont know about familysearch until they become members of the church and many of then love this work as much as you and I, so they use other websites and when they become part of the church imagine they want to make the ordinances for their family member too.
And is a better option to upload a Gedcom fiel than rewriting all them again on the right website (familysearch.org).
So every time you find a duplicated record dont hesitate about a posible duplicated ordinance because on heaven everything is fine and God knows that everybody is just trying to help those that are not with us anymore.
So as a good member of your family make the combination of record and as soon as you do that you can get in touch with those that are doing the same wonderful job as you because they are you living family too.
Have a niceday brother.0 -
Tom Huber said: In this case, the duplicate records were attached to the husband, who already had his wife and children in place.
This nonsense can be stopped by simply no longer allowing GEDCOM files to be used to upload and overwrite or create new records in the tree.
My request is simple. Stop the upload process at entering the file in the Genealogies section.0 -
Don M Thomas said: A new-be to the FamilySearch "Family Tree" would not know that a merge of a duplicate ancestor or person, would also wipe out and replace your name with their name in the "Latest Changes." Oh yes, I know, all changes are still there, but your name would not show in the "Latest Changes" to that ancestor unless they really went digging, and most would not take the time or know how to do the digging.
So much for the messaging system if researchers can not find your name associated with your ancestors.0 -
M Geesey said: I recently had an experience with someone creating a new record via a GEDCOM import and then merged the existing record into the newly created one. In the process all the information in the existing record was removed. Fortunately, I discovered the merge soon enough and I was able to reverse the merge and do it again, but keeping the original and removing the newly created record. I wrote to the person who had done the merge, but never received a response.
I agree, that many problems would be prevented if the ability to upload GEDCOM files was discontinued.0 -
Adrian Bruce said: There is a basic problem with merging in that it's all too easy to get trigger happy and merge events where the "new" event is quite skeletal and over-writes a more detailed original. There were several occasions that I over-wrote a marriage event that I'd set up with a fully descriptive place-name, with a bare-bones index that had the date (if that?) and nothing else. Fortunately, since I'd input the original, I knew what it should look like and noticed the loss. And I was only working one PID at once, giving me time to notice the error.
I do agree that stopping people from working in FS FT with bulk GEDCOMs is an important change, I just wanted to point out that the risk of loss of info in a merge isn't confined to working with GEDCOM sized data. Merges, after all, should, ahem, merge, not lose. Of course, it depends what you mean by 'Merge', said me, the pedant.0 -
Tom Huber said: The term "merge" is used in a number of instances and I've seen it used to mean attaching a source which, in this case, is information from a GEDCOM file.
Since I've never used a GEDCOM file to feed information into FS FT, I'm not sure what happens or how what the process looks like or fully does.
To me, I believe the process:
1) Adds the person when the patron determines that no duplicates exist (this is what happened to the spouse and children of my ancestor) and can cause a duplicate to be added.
2) Can overwrite existing data such as during a merge. In essence, I believe this may be the same process that is used in merging two FS FT records that the patron believes is a duplicate (from what I can tell that did not happen in the case of the spouse and children of my ancestor).
Now, because I have not tested this process, I do not know if it is possible to "merge" (item 2) at this point in time or not. Someone who wants to test this needs to do so, or perhaps a FamilySearch person can let us know what currently happens.0 -
Tom Huber said: By the way, Adrian, I fully agree that it is all too easy to get trigger happy while merging.0
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Bruce Compton said: I didn't think that GEDCOM import functionality existed in FamilyTree. Where in the user interface is this feature implemented?0
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Tom Huber said: https://www.familysearch.org/upload/t...
It is the third step in the process.
To reach that page, use Search ... Genealogies ... and at the bottom of the page, click on "Submit Tree"0 -
Sandra Simpson said: Yes , It has messed up my pedigree.0
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Kellie Sue said: I have encountered the same situation, having to clean up many duplicated individuals who also uploaded GEDCOM information. It took days to rectify, and even then, there were many I did not take the time to fix, as two 10 hour days of clean up was enough for me. I was able to clear up my line, but there are tangents to my line that were also infected. Yes, I contacted the individual. They were not saavy on what I was communicating to them, but I hope they stopped. Point being made is that there are so many duplicates due to the mass upload of GEDCOM files. I too wish that practice would be discontinued.0
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Another vote here to please stop allowing GEDCOM imports to overwrite carefully researched data. There are many of us out here who spend countless hours trying to help this site be as accurate as possible by sourcing all facts and relationships, but then, with one push of the upload button, a user can overwrite all of the work done by multiple researchers with whatever their personal GEDCOM file includes. There may have been a time many years ago when GEDCOM uploads were helpful for populating the database, but now the database is large, and the GEDCOMs coming in are usually just copied trees from Ancestry.com which are notoriously full of errors and do not add many unknown people or facts about those people.
It is important to respect our ancestors by being as truthful and accurate about their lives as possible. This can only be accomplished by taking the time to do careful research in the records which most serious genealogists do.
To remedy the overwriting problem, may I recommend that GEDCOMs
1) should NEVER be allowed to overwrite the existing facts on an existing profile ;
2) should only be allowed to add new facts to an existing profile if the facts are accompanied by reliable source citations and not just a reference to someone else's copied tree from another site ; and
3) should be filtered first, so that duplicate citations to the same original source record, like a census, for example, are not duplicated on the profile page. The duplicate citation to the same record located on another site should not be imported.
I hope these posts are actually read by someone who can make changes. If not, can someone please tell us how we can reach the decision makers that can make changes?
Thank you.
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