Change the defaults in the reserving temple names window.
I often discover an ordinance that is needed for an individual who already has other ordinances shared with the temple.
When I go to reserve that ordinance, the box stating that I wish to reserve those other ordinances for myself is checked, by default. By default, that box should be UNCHECKED.
I try to be careful not to reserve ordinances that I have no ability to perform, but it would be much safer if that box for the other ordinances was NOT checked.
As careful as I try to be, I occasionally have to review my reserved ordinances and discover ordinances that I have unintentionally reserved.
Comments
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You don't need to reserve ordinances to share with the temple anymore. The Ordinances Ready software will find these ordinances in the Tree and make them available for those who are ready to take that name to the temple immediately.
This is also why the software is flagging you to take the other ordinances. If you want the SS, then the assumption is that you will want to do all the rest of the ordinances immediately as well.
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But I don't want to reserve the SS for myself! I simply want to Share it with the temple. But because of the default choice, if I'm not careful to UNCHECK those that have already been shared with the temple, I end up reserving them for myself. Even now, having known about the problem for weeks, I have to periodically review my reserved ordinances to catch those that I had unwittingly reserved to myself.
As a ward family history consultant, I was recently helping a member to review ordinances. These were distant relatives, and she thought that she had shared with the temple so that they might be picked up by closer relatives. However, because of this VERY POORLY DESIGNED DEFAULT, she had unwittingly locked up dozens of ordinances by unwittingly reserving them to herself.
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I understand that the "ordinances ready" system makes all "ready" ordinances available to any patron, but I sincerely believe that by considering any record that barely qualifies as "ready" is a VERY POOR CHOICE. The "temple file" should consist ONLY of patron submissions, of which there will always be plenty!
Ever since Elder Anderson announced that the keys had been unlocked for us to submit ordinances for our cousins, the number of ordinances submitted by patrons has exploded. It is no longer necessary or wise to make unvetted records available for ordinances. Since I began cousins research about four years ago, I have merged thousands of duplicate records of my relatives that FamilySearch algorithms had missed and had cleared as unique individuals "ready" for ordinances. Probably only a few percent of those who pick up a relative via "ordinances ready" have the time or experience to thoroughly vet the person, so it's best to limit the "temple file" to those in whom some effort, prayer, and experience has been applied.
Another reason I reserve and share with the temple is so that I can have a record of my efforts and follow them. Work that is not measured has little meaning. Are you really suggesting that patrons spend many hours researching and refining a record for a relative, and then NOT reserve them or share them? To just let them "float" as "available" in a vast pool of individuals who have never been vetted by human labor, experience, and inspiration? There is no way I could ever perform the 10,800 ordinances that I currently have shared with the temple, but it is very rewarding and motivating to receive notices from the temple when it has found patrons for them.
I know that the temple file won't suddenly dry up if the file is limited to patron-submitted names: My own shared list is currently backed up four years.
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