Is there a way to protect data?

ConnieMack

Is there a way to keep data from being changed if it isn't backed up with a valid source? My 7th GGfather, John Mack has been repeatedly given the birth date that is actually the marriage date of his mother and father in law. Neither the date or location has anything to back it up yet it keeps being used over and over. I removed the date and replaced the place with just Scotland. I put an approximate year based on the year of his marriage and gave a clear explanation as to why but it was changed back again, leaving my original explanation in tact. See https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KFF3-R53 Now I see there has been a name addition/change. James wasn't used in this family for generations after immigration so it isn't likely his name was James. MacGahye has been attached to him a lot too, without cause. There is a clear tug of war going on and it seems like accuracy should have top priority. It can't be called family history if it is actually family myth.

When we are creating a one world tree, there should be a way to protect a profile, like is done at Wikitree. If appropriate, a profile can be added to a project then only members of the project can edit and it is done with collaboration.

NidaFL

We agree. You can not prevent changes to the information posted in Family Search. And sometimes, your efforts to collaborate are not responded to. However Family Search partners with stand alone genealogical programs, that are accessible only by you. That way if changes are made, you have a personal program that can be used as a reference to correct errors made by others. Sometimes, when there is a change that is changed, then re-changed (ping -pong) by leaving the incorrect data alone for a period of time, hopefully the person making the incorrect changes will start on a different limb of the tree. If you are interested,

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-find-partner-products

886EZLContact ID

Dear Connie Mack,

We appreciate your concern for accuracy and understand that it can be frustrating when others make inaccurate changes to the shared Family Tree.

The article below gives some suggestions of what you can to do prevent others from making inaccurate changes. We also recommend kind and forgiving communication between FamilySearch users.

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-can-i-prevent-other-people-from-making-inaccurate-changes-to-family-tree

Best wishes!

ConnieMack

886EZL. the article titled "Prevent inaccurate changes..." is misleading. There is no way to prevent anything. All we can do is try to reason with the changer, if they bother to read communications. Brett, I understand how a world tree and collaboration works. I also use Wikitree, which is a world tree. There, profiles that have this sort of repeated problem are protected by a project and only those on the project or trusted list are allowed to make further changes. There is a comment section and way to communicate privately with the project members so anything new that is found can still be included.

Dennis J Yancey

check out this link:

FamilySearch Memoires - are a great way to submit information that WONT be changed by others.

see: http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/fsmemories.htm

Dennis J Yancey

also this video is a great video to watch on the subject of working in collaboration with others:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwRSRZ9amlM

Brett .

@ConnieMack

Connie

I am sorry to bother you.

But, I am somewhat confused ...

Question: WHY did you refer to ME (personally) in your 'Comment' of this post of yours.

I may have; and, I am sorry; but, I DO NOT remember 'Answering'/'Commenting" in this post of yours.

And, there is NO indication that I did 'Answer'/'Comment' in this post of yours.

IF, I did, in fact, 'Answer'/'Comment' in this post of yours; THEN, perhaps my 'Answer(s)'/'Comment(s)' was (were) DELETED / REMOVED by, either, a "Moderator" [ ie. 'FamilySearch' "Support" Personnel ]; or, an "Administrator" - for whatever reason.

Or, by chance, are you referencing ANOTHER post of yours, where I responded?

Can you please advise, if you do remember me 'Answering'/'Commenting' in this particular post of yours.

'Thank You' in advance.

Brett

ConnieMack

Hi Brett. Yes, you had responded to my comment, explaining how a collaborative tree works and someone deleted it even though it was not offensive or anything at all wrong with it. Thank you.

NidaFL, I just don't like seeing false information being publicized and promoted. It can lead people on a wild goose chase. The birth date I was referring to was clearly the wedding date of the inlaws. Thank you for your response.

Thank You Dennis.

Paul W

@ConnieMack

I've long accepted there will be no change in the open-edit nature of Family Tree - not even that it will ever resemble the WikiTree format.

I'm sure the moderators and others are genuinely trying to be of help here, but as many others are only too aware, this is only of help in cases where users really appreciate the collaborative nature of the project.

Any amount of sources, reason statements, items in Memories, or notes in Collaboration or Life Sketch will fail to deter the many, reckless users who either have no idea, or just don't care about the effects of the damaging work they perform. I'd like to believe the problem just relates to inexperience, but sometimes the awful work (including a complete change of identity to the ID for which the profile was created) goes way beyond that.

I dread looking at my Following list as, if it's not the same error the self-same user has inputted for the umpteenth time, there will possibly be one of those crazy merges that will take up yet another two days of my valuable time, in getting the affected profiles back as they were / should be originally presented.

Sadly, there is no solution here, just to muddle on and definitely (as suggested) make sure we have our worked backed-up in our personal software.

Tammy Smith King

I haven't checked all the individuals in my tree. One thing I do when I find where someone has changed an individual's information is go to the source area and 'restore' the information I had and leave a comment about why I know my information was correct. I have gotten so frustrated with Family Search that I have taken a long break and just focused on my ancestry.com tree. It has been a while since I checked my tree. They drew me in tonight with the question about what was my mother doing when Pearl Harbor was bombed. All I know is my #1 sister was born on Sunday exactly 3 weeks after.