Why are people able to merge trees?

kelly beamer

This has been the first time in awhile coming to familysearch. I am beyond frustrated, again, finding that my tree has yet again been merged numerous times and records, names, dates as well as places of birth and death have not only been changed but wrong. I'm so angry, that I used the report abuse button because to me, this is abuse. Work that I have had to do over at least ten times now, hour upon hours spent to come back and it be changed. Why can't the LDS update this system so this doesn't keep occuring? I'm not the only one frustrated as I witnessed a huge thread online about this very thing happening to others. Please work on this issue!! I can't go through this again, I'll just delete everything.

MNuttall

Hello @kelly beamer

We are sorry that you are frustrated with the changes you are seeing in Family Tree related to your family lines. You haven't given us any specific examples, but there is one very important thing to keep in mind about our website and that is that it is an open-edit, collaborative, single and universal tree. As the knowledge article (below) states:

• Family Tree is a little different from other similar sites in that it is a single tree linked together in families, rather than a site that allows users to create and manage their own private trees. This difference means that everyone works together on the same data, allowing for the potential to connect every member of the human family.

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/what-is-the-purpose-of-familysearch-and-family-tree?articleVariant=public

We do have a number of features that enable collaboration as explained in this article:

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

If you find working in an open-edit environment untenable, then you may wish to take a look in our Solutions Gallery for third party products designed to privately manage your genealogical data.

https://partners.familysearch.org/solutionsgallery/s/list?category=family_tree_management

Also, FamilySearch does not require you to connect yourself to your ancestors in Family Tree. If you wanted to, you could use the site strictly for searching historical records, historical images, genealogies, the Family History Library Catalog, Digitized Books or the Research Wiki.

MDW5

Hi Kelly,

We're so sorry you have felt frustrated by this process. Thanks for reaching out. We have 5 ideas for you in how to respond or resolve this issue, along with a Help Center article for each option:

1. Please be aware that Family Tree in FamilySearch is a shared, collaborative Tree where anybody can contribute information,
2. You may contact the person who is making the changes and collaborate with them,
3. Follow your ancestors who are having their details changed,
4. See this help center article about how to prevent people from making inaccurate changes,
5. Consider the option of maintaining your own database that is not open to public changes

Please see the Help Center articles below:

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/what-is-the-purpose-of-familysearch-and-family-tree

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-contact-or-message-a-user-who-contributed-to-family-tree-or-memories

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/can-i-follow-an-individual-in-family-tree

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

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

Best wishes in your research!