Changed details on my tree
I checked my tree and found someone had changed some names in my tree. All my work. Hours, days, weeks, months and even longer all wiped out and replaced with names I've never heard of. New links, new relationships. Why remove and replace all these people without trying to contacting me?
I read a similar question and it was answer with, You don't own the tree or details contained. Anybody can change thd details. So, what is the point of me doing all the research and sharing it on here for sombody to change it all with nonsense? I've written to the woman on here with no reply.
Bodach
Best Answers
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One theory as to why this happens is that there are still too many people who do not realize they are working in a common tree. So when they are building their tree they starting adding Grandma Mary Smith and a suggestion come up for a Mary Smith born about the same time in about the same place. So they pick the existing Mary Smith, don't understand how she got in there with the "wrong" information, then get to work "correcting" Mary Smith's information. They don't contact any one because they think they are working in 'My Tree" with just "their people."
I like the idea posted by others elsewhere in this community of taking a look at how they "corrected" your grandmother to see who they turned her into. Then create a profile for their grandmother and shift their information to her, documenting everything fully with good sources. Then after getting a good core family for their grandmother and her family, restore your grandmother back to who she originally was and get any information and sources for their grandmother off of your grandmother. Also put absolutely every source on your grandmother that you can and just as complete information on her as you can with full dates, full places, and any other additional information that will uniquely identify her. If there are any Hints on your grandmother that are not for her, get those marked not a match. If there are any possible duplicates showing that are not her, get those marked as not a match.
By separating their family from your family and fully documenting both families, you should not have a recurrence if this confusion of people in the future.
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“Why remove and replace all these people ...?”
It’s entirely possible that they didn’t remove and replace ALL of these people. Let’s say you are A1, your father is B1, his father is C1, his father is D1, ...E1, etc. The other user is A2, his father is B2, ...C2, ...D2, etc. Now if this other user, for some reason, replaces your father with his, your lineage now looks like A1, B2, C2, D2, E2, and it looks like everyone from your father and beyond has been ‘removed and replaced’. What you can’t see, at first glance, is that your father, B1, is probably still there (you can find him from your, A1, changelog), and he probably still has C1, D1, E1, F1, etc all still attached.
It will all depend on how the other user changed things. You can work that out from the changelogs. You may even be able to work out why.
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You might want to spend some time reading about all the features of the FSFT (FamilySearch Family Tree). There are numerous help articles and a full wiki for research guidance. https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/updated-and-redesigned-familysearch-help
FS offers regular online classes and one-on-one help.
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Also consider connections that can’t be seen, especially when working with relatively recent ‘people’. EG. I’m still alive, obviously, my only sibling is still alive, and my father is still alive. The only connections that are visible, to other users, on my mother’s profile are to her parents. If someone else has a relative with the same name and similar dates they may assume I’ve connected their relative to the wrong parents, because they can’t see any of the other connections.
Of course it’s also possible that the other user has no clue what they’re doing and is just stumbling around, trying to make things fit. Why make a new profile for my ancestor when there’s one already here that’s pretty close? It may even have been a duplicate suggestion, and if the computer says so ....
I’m also afraid to say that no response is pretty much the norm rather than the exception.
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Answers
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The FamilySearch Family Tree is fully open-edit and collaborative. Anything that is entered can be changed, but every change is shown in the changelog down the right side of each profile. From the details in the changelog, you can contact the contributor who made any changes and collaborate to complete the details of your shared family. The more information (sources, records) you include, the less likely someone else is to change the profile.
Another contributor supplied a good description of "why" in this thread: A goal of FamilySearch was to reduce and minimize duplication of effort of people all over the world working on the same common lines, doing the same work for the same people.
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Thanks for your explanation. But I'm really wondering why I wasn't contacted before the contributer decided to replace the work I had done to if they thought my work was wrong. I did try and contact the person but they haven't replied.
I was a little bit shocked, as I have all the documentation backing up my research so I couldn't understand why it happened. It wasn't just one name, it was a lineage from one of my relatives back two or three generations of names that mean nothing to me.
I have deleted the other person's work and replaced it again with mine. Hopefully it stays this way.
Thanks again
Bodach
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There is no requirement for another contributor to contact you or me before making changes/additions. The other contributor may be just as closely - or more closely - related to the individual profiles.
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Thanks
I accept there is no requirement but I think it would be polite to contact the person who put their tree up. Perhaps to offer information or discuss relatives, if not, what's to stop anyone doing this maliciously? In this case, I think the other contributer was mistaken in thinking their information belonged in my tree. When I saw the changes at first, I was unaware I could restore the details which had been removed. This has all now been done and I can get back to searching for my hidden relatives again.
Thanks again
Bodach
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You can contact anyone who has added to the profile. Look in the changelog for the name(s). The username is linked to the messaging service, and you can correspond in private.
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I just found an instance where someone had decided to add my great-grandmother's sister as wife/mother in a family; I took a cursory look, fixed a birthdate, found the birth record, saw that the mother was much older, detached my relative, created the correct mother, found their marriage (for which my relative would've been 8 years old), attached that. I've stopped short of adding the parents or looking for birth records, and I also haven't dealt with the dozen or so record hints: I figure that's not my job. (I mean, it's entirely possible that there is a common ancestor, just much further back, but I don't have time or energy to go looking.)
The point relevant to this thread, though, is that I did all of that without ever contacting the contributor of the incorrect relationship. I don't need to contact anyone to know that the conclusion is incorrect, and I likewise don't need to know anyone else's reasoning (or lack thereof) to correct the conclusion and attach the evidence. Turning it around, if I were the other contributor -- the one who'd made a wrong guess -- I wouldn't expect to be contacted if someone had better information. I would be happy to be corrected, and to have the key evidence found and attached. That's how a collaborative tree works.
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Absolutely. If someone has more information than I have I'm only too happy for them to add to what I have. But, information on my tree which is correct was deleted and people not connected to me added. Not one or two names, several names were added. At the time I was unaware that I could easily go back and add in the correct names again. Adding something is not a problem for me. Deleting and adding wrong information is a problem if I don't know how to correct it easily enough. I just saw my worke wiped out and replaced with nonsense in my opinion. None of the names matched or were even similar.
It's all sorted now so happy days again.
Thank you
Bodach
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It took me a little while to work it out but i got there. I did try and contact them but they've never replied.
Thanks
Bodach
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Thank you.
I had no idea about changelogs. I thought all my information had been wiped
I did get there in the end by stumbling into it. When I figured out how to reset all my correct names it was fine.
I cant / couldnt figure out why, there are no connections to who she entered. I've sent a couple of messages but no replies.
Everything has now been reset to the correct details and I'm smiling again ☺️
Thank you
Bodach
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