Between a PPP and an 'empty' profile with a lower number, which gets merged into which?

Question

I read "Project Protecting and Merging" and the G2G history. I still need to know - in THIS situation, am I correct to merge the lower Holyoke-18 into the PPP Holyoke-23? or not? " Do we ever just delete profiles? I adopted Holyoke-18 so I could clean it up, and I adopted Holyoke-23 because the PGMs call to me and I want to help write the bio. Now I realized I don't know what to do with Holyoke-18.  I adopted some orphan files related to Eilizur Holyoke-17 (working on his bio). I discovered after sorting out the confusion, that this orphan Holyoke-18 has a lower # than its duplicate the PPP Holyoke-23 (which I also adopted). #23 has a template by Michael Lechner and other items. #18 is pretty empty. Which one gets merged into which? I'm very new at this and juust want to be sure I get it right.

Answer 1

It is very important to ALWAYS, if possible merge all duplicates directly into the lowest numbered profile, even if it doesn't have as much information.

All infomation, including templates, will be copied in the merge, with the exception sometimes of marriage fields.  These should be copied and posted in the Biography section before the merge to be safe.

If you find a lower numbered profile that is not PPPd, but a newer higher numbered profile IS protected, contact a supervisor to change the PPP status to the correct profile, in this case, exactly what Daniel did.

For more detail on this subject see: http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/51703/behind-merges-identfying-lowest-numbered-profile-correct

Comments

Thank you very much Nae X for answering so unequivocally!  I love having the guidelines for how things are done at WikiTree clear in my head. btw - the merge went very well, with a lot of relatives merges already completed. Thank you!

Answer 2

If Holyoke-23 is protected and since Hoyoke-18 has nothing of value in the bio field, there would be no harm in merging Holyoke-18 into Holyoke-23.  You would not be deleting a profile only merging with another.  You won't lose your place as a profile manager, only sharing it with another, plus you will be a ble to edit the new profile.

Does this help?

Mary

Comments

Thank you Mary. My main concern is to not lose the template, and not mess up the numbering. Daniel fixed all that now so I will go "edit away". I really appreciate the help!

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It's actually impossible to merge Holyoke-18 into Holyoke-23. When the last names are identical, the system will not allow a merge in the wrong direction.

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Thank you Lianne!  It is nice to know the system would have saved me from myself if I tried to merge the lower # into the higher #.  Another good reason to love WikiTree.

Answer 3

I changed the PPP from Holyoke-23 to 18, so go ahead and merge into 18 and edit away.

Comments

Thank you Daniel.  As long as I don't lose anything from Holyoke-23, I will be quite happy.

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Let me encourage  you to merge the two and put the profile into one unitized piece.

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Thank you Tom - I too like seeing the fractured parts forming a completed whole!

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As long as the profile has been corrected, that is the main thing.  I'm glad a supervisor was available.