Just a note about the British Royal family...

+30 votes
726 views
Can we PLEASE stop adding profiles for them? They already exist!

Queen Elizabeth: Windsor-1
Prince Philip: Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg-1
Prince Charles aka The Prince of Wales: Windsor-21
Princess Anne aka Princess Royal: Windsor-131
Prince Andrew aka The Duke of York: Windsor-130
Prince Edward aka The Earl of Wessex: Windsor-129
They have their children and there is a specific project which is looking out for them.

I just merged another duplicate of Prince Philip and also of his son Prince Charles / The Prince of Wales. However now, because of that I've spotted a result duplicate of Camilla / Duchess of Cornwall and Prince William / Duke of Cambridge

Edit: Removed comment of requiring merge for the Duke of Cambridge
in The Tree House by Richard Shelley G2G6 Pilot (245k points)
edited by Richard Shelley
For me, my interest isn't just by relation (5th cousin 2x removed to Queen Elizabeth II but also due to family military service.

Honestly though, it has been as bad as seeing wikitreers who have created profiles for notable individuals and then orphan them (even though they are quite clearly alive and well)
Indeed, that's a duplicate of the late Princess Margaret. I set up a merge.
Good spotting Will and thanks Isabelle!
Are some of the people mentioned above still alive? If so, should we be discussing them here?
Might help if Wikitree could make them more easy to recognize. We all know this is a factor in this problem.

Stanley, the crux of the issue is that while all the profiles I've listed are unlisted (living people), duplicate profiles continue to be created, so something has to be done about it (and not talking it is not an option)

4 Answers

+23 votes
One cause for this to happen so often is related to the hard time people have finding these profiles. For the Dutch Royal Family, it took me over half an hour to find the profiles. Not that I wanted to start one, but it was really strange not to find them 'at once' as they are the ones looked for a lot.

In my opinion this has to do with the strict search on LNAB, and not on the commonly used names. A smarter search, including nick names, would really help in this respect.
by Michel Vorenhout G2G6 Pilot (307k points)
+15 votes
I was thinking perhaps a space page could be used as an index that can list all the major royals (from all royal families) and then a long list of commonly used names and titles with direct links to their profiles.

With perhaps a small link to the space page (index page) on the home page.

It could maybe be called something like Royal Family Index

So 2 clicks at the most.

One click from the home page to the index and then scroll down to find a link to the person they are looking for.

Takes no more than 1-2 minutes - rather than half an hour!!

I would love to see a page like that!!
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
But how will the people who want to add royal profiles find the Space page?

How will they know they should check for duplicates and how?

Are they even likely to know that they shouldn't create duplicates?

Here's the real problem: it's too easy for people to come to this site and start adding things.
Information on the space page tells readers to not create duplicates because thsoe pages are already made.

A link on the home page to the index page is how they can find these profiles.

Pretty much all royal families will already have all the profiles. I seriously doubt there are any royals who do not have profiles. The only new profile that might be made is for anyone who turns 13 - or a new spouse that marries into the family- but even then those profiles will still be  black (unlisted) so i dont see the point in making them. .
The problem is communication - reaching the people who want to create these profiles and telling them not to do so.

Looking at my feed here, I see another post from 2017 asking how to prevent importing more of these duplicates. Obviously, no effective solution has yet been implemented.

If people aren't reading the notices here, how can they be communicated with?

I set up categories several years ago to make it easier for people to locate royals.  Some of the projects are using the pages, while others are still working on them.  All of the following are sub-categories of European Nobility

Scottish Royalty, a sub-category of Scottish Nobility

British Monarchs (yet to be populated), a sub-category of British Nobility

Irish Nobility

Welsh Nobility

French Nobility

German Nobility

See this prior G2G discussion with more information/links: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1091551/have-we-shut-ourselves-up-in-an-ivory-tower?show=1092287#c1092287

+6 votes
Another part of the problem then, is whether Notables should have been protected by hiding them. When they first hid the profiles of people who are alive, I pointed out, you can still look them up on Wikipedia, and so many other places. Perhaps rather than hiding living notables, they should have guidelines on what can be included in their profiles. I.e. only including a description of what has made them notable.
by Ben Molesworth G2G6 Pilot (161k points)
+9 votes
As a related issue, the England Project gets a handful of requests per month to join the Trusted List for one of the living royals (mostly for the profile of the Queen). These will always be declined.
by Jo Fitz-Henry G2G6 Pilot (169k points)
I can understand that. You guys have done an awesome job with them (the Windsor family and co.) consequently, I've generally tried to avoid joining any of their trusted lists unless it's felt to be necessary.
That wasn't directed at you Richard :)

It was a general notice to the Wikitree membership.

I have Darlene's idea of a FSP and category page on my To Do list to make the existing British royals more visible.

I know smiley

Just acknowledgement and compliment to the work you guys are doing. I'm looking out for the profiles partially due to extended family (Queen Elizabeth being my 5th cousin 2 removed)

I do like the proposed idea, and if it's needed, more than happy to help out

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