There are entire trees which are duplicates with incorrect information

Question

Please how do I deal with entire trees imported from unknown sources and abandoned or controlled by others who do not respond to messages. These entries are in some cases entirely fictitious - creating non-existent children and duplicate marriages and even non-existent marriages. I do not know where to begin to sort out the mess.

Comments

You have linked to your own profile, not to an example profile for this branch. Can you give an example?

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Wild-306 - George Thornton Wild is listed as a sibling to Abraham Thomas and Elizabeth Lavinia - he is not! Abraham Thomas is my grandfather and my father has confirmed that George was not a sibling.

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I don't know your grandfather, but he would not be the first one with an unknown sibling, just to say. Written documents is the way to go.

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Wild-306 and Wild-307 appear to be duplicates. I have sourced Wild-307 from baptism record and court documents so all the info is correct on that profile. Wild-306 has different dates but I believe it represents the same person. I have proposed a merge.

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Thanks, I will deal with it after work today. I'm very grateful for the help.

Answer 1

The standard way to go is to:

1. See if there are sources. The ones you linked to did not have sources: marked
2. See who the profile manager was. These profiles have been adopted or abandoned: bad luck so you cannot discuss it with the importer.
3. Source your own profiles. Check every detail to see if your own work is really proven. Oral history is a nice start but not proof, especially for missing links or removing links.
4. Search for sources for the unsourced profiles. If you find them add them. If you do not find them, write that in the research section
5. Discuss merging if they are the same and you can link the sources.
6. If the profile are really really fake, discuss with the team of the country what to do.

I do not advice to remove links before you take these steps: it becomes really hard to see what was there if the links have been removed, as the combination of names is very informative.

Comments

Thank you!

Answer 2

Hi Tracey

To be able to participate, add sources, integrate and help with profiles 

Look under Collaboration on the right side of the profiles  and ask to be added to the trusted list.

Your input will be much appreciated by all :-)