Can Reject Merge comment be included on both profiles?

Question

Comments must now be left when a merge is being rejected, as well as when proposed.

Previously, it was stated that the Comment left at time of Merge Proposal is only put on one profile so it would not be duplicated when profiles are merged. Many of us would prefer to see it on both profiles until the merge is completed so it is more obvious when viewing both profiles.

After rejecting some merges, I determined that the comment is also only being left on one profile.  In this instance the other profile has no comment and people have no reason to think that there is a comment about that profile on another profile since rejected merges never had comments left.

Could this be changed since it could prevent future merges from being proposed, if the reason for being rejected is seen on both profiles?

Comments

I agree.

I would also be thrilled to see something other than "Not the same person" as the reason for rejecting a merge.  That would help prevent future merges from being proposed also.

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I agree about that, but it is the same with proposed merges where the comment just says 'same person' and / or the person proposing the merge 'archives the message' immediately, so if someone looks at the profile, they can't tell when the proposal was merged (have to look into changes log to determine it) or what the reasoning was by the person that proposed the merge.  Unfortunately, you can't make people be more wordy in those explanations or keep the messages from being archived.

Answer 1

I agree; It seems this would be a best practice when the match is rejected, so everyone is aware of the rejection and why it was rejected.

Answer 2

Are people not reading the comments on both profiles before changing the merge status?

Duplication isn't the only issue with having comments on both profiles. If the status of a merge is changed (for example, from rejected back to a merge or match), the reason is posted as a reply to the last status change on that merge. The chain of comments is easier to track for people if they are all on one profile.

Comments

When a merge is rejected, as I just did for some unmatched merges, I left a lengthy answer on some and realized it was only posted to one profile.   When people propose a merge, I think that most people do not look at comments on one or both profiles.  Many times the comments are 'archived' so they are hidden on one profile.

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The other reason for having the reject reason on both profiles is that someone won't 'waste their time' checking the profiles to see if there are sources for the information, as well as whether they do look to be the same.  If there was a reject reason on a profile first, then someone 'might' see the reason first and not spend the time.

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I agree with Linda - not everyone checks the comments on both profiles before merging. Also the person proposing the merge may not be a PM of either profile. So one PM gets the benefit of the explanation, the other doesn't.

If the proposal comment went to both profiles, and any rejection comment went similarly to both profiles, they would be in a thread for that particular profile.

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I agree that people cannot be counted on to read merge or rejected merge comments. They sometimes don't even pay attention to the merge comments on the target profile, let alone the one that is slated to be merged into it (or where there was a rejected merge). It would be nice if they did, but in my experience, many people pay little attention to the comments.

That said, for people who do read comments, it would be nice to have them on both profiles.

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Jamie, here is an example of why the reject messages would be helpful on both profiles, since there are no comments being posted to both profiles.

In Aug 2021, I proposed unmerged match, which did NOT post a comment on the profiles.  I posted a comment on both profiles so the PMs were aware of the problem so research could be done.

Someone made changes in Jan 2023 to both profiles, so now they do not look the same.

When one PM stated that they are not the same, I replied to his message that they are now different 'because of the changes', so those comments are on one profile.  

When I rejected the merge, the reject message is only seen on the other profile, but it is not on the profile that I had replied to, so the other PM, or anyone reviewing that profile or the comments will not see the reject message.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hart-11939

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hart-2365  - has the reject mesage since it is lower seq