GEDCOM Add Button missing & Import suggests hundreds of bad ...

+3 votes
563 views
After importing my GEDCOM file, Person A has over 20 suggested matches that are in no way related to the person being imported.

100 people 20 bad suggestions, 2000 rejections. No way. I am not doing that.

The system is suggesting people with no connection such as they are born in another country, not having the same name, having hundreds of years difference in birth dates, etc.

As a programmer, put a flag in your algorithm that when a match is made for person A, that all other suggested compares for Person A are marked as rejected suggestions.

Simply said, when I mark Person A with a match, remove all other suggestions for Person A.

Plus to get the add button you require me to reject suggested matches for people that are currently living. I have not idea if I am rejecting a valid match or not.

Stop making compare suggestions for living people who I cannot see their data.

You have serious problems with your logistics.

I suggest you adopt an import system like Geni.com

~3K
in WikiTree Tech by David Lynch G2G Rookie (220 points)
retagged by Ellen Smith
Suggested marches are annoying. But keep on reviewing those suggested matches, and you'll suddenly discover you are done with them. You have only 76 left to do.

Are you  exaggerating those numbers? I'd be surprised if any one person in your file had 20 suggested matches (because in my experience the system doesn't match that many profiles for one person).

Word to the wise: Don't hit the "refresh" button at the bottom of the GEDCOMpare screen unless you want more suggested matches to review.

My comment was based on several years of experience with GEDCOMpare, observing that the number of suggested matches for a person was capped at 10 or less. When people got more than that, it was because they hit the Refresh button, causing the computer to go looking for more matches.

Maybe GEDCOMpare has changed recently. sad

2 Answers

+6 votes

Simply said, when I mark Person A with a match, remove all other suggestions for Person A.

Duplicates can exist, so just because you find one match doesn't mean there isn't another.

Also just a warning, GEDCompare is not an import system. The "Add" button will just autofill the add person form with the data from your GEDCOM, so you will still have to add each person to the tree individually. And depending on where you created your GEDCOM, it can take longer to clean up the output than just creating the person from scratch.

by Jamie Nelson G2G6 Pilot (710k points)
+5 votes
I find gedcom compare useful to identify people not already on Wikitree and then add them using Sourcer to transfer person data to the create the new person page and then ditto for each source, that's neater and quicker.

 I agree entirely with Jamie. Wikitree's problem with matching is known and improvement has been signaled, but Wikitree is a small, lean operation and the tech staff have a lot of requests.
by Gary Burgess G2G6 Pilot (156k points)
I do many uploads. I don't usually see more than 6 suggestions per person and many with zero. I agree that private data is an issue.

I have done a lot of work fine tuning my process on the source data so that the upload is very clean when it gets to WT. I guess you have to choose what is best for your own environment. I have been uploading our family members to WT for more than 4 years now, so most of what I do now are new to WT.

Another thought. It is a must that DOB and DOD plus Place be in your gedcom, even if in your data all you have is a Baptism or Burial record. Otherwise it is very difficult to filter the results. This may be a cause of some of your issues as GEDCompare uses these fields.
Good point, but no way would I use a gedcom for one great-grandmother's family, she was a Smith. Some Scottish names also generate lots of matches.

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