I recently agreed to merge one of my family members with a cousin.

Question

I had more information on my page but I got his page.  I undid the merge and re-entered my information and now I have a request to merge the same person with another member who has the same person but his page is the same as the one I first merged with.  I know we have to be family friendly but I have more information on my page on this person.  What do I do? Joan

Gray-4368 and Gray-492

Answer 1

You can compare the two profiles side-by-side when you initiate a merge. You can then mark which information "wins" and ends up in the merged profile.

The information from the Biographical Notes and Sources from both profiles will be automatically added to the new merged profile.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Hi Joan,

I'm not sure I entirely understand your question.

First, it's important to understand that merging is required. If two profiles represent the same person, we want to merge them into the same profile. This is essential to how WikiTree works. What makes WikiTree special is that we're working on one collaborative tree.

No information from either profile needs to be lost. As Martyn notes, you can select which fields to keep during the merge. After the merge, you can edit these fields, and anything else. A profile is always a work-in-progress.

Is there something more you're asking that I'm misunderstanding?

Chris

Answer 3

Joan, A possible explanation - Gray-4368 would have been merged into Gray-492 (the lower number). When you compare the two profiles side-by-side, Gray-4368 is a "Public" view, but Gray-492 is "Private" and therefore not all information is visible. It may be that all your information is there, but hidden. You probably need to request addition to the Trusted List of Gray-492. I have experienced similar issues with merges where I have added another person to a Trusted List but the other party does not reciprocate (unless prompted). Give it a try. Peter Knowles

Comments

Peter, and Joan, Personally I would request to be added to a trusted list first in order to compare pages before agreeing to the merge . BUT... when you merge you should automatically be listed as profile manager on the newly merged page and be able to edit ,unless it is a hsa which may have a different protocol... I am slowly dealing with the merge question by merging where i have data which agrees with exsisting profiles. those that have no info but names will. wait until i receive request to merge and i will deal one at a time... I think that so far this works well for me. I think my main concern is fouling the wwt with gedcoms that have nothing to back them up,no docs certs etc ... i worry this is already happening and so once again it will end up like all the rest who in order to get people to join, allowed undocumented lines. I am adding all i have and it should be up to undocumented profile managers to prove that I should merge by showing some kind of documentation ,pictures, certs, letters... just as i have to show why i should be on a trusted list or merge into someones tree... touchy subject for me because i chose wikitree because i feel its the best setup but those huge gedcoms with no docs are not only unfair they are potentially dangerous to those who are meticulous,serious, and long term family historians. I just try to keep in mind that maybe one day it will be sorted out... in meantime im having fun and learning and yes, have had a couple good merges so Im excited to do more research...

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Just to clarify, Gray-4368 has not been merged into Gray-492. Gray-4368 is still there: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gray-4368

If the profiles had been merged, you wouldn't need to request access. The trusted lists of the two profiles would be combined, so both would have access to the merged profiile.