Why can't I change LNAB of (Unknown) name on profile over 200 years old?

Question

I'm trying very hard not to WOWTWA.  I really would like a answer to the question above.  Right now I have some one who is wanting me to merge some profiles together as they stand.  When those profiles right now have people in them that have wrong dates, wrong places and wrong people in them right now.  But, they want me to merge three more profiles into them that also have wrong dates, wrong places and more wrong people in them.  In other words, 20 people already in the wrong place, wrong time and wrong family. Then merge them, as is, into another profile, as it is, that is going to add another ten wrong names, dates and places.  Their answer to merging these two profiles and another two profiles together is... merge them now as they are and let all the other profile manager's repair them.  Answer, me this how are they going to know how to do this when they can not easily see how they are wrong now? Surnames involved are (Gibson's mixed in with {Gibsom's that don't belong} and then Beebe, and {Beeby's that are the wrong LNAB} and then mix Stratton's in all four of the other family names that don't belong) and then all of them names mixed together into two profiles.  We are talking about Surnames that have been merged already into another Surname that was wrong.  Then others have come along and merged other Surnames into them that were wrong.  Then each of them have added children to these. Then over a period of time some one has come along and moved some of those children from that family into another family.  I have been trying to repair them for about four days now and have a few more things that need to be added such as... the LNAB to be added to Alice Unknown... so I can make the corrections in her family that need to be made.  Then after, I get every one with who they belong then I will source everything I can.  Sorry folks, these errors were not all created in one day... try 400 years.  Nor, were they all created by the same person.  Just as Rome was not built in one day...so is the case with these profiles.  All I am trying to say is breathe in... breathe out and just give me a few more days and I will hopefully, have them all sourced and then can....merge together the files you want me to merge together.  I came from the old world of..."If, you are going to do it... do it right... or don't do it.  All I am trying to do is do it right and not make ten times more work for the next person to clean up after me."  Thanks for listening... and I hope you understand.  I love WikiTree and I love all you who work hard all the time trying to make this a better place to contribute and share our time and interests in.

Comments

You need to be the profile manager (PM) of that profile for one thing.

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Changing an LNAB is the same process as merging a profile, so it requires Trusted List membership.

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Sorry folks,  We are talking about PM's who have not contributed anything (zero) contributions in six months on the LNAB  that was listed as (Unknown) on a profile over 350 years old that is supposed to be open.  I thought open means they can be worked on.  Then there is another PM who has Contributed (zero) since August of 2014. Seriously, how much longer do you want me to wait?  Oh, and PS, I have not received one request from anyone since 2014 to join a Trusted List on one of my profiles that I am PM of but, it has not stopped anyone from changing anything on any of the profiles they want without asking me. Nor, has it stopped anyone from doing merges on profiles that I am PM on without asking permission.  The additions that I am making to the profiles in question will have the source material where I got it from added to them before I finish up with these profiles.  Some people add sources when they work with profiles and others don't.  I can't remember seeing any profiles where the sources were added first and then the profile or additions were made afterwards.  Perhaps, you would like to show me where you merged two of your profiles together where either one or both parents were wrong and say four or more brother's and sister's were wrong and then add the fact that say half of the brothers and sisters were in one profile but the other half was in the other profile. Then one set of parents Surname was Apple's but all their children's Surnames were listed as Orange's.  I'm sorry, but Mr. and Mrs. Apple's did not have children Surnamed Orange's.  Would you merge two families together where both are already unequally wrong?  Then take another family that is just as mixed up and merge them together.  Then you would have two different sets of mixed up family.  Would you then mix the two of those sets up together just because your two sets now would have the same Surname?  Of course, you would not want to have your name listed as the one who mixed up the Apple's just so you could have final name of Orange's?  Well folks you decide do you think you could unravel the two families above and don't forget to source it all and get them all into two happy families all called...Apple's?  Oh, and do you remember where you laid aside the ones in this family with the Surname of you guessed it Walnut's...and did you forget to change them all into Apple's as well, before you merged them all together.  All kidding aside don't let the Apples, Oranges and Walnuts of your day drive you crazy. Careful, If, you throw stones one just might bounce back and beam you in the head.  Enjoy the hunt!   Smile and lol cause your on WikiTree.

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Ditto to your comment! I have found the same happening here on WikiTree and also on Ancestry. When I sent in a 'comment' on Ancestry, they replied it was not possible. I beg to differ, it IS possible because it happened to me.

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In the end I adopted the profile to enable me to change the LNAB If it had had a profile manager I would have sent them a message with a link to the source, but I wonder why we can't just change from Unknown when there is no profile manager and we have a source?

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Christine, the need to adopt the profile is a technical feature of the software. When you find an orphaned profile that needs a different LNAB, and you have a source to support the change, you can make the change without getting someone else's approval, but in order to do that you need to adopt the profile first.  

Answer 1

Barbara, I feel your pain and commend your efforts to "make it be correct.".  If you have already tried to contact the Managers (Requests for trusted list, private messages, etc., with no response, use the unresponsive Manager request and "adopt" the orphaned profiles.  Once you have them cleaned up and finalized, you can "re-orphan" them if you choose to do so.

As an alternate,

You might consider a "boiler plate" email that says what you are doing, why, etc., as it relates to these families, and then send a trusted list request to each "manager", then post a note on the profile that a Request was sent, date, and if not received to email you so you can "resend"..  You can use your "Request" list as a followup - after 10 days or so, use "unresponsive request"..

Hope that helps a bit.

P.S.  If the profile is over 200 years and locked (not white - Green); If you run into an unresponsive manager, then there is a link on the bottom right corner of the profile page labeled "open profile request."  You can ask that one of the WikiTree staff open the profile so that you can then proceed with edits..
Regards,

Comments

Perfect reply, Sandy

Answer 2

As for your question first,

Only the profile manager may change the LNAB. This restriction is the only one that has no bearing on the birth date so if the profile manager has been inactive and will not respond to your requests then the only course of action you have is to file an unresponsive Manager request and then adopt it.  The profile is Open so you can do anything else to it. As for the rest of your rant, that is the nature of a Wiki, and my own pet peeve is when others make changes without any sources, or worse yet sources than can not possibly be correct, when anyone can see that I am one of the active managers on here.

Sorry I can't give you a better answer but the LNAB is one of the very few things that Only the PM can do.