Set as Sibling not working.

+6 votes
228 views
Several times today I've attempted to "Set as Sibling" while creating new profiles and hitting on matches.  Unfortunately although I click Set as Sibling, a new profile is still being created, and I've ended up going back and proposing a merge between the two.  I sense something is awry.
in WikiTree Tech by Margaret Beaulac G2G2 (2.9k points)

2 Answers

+2 votes
 
Best answer

Hi Philip. This is the page where we are experiencing the problem

by Esmé van der Westhuizen G2G6 Pilot (148k points)
selected by Philip van der Walt
I now understand. I never use that function as it is only a suggestion and not a surity that the profile in question is indeed a duplicate. What I do is to first compare, and if it is indeed a profile I will just do the editing via the parents or add the Wiki-id in a box. If it is a bug it could be hugely problematic for the nineteenth century profiles where many generations of copious siblings share exactly the same name as either their (died in infancy) siblings, or cousins (which is confusingly often the case) or parents, and that during a time where multiple spouses was the order of the day, not the exception.
Philip I understand that it is not a surety that it is a duplicate, but I always check and then I click on the "Add a sibling" button. It always used to work perfectly in the past.

I am currently loading 19th century profiles and if I did not take note of what was happening I would have created numerous duplicates.

As Margaret stated, if the function is not working, it should either be repaired or removed.
I agree. If it is a bug it should be repaired or removed before it wreaks havoc (by being undetected) .

Thank you Esme for bringing it to my attention and Margaret for starting the treead 

 Adding siblings is a wonderful tool, (adding 12 children going back to the parents every time is time consuming) and I use it all the time. 

It happened to me several times. As recent as 2 days ago.

 I  always open the profile in a new tab, to make sure the suggested profile is indeed a duplicate. Then go back and either mark it as unmatched  or det as child .. In future I will rather  use the Wiki-id. connection method

Q :.Have we be reading the instructions incorreclty Does Set as child mean  we would like to proseed with our information, thus creating a duplicate 

If any of the following appear to be a match do not proceed to create the new profile. Connect the existing profile instead.

  • xxxxxxxxxxxxxx February 22, 1832 Beaufort Wes - February 13, 1875 ~ Managed by xxxxxxxxxx. [view] [set as child]
  • If there is no match above, mark the checkbox by names that are close. This will save a "rejected match" ect. ......
By the way

I just went to add new person.

Added my own information and no duplicate suggestion came up.

It seems that duplicates are inevitable
If your profile doesn't have a birthdate, the search utility may not find you.
I messaged Chris Whitten today and he is aware that there is a problem and the "set  as sibling" link will be removed.
Thanks Esmé.
The "set as sibling" feature has been removed (you can still use other shortcuts when adding other relationships).

As I mentioned to Esme, I'm embarrassed that we didn't spot and fix this sooner. I somehow missed the old G2G post. There's really no way that "set as sibling" ever could have worked. It's a more complicated relationship because siblings are just inferred from shared parents.

By the way, if you want to test this you would need to refresh http://www.wikitree.com/skins/wikitree/dynamicPersonMatch.js first.
Thanks Chris. No need to be embarrassed (if you don't mind me saying so as this could convey some bigger presumption of understanding and perhaps patronizing power that we [I] don't have) - though saying it shows your sincerity ... I didn't even spot the functionality (even though I saw the suggestions and took it at face value), let alone the bug ... The work you are doing for WikiTree is awesome!
Thank you very much Chris.
+2 votes
Margaret, I'm not sure if I'm following this correctly, but just want to point out that if you attempt to associate two people as siblings, and there is no parent identified, the system will automatically create a new "Unnamed Father" profile for the two siblings.  I'm told that this is done because the data base doesn't keep track of sibling relationships directly, and only makes those associations through the parents.

   If this doesn't apply in your case, just ignore the above, but it might help if you could provide a little more detail about exactly what you're doing, or perhaps an example.
by Dennis Barton G2G6 Pilot (549k points)

Here's an example of the problem.  I added Philip Rothrock as a sibling of Johannes Rothrock.  After you put in name and date of birth, you may be presented with possible matches, and a match did come up for him.  I clicked "set as sibling," and instead of  existing profile being set as a sibling for Johannes, a new duplicate profile was created for Philip.  So I initiated a merge with the profile I had hoped to set as the sibling.  (Rothrock-114).  The parents were identified.

Margaret I had exactly the same problem yesterday on 2 occasions. There is definitely a glitch.
What you need to do when this sibling has been identified through a match.  Is copy the Wikitree-ID to your mouse (clipboard) and then go to the parent and add a child.  This will automatically create the sibling relationship.
Vincent I agree that it is one way of doing it but of the function is provided on the add a sibling page it needs to work and not just create a duplicate which will then have to be merged later.

In a previous discussion it was mentioned that the link no longer exists. http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/125827/set-button-connect-existing-profile-not-working-as-expected.

If that is the case it should be removed from the page, as inexperienced users will inadvertently create unnecessary  duplicates.
It doesn't create a duplicate.

Vincent I have just tested it and it created duplicate Pienaar-1112

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pienaar-1105
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pienaar-1112

It clearly gives me the following option to set as sibling

Abel Petrus null Pienaar February 3, 1849 Hantam, Colesberg - ~ Managed by Esmé van der Westhuizen. [view] [set as sibling]

 

I'd call myself an experienced user, and in the past the function worked as it was designed to. Several experienced users have tested this and it indeed does create a duplicate.  Instead of recommending that we follow a series of awkward steps to successfully add a sibling, I recommend the function either be repaired or removed.

After my earlier G2G question on this subject, I decided I should never touch the "set as" link.

Margaret I fully agree with you. I just don't know how to get somebody to remove the link or fix it.
I have never had this issue (even though I am working with FireFox), but then I've never used this function - but it does seem to be giving problems as far as I can gather from this feed though ...

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