What's protocol for duplicate cleanup?

+4 votes
206 views
I have stumbled on a number of obviously duplicate profiles.  Many are orphans.  What's the best way to go about helping with the cleanup?  Should I suggest the merges one by one?  Is it better to adopt them even though I may not actually be a descendant?

Example: Boone-114 and Boone-514

It's pretty evident that the siblings of these profiles also suffer from duplication.

I want to help, but want to make sure it's done in the most "proper" way for this community.

Thanks!
Lundie
WikiTree profile: Edward Boone
in Genealogy Help by Lundie Pinner G2G6 (9.5k points)

1 Answer

+3 votes
 
Best answer

Lundie, this is a great question. Thank you so much for asking. For wanting to do these merges. And for wanting to do them in a careful and considerate way.

Technically speaking, you've probably already seen this basic intro to merges http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Merging and you may have seen this more advanced page on special considerations when there are many copies of the same person http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Multiple_merges_and_redirects

But you're asking about the etiquette and community expectations.

Unfortunately you can't merge the two Boones yourself because one does have a Profile Manager. Whether or not you adopt Boone-114, the merge with Boone-514 will have to be approved by that profile's manager.

What I'd do here is propose a merge for one or two of them and include a note with the merge proposal (the space for comments will appear) mentioning the others. You could offer an advanced tip, such as if they go to one person's edit page and click the "show merge options" link in the right column they can merge the duplicate siblings very easily.

If you wanted to be really generous, you could say in your note that if the manager would like to put you on the Trusted List for all the Boones you could do the merges.

I realize all this is a bit clunky. If you stay interested -- and I really hope you do -- maybe you could become a Supervisor http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Supervisors

Supervisors can do expedited merging for historically-significant (and oft-duplicated!) ancestors. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Historically-significant_ancestors

I realize most of the Boones aren't quite 300-years-old, but there's a possibility we'll change this cut-off to 200-year-old.

by Chris Whitten G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
selected by Toby Rockwell
A little addendum: Finding and proposing merges like this just got a little easier.

From a public profile (without needing to be on the Trusted List) you should now see a little magnifying glass icon that leads to a FindMatches search, which had the merge/compare/match links on it.
Wanted to give major kudos to Lundie for wanting to help with this!! You rock! And to Chris- 200 years would be nice but the open would probably be needed on them too(no answer needed)...
Thanks!  Just my OCD kicking in! ;)

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