Why does the merging page no longer mention the correct spelling of the last name at birth?

Question

The suggestion used to be to: Merge into the lowest numbered profile with the correct spelling of the last name at birth.  The Help page on Merging - Direction of a Merge no longer mentions spelling (now mentions "incorrect" last name at birth)  Could we please have both: correct last name and mention correct spelling, too?

Suggested wording:  Merge into the lowest numbered (first version) of the correct (including correct spelling) last name at birth. 

Someone else might be able to do better at the wording.

Surely this is just an oversight (and not a policy change).  Thanks in advance.

edit: proposed wording

Comments

I dont understand why I as an user should understand this with lowest number.

Feels like a computer can decide which is the lowest number and that is the new WikiTree profile id....

Suggestion:

1. Change the WikiTree merging software to always merge to lowest number
2. Take away all references to merge into lowest from menus and help texts...

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Maybe, but you still have to decide which is the correct surname or spelling of a surname.  By this time I'd expect that most of the old matches which have been missed are different spellings of a name.

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At those times where you have to decide lowest number, the spelling is identical. Otherwise, you have to decide which is the correct spelling and the number is irrelevant. I do many merges and do not have a problem with the way it is worded as there is always a strong caution where the two names are different anyway. This to me is a non-problem and on the point of computers can decide, why not let all leave Wikitree to it to find all the sources and all the names by harvesting from online sources whilst we sit back and do nothing, bored, until we find a computer generated mess? Thought not..

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Gillian, The software will not permit a merge in the wrong direction when the spelling is the same so the suggestion by Magnus is a non starter anyway, it was done a long time ago.

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In regards to the lowest number, yes, the system always forces you into the lowest number if the names are spelled exactly the same

The warning is there to make sure you are certain that you actually HAVE the lowest numbered profile in the merge that you're doing.

In other words, maybe you ran across some duplicates, but you still need to search and make sure that there are not additional, lower-numbered duplicates out there.

I'm on my 1st cup of coffee. Am I making any sense at all? :-(

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I know it won't let you, but when you propose the merge, you have to do it the right way round or the merger gets an orange banner telling them to reverse the direction. That's what I meant by decide.

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I dont understand

The purpose with lowest number is in my understanding SEO ==>

1) if WikiTree has a lot of pages that looks the same and the page URL change all the time WikiTree get bad ranking at Google ==> solution merge to the same = lowest number

2) If WikiTree has more Redirects that redirect to the next that redirects t the next I guess is bad ==> always merge to the lowest number

Technical A merge is just a #REDIRECT directive on a page ==> if an user try to connect to profile A and that has a REDIRECT to B then there will be  

SERVER RESPONSE: HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
 

see G2G and example Dandrillon-1 ==>

Dandrillon-1 --> Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 --> Desrosiers-147

this REDIRECT I guess is bad see below as it jumps 2 times 

A) @Dale says it doesn't permit a merge in the wrong direction

Magnus comment: why should an user be involved at all selecting?!?!? It would be enough saying A is a duplicate of B

The WikiTree ID is an internal unique key that is just a way of navigating to a page. For me it doesnt matter if the page is called Sälgö-1 or Sälgö-2 its just an URL so why dont WikiTree tell me the new ID is xxxxx

B) Comment @Julie
In other words, maybe you ran across some duplicates, but you still need to search and make sure that there are not additional, lower-numbered duplicates out there. 

And how should you find the duplicates?!?!? I have found a lot of duplicates when checking WikiData links to WikiTree i.e. people add duplicates and will not find them.... so mistakes will be done.... 

It feels like a mistake that WikiTree has still 2017 

Dandrillon-1 --> Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 --> Desrosiers-147

and has not been corrected since Nov 2015 

Dandrillon-1 --> Desrosiers-147

Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 --> Desrosiers-147

Even if we follow the logic of Julie that person who did the merge Dandrillon-1 --> Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 should also found that 

• Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 --> Desrosiers-147 
  and done  
  • Dandrillon-1 --> Desrosiers-147
    and 
• then Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 --> Desrosiers-147

Summary

I) Wikitree should have some background bot that is correcting problems like  Dandrillon-1 

II) I guess this with lowest number is not true and a bad rule as if someone start thinking that  Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 was not a good LNAB and then creates a new merge then the result will be a 2 jump Dandrillon-1 --> Desrosiers-Lecoze-1 --> Desrosiers-147 ›

==> its nearly impossible for an end user to understand that the profile I merge already has redirects to it ==> it will never be a good solution asking the end users to do it correct 

III) Why involve end users of selecting WikiTreeID at all just tell the end users to identify duplicates and the rest is done by the software

If WikiTree should be easy to use then this feels like an area that should be done easier... and it feels confusing for everyone

Answer 1

Cynthia, I agree with your suggestion for the help pages. When I was working on a couple of merges yesterday I did see however that whenever the merge was proposed to go into the higher number a warning came up and forced me to merge into the lower number unless there was a spelling difference, then it mentioned both the lowest number and the spelling.

Comments

Dale -

I think Cynthia's concern is about the correct spelling phrase that seems to be missing.

I haven't experienced this yet, I'm curious to go look, too. I'll be back. :-)

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Julie, I read the question and I think your comment was intended for my comment above that was responding to a comment about making the whole process computer automated and did mention the correct number. The answer was responding to the question, the comment was not.

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Yes, I'm concerned that the phrase about spelling is no longer included in the Help Page.  If I have two profiles which are Brown and Browne, I might think - well, they're both the "correct" name.

We also need to remind people to always make sure they are dealing with the lowest numbered (first created) profile with the correct name (including spelling).

Julie, I like the way you put it:

... search and make sure that there are not additional, lower-numbered duplicates out there.

This is covered under the section, Merging multiple duplicates, but if I don't know to look first for lower numbered profiles with that correct name, I might merge the two in front of me, without looking for others.

Also, I just realized the default search excludes Rejected matches (have to ask for them to be included now).  I think this is not the best situation, as I frequently find duplicates listed under Rejected matches.

Thank you, to everyone!

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@Dale -- I think you're right. I read too quickly. :-)

Also, I just realized the default search excludes Rejected matches (have to ask for them to be included now).  I think this is not the best situation, as I frequently find duplicates listed under Rejected matches.

@Cynthia -- Thank you for pointing that out. Yes, I also find valid matches under the rejecteds sometimes, too. 

Answer 2

Cynthia ... I just tried this with two profiles on my watchlist with different last names. Here's what I see:

''Do not complete this merge unless Allen is the correct Last Name at Birth. If Alexander is correct, click here to reverse the merge. If neither is correct, change the Last Name at Birth on Allen-2396 before doing the merge. If you have found multiple duplicates with different last names, identify the final WikiTree ID before doing any merges. [more information]''

You should see this with any merge where the last names differ, even if one is a misspelling of the other.

Also, I checked the Merging help page section you linked to, and the wording there hasn't been changed any time recently. There was a change back in September, but it wasn't a change to this section. The change before that was in Dec 2015, and it also didn't change this section.