Why aren't unmerged match requests treated like merge requests?

+16 votes
246 views
When I propose the merge of two profiles, I get a box to enter my reasoning for the merge, and the managers of the profiles receive an email notification of the merge request.

When I propose an unmerged match of two profiles, I get no box for my reasoning*; I have to manually comment on both of the profiles to explain why I think they could be the same person and what discrepancies keep me from proposing the merge. And the profile managers don't receive an email notification; at most, they get a note buried in the WikiTree Family News email, easily missed.

If someone proposed merges on profiles I manage and I missed the email, I can go to "Pending Merges awaiting action from me" to see what needs work. I can't, as far as I can tell, see a list of all the profiles I manage that have Unmerged Matches.

Why are merges and matches treated so differently?

We've had regular complaints about the number of unmerged matches that never get resolved. But as long as there's that extra hurdle to explain why it's an unmerged match rather than a merge proposal, and as long as it's hard for profile managers to *find* their profiles that have unmerged matches, profile managers aren't going to fix them.

 

* I do get a box if I'm changing a merge proposal to an unmerged match. But I should get one from the beginning.
in WikiTree Tech by Sharon Casteel G2G6 Pilot (162k points)
retagged by Robin Lee
And additionally, unless I am mistaken, you have to delete the un-merged match before you can do anything by creating a new merge. All a waste of time and patience. I am sure this could be handled much better. At least allow an un-merged match to be merged if all the boxes are ticked without having to jump through more hoops.
@David: I believe that the need to remove the unmerged match is a technical requirement related to the structure of the WikiTree databases. It's not something that's required because of someone's whim.
You may be right but as a rather long in to tooth database programmer I doubt this. More likely it is because of the programming rather than the database structure in my opinion.

1 Answer

+5 votes
by Robin Lee G2G6 Pilot (846k points)
And we have been unsuccessful collectively to convince Chris W that this is worth making the change.
I'm holding out hope at least for a way to see which of the profiles I manage have unmerged matches.
I'll have to look into this. :-)

Sharon, isn't think what you're asking for? https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:BrowseMatches&u=6671577&type=matched&order=dateup
Thanks, Chris! That's what I'm looking for -- it didn't register on me that the "My Watchlist" on the top row applied to all the options.

(I still would like an explanation box when proposing unmerged matches, though ;-). )
Thanks Chris.  I did not know about this either, but appreciate that it is in place.

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