Removing full source and leaving 1870 as the source

Question

I recently added four full sources to a barren profile, citing the Family Search reference.  Another person, two days later, adopted the profile and removed the full citations and left only "1870 census", "1860 census", etc. in place of what I had added. They were not so you could click on them and connect, (which I do not know how to include, or know how to find a census by a single reference to a census without the full citation).  There are probably a few more oldsters like me in the same boat.   What should I do now?  I don't want to name names to avoid a conflict.

Comments

Commented instead of answering.

Answer 1

I would also suggesting sending them a note.

I have come across this with Find A Grave sources lately.  Someone has removed the full source that lists the name of the cemetery and replaces it with just FindAGrave.  Aside from being able to see the source details, there is a risk that the source especially FindAGrave may change or be removed.  There are a lot of FindAGrave "wars" out there where duplicate records are created when an owner does not respond or agree with updates.  Then viewers are left with a broken link and have to do the search all over again.

Answer 2

The best thing to do would be to send them a message and ask them directly. I like to have the full sources or at least links to them so that information can be easily retrieved, but they might have thought that there was too much information listed and - who knows - they might have thought that it violates copyright or something like this.

So hopefully you can ask and it will clear it up fairly quickly.

Answer 3

I think that was a weird thing for the person to do, but I assume that they did it out of ignorance.  Often, when I look at errors on the list, I think that we need to create a series of tutorials on sourcing 101.  To me, a profile that just says "1860 census" or a similar spartan citation, is an unsourced citation and should be classified as such.

Answer 4

Wow,  that would be a problem for me.  I spend hours and hours adding sources and I depend on FamilySearch.org a lot.  They don't ask much from us, so I think it is important to cite the record as they request.

Citing this Record

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDJ8-L71 : 12 April 2016), Ephraim Smith, Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island, United States; citing family 470, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

I agree that it is probably an error by someone trying to "clean-up" a profile.  Send them a private message and request that the FamilySearch.org citations not be minimized to 1850 census or whatever.  The FamilySearch.org database deserves the full citation.  

Comments

Maybe someone is emulating those genealogists of yore who claimed in their books that their information came from records, but said they didn't include footnotes because footnotes would get in the way of the story.

Answer 5

Remember also that after you communicate with the adopter and get them to come around, you should be able to retrieve your sources from the Changes tab.

On that tab you will see something like "You edited the biography of so_and_so-27" with a link. Just click the link from the time when you included the sources and you will be able to retrieve your hard work.