Correcting items in error reports when profile manager active.

+14 votes
418 views
I understand why profile managers other than myself show up on my error reports.When I see that the profile manager is active recently I wonder whether I should call their attention to the error report, or just make the change?

Today I messaged a profile manager, the profile in question had sources and lots of data - the issue was that the husband was born several years after the two marriages he was supposed to have been part of!  In this case I thought the profile manager might have the sources at hand. So I felt a message was a good first step.

In many cases the errors are very simple to correct (USA to early, bad link to FAG, etc.) and I make the corrections without checking with the profile manager.

I know the profiles are open and we collaborate, but is there any feeling out there about wanting to know when profiles you manage are corrected?
in The Tree House by Kristina Adams G2G6 Pilot (343k points)
Or wanting to know BEFORE a profile is corrected!
i am in the process of working through my errors reports as i was informed earlier that there was a lot to go through once changes have been made do i put in my wikitree id or the person i have corrected not sure how this works need help thank you
You enter your WikiTreeID when you set the error status, Stephanie.

If you want help, just post a request for Data Doctors to assist!
thank you lindy

4 Answers

+11 votes
You betcha, Kristina - in fact, I don't just want to know when profiles I manage are corrected, but I want to be contacted BEFORE any changes are made.

Actually, I don't need contact from a "corrector" when it's been done because my feed gives me notice about those instances.

My experience with this "correction" stuff has been very negative and one of the things you itemized (bad link to FAG) is one of the two biggest problems for me.  I very often use FAG links to people other than the profile subject as sources for statements about their family members that I make in the biography.  These have often been deleted in the name of "correction", with explanation that it's not for the right person.  The "corrector" apparently has not taken the trouble to actually look at the fact in the bio that the citation supports and the result is that there are links from the footnote numbers in the bio to blank citations in the sources section.

I have asked - several times, in fact - for data doctors to at least go back and restore the profiles to before they did the damage, but only one person ever did this.
by Gaile Connolly G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Sorry to see the FAG damage. I usually add a phrase like "mentioned in son's article/page" on the end of the source listing when the FAG article is for someone else. I agree that these are worthwhile references. Most of the FAG cleanup I have done though has been on distant relatives. I don't recall hitting any your managed profiles, but very well could have. I'm to the 13th generation on my FAG errors. I have definitely found numerous errors and incompleteness with FAG errors - many of which were my doing. They have been very worthwhile for me in general. I did screw up a couple of them up when I started (wrong gender related). I learned quickly I think in this case.
+12 votes
If the change is sourced then I have no problem with it and in fact I try to thank the other person. I do have a problem with changes made without sources even obvious ones. I recently created a profile for a woman named George, Yes George and the name is on more than one source document, and I am waiting for some "data doctor" to change that "error" to Georgia. the "simple" changes can cause the most problems when corrected by some well meaning person who does no research.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
I agree Dale, it is likely going to happen.  Rather than sitting around waiting for it to happen, why don't you just go and mark it as a false error now?
Joe it will not show up until the next report but my point is that there are, yes multiple, sources for the name but most "Data Doctors" do not even bother to check, they just assume that i made a mistake and that is an even bigger error than any on the list. Far too many are just correcting "errors" to have a fast way to increase contribution points rather than take the time needed to do the research and make sure that it really is wrong.
In cases like that, I would add a Research Note and indicate that, although unusual, the name is correct and female.
+12 votes
My Error Report has caused me to dig in deeper and research.  It has also caused me to go around in circles -- sometimes I'm not the person who can fix the problem.  For example, an ancestor's parents were Abraham and Sarah, but I had connected him to the WRONG Abraham and Sarah.  I am very thankful that someone else could help me because I could not seem to fix it.

When I've found a source that someone else had not discovered, I usually email them; for example, "Today I'm honoring this ancestor, who served New Hampshire in the American Revolution under Col. Cilley" and I add the source, so the PM can "click here" to the link.

Some of us have only so much time, or access to only a few tools.  I do not subscribe to Ancestry.com, but I do subscribe to New England Historical & Genealogical Society -- you get the picture.  My library subscribed to Heritage Quest census records.  Plus, more records are available through the Internet than ever before; someone else may turn over a stone before we do.  

I am grateful for the help.  This is about collaboration, and building a better tree.
by Janine Barber G2G6 Pilot (227k points)
+6 votes
I don't think this is a simple answer because there are so many possible scenarios.  First of all let me start by saying I tend to try to involve the PM when I can before making large changes.  Exceptions to this rely on several scenarios.

1.  Active PM but a note was left over a month ago by someone on the profile and no action has been taken.  I think that kind of profile begs help.  If there are no sources, multiple errors hitting the error report from that PM, and issues where the PM has been contacted and has done nothing like a birth date that is after the death date... then yes, I think if you source the profile, find data to correct the error, go for it and leave a message.  But if no one has previously contacted the PM I would contact them first or at least try to.  

2.  Simple fixes like taking USA out of pre 1776 profile.  I do not think things like that need PM contact.  

3.  Adding sources.  That does not need PM contact.  

4.  Adding alternate spelling for a name I do not think that needs PM contact.  

Major changes should have PM contact.  

That is my opinion.
by Laura Bozzay G2G6 Pilot (824k points)
Totally agree with you.
I really appreciate new sources appearing on profiles I manage. Especially the ones I can access ~chuckle~

A private message or comment regarding contradictions in any sources is also something that helps.  Some people like to use Hidden Message Attributes on profiles; so making any change that could possibly be construed as counter-productive should obviously be avoided.  

We have all found some bad genealogy mistakenly reiterated and this is something a PM should decide. What changes this makes in a branch they are studying is likely best known by the PM. How they weigh the evidence, by hopefully referencing some of it in the bio, can help us all understand. The Error Reports are becoming more "fine tuned" as the quest for improvement evolves.

Keeping Profile Managers Involved helps us all!

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