New Profile vs. Unlisted Profile

Question

I am creating a new profile of a living person. When I add his information two unlisted profiles pop up in the - If any of the following appear to be a match do not proceed to create the new profile - area. 

How am I able to determine if he is one of these profiles? I know we want to avoid creating duplicate profiles but its impossible to tell who these profiles are. It doesn't even list a profile manager to contact. I feel stuck. 

Answer 1

The simple answer is that you cannot know.

Unless you know any of this persons ancestors who are deceased - you can look for them and (if they do exist) track back to the current generation and try and determine how likely it is that their profile is already created or not.

If there are no ancestors tracking back to the current living generation, then the chances are probably good that he does not have a profile since there is no current connection. But then you will have to find those ancestors and add them to the tree ASAP.

If there are already ancestors on Wikitree that track back to this persons family - his parents and grandparents - then the chances are probably high that he does already have a profile, so you dont need to make one.

I would say that since you already have 2 unlisted profiles popping up just under your persons name, you would be safer to NOT make a new profile.

Comments

Though that depends on how common the name is. If I see unlisted profiles when I'm adding a John Miller, and I don't find any duplicates of my John's parents or spouse already in the database (or a private profile attached to the existing profiles of parents or spouse), I'm adding my John anyway. Whereas if I'm adding a Methuselah Cronise (or even a Methuselah Miller) and see an unlisted duplicate, that's worth my investigating further.

Answer 2

The other work around I have discovered is to type the first and last name in the search at the top of any profile page, and then see if an unlisted comes up on the index generated. This is one of the few places that will give you the ID number for each Unlisted with the birth name spelling. This will tell you whether or not the Unlisted that popped up was an exact spelling or a syntax kinda/sorta.

 

For example, a question came up in G2G on how would we know if a Notable profile had been created for writer Philip Roth. I put in "Philip Roth" in the search and every Unlisted that came up was a different spelling for the birth name, so answer confirmed, no Philip Roth to date.

Comments

Cool - a new tip to get around the restrictions. Thanks Rebecca!!