Adding new profiles

Question

Hi, I was wondering if there was some way of explaining this to new members joining Wikitree, because clearly they don't understand it or read it and I think it is of utmost importance in order to minimize duplication of profiles!

I did a mock experiment of adding a profile of a living person that I know already exists, just to see if maybe because the profile is unlisted one would not get the warning or see any information indicating that a similar profile already exists. needless to say, the warning came up clear as day, see attached:

If any of the following appear to be a match do not proceed to create the new profile. Connect the existing profile instead.

• Living Ridgway ~ Managed by Graham Ridgway. [send a private message]
• Living Ridgway ~ Managed by Shaun Doust. [send a private message]
• If there is no match above, mark the checkbox by names that are close. This will save a "rejected match" so that others do not confuse the two people in the future.
  If one of the above may be a match but you're not sure, request to join the Trusted List or contact the Profile Manager. In very rare cases, you may want to create your new version of the profile and then later propose a merge if they're duplicates. This should not be done often. It's important that WikiTree only has one profile for every person. Duplicates damage our entire project.

• Yes it only gives surname, so not very informative, It can be one of 100 or more Ridgway's. Had I not known these profiles then I may have made the BIG mistake myself as a new member. I feel we need to educate our new members in regard to these warnings when creating profiles.

• I have noticed on G2G a lot of members complaining recently about the creation of duplicates, it is becoming a big problem since the introduction of unlisted profiles. How can we better educate our new members or bring this one most important point to their attention?

Comments

A couple of videos exist for helping new members get the hang of WikiTree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTgOdAhSsVg The video is long, but contains some very valuable information for new members.

I am hoping that someone may have the time in the future to condense the video.

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Thank you Steven, I appreciate your answer and you are correct but clearly it is not enough, I think there needs to be a more hands on approach, maybe by integrator's or mentors? or by some other means, people don't seem to read or watch video's, also a lot are x Gene.com etc. where you can create as many duplicates as you want, so they don't know any better.

Answer 1

I wonder if watching the video could be a required element before full membership. Sounds harsh, but it might head off later problems like the ones  you have faced in the past couple of days.

Comments

That could help I'm sure Pip, as I said a lot of members are just so eager to get going, they just dive into the deep end. Not intensionaly i'm sure.