TIPS
Recently some changes have been made to how merges are done and the process that supports a merge request.
First of all, an announcement was made by Chris Whitten that was announced on the Data Doctor email list: Public profiles that were involved in a default-approved merge are now automatically changed to Open. There were about 1,500 pending merges where this applied.
Secondly, For a basic tutorial, see Paul Bech's merging video on YouTube.
Thirdly, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Merging provides written information on merging. It has the following sections:
1 Merges
2 Pending Merges
3 Unmerged Matches
4 Rejected Matches
5 Merging Help
5.1 Using the merge table
5.2 Merging text
5.3 Direction of a merge
5.4 Merging multiple duplicates
5.5 Merging parents
5.6 Merging spouses
5.7 Managers and Trusted Lists of merged profiles
6 Merge Problems
6.1 Accidental merges
6.2 Unanswered merge proposals
6.3 Profile Managers who refuse to merge
6.4 Profiles matched to themselves
7 Merging Shortcuts
8 Merging Free-Space Profiles
Remember: All profiles should have one == Biography == headline and one == Sources == headline with one <references /> tag directly beneath it.
When you merge profiles, the text sections must be combined. Our merging software attempts to make this easier for you. The text from the biography section from the merged-away profile is appended to the bottom of the text from the biography section of the merged-into profile, and likewise with the sources sections.
This automatic merging is rough. Always review and edit it.
Direction of the merge matters. We always merge a new duplicate into the original, first profile. That means higher numbers into lower numbers.
The only exception is when the original profile had an incorrect Last Name at Birth. For example, a duplicate of Benjamin Franklin, e.g. Franklin-2, would be merged into Franklin-1. But if the original was called Franklyn, it would be merged into the first profile named Franklin.
If three or more profiles represent the same person, all duplicates should be merged into the final/original profile. For example, Franklin-3 and Franklin-2 should both be merged into Franklin-1. Franklin-3 should not be merged Franklin-2.