568 Wikidata - Unconnected branches to global tree

Question

I went to the help page.... and I am confused even more....

Added a person that can be found in WIKIPEDIA and then added their parents (i.e. Father/Mother) and siblings....   The error "Unconnected branches to global tree" is throwing me off here...   if I have added the parents and siblings and this is not a stand-a-lone profile how do I connect these profiles to the "Global Tree" ?????

On 15 Oct 2017 at 18:52 GMT Philip (Mills) Broughton-Mills wrote: For anyone else who had trouble understanding this error's description, it's basically: This famous person is not connected to the global tree (unless they're connected via private profiles).

I thought I was creating private profiles that the "Privacy Controls for Profile of..."  are unlocked/open.   If this is not the issue, what is the actual issue?

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/319108/568-wikidata-unconnected-branches-to-global-tree

In 2016 this was asked as well...  is it still an issue????   If the error should be taken care by someone else why is it popping up on my "Suggestions Report For Managed Profiles" in 2018?

HELP!

Confused in WikiTree

Answer 1

Wikitree is an attempt at gathering everyone's family trees into one giant tree.

The suggestion you're looking at is there as a reminder that the profile you're working on has not been linked to the giant tree. Usually, that is done by adding ancestors and other relatives until you run into someone already in the giant tree - the mention about private profiles is because the software cannot know if there is a connection through modern, living people that it can't look at.

The specific suggestion is there because the people who have pages on wikipedia may well be better known, and easier to connect to the giant tree, than your average person.

Comments

But what is the reference to Wikidata?

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Ros,

   "WikiData 568" is the error code.... Unconnected is the description of the error... hope that helps...

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R Teschner thank you for your input... I did have parents included on all the profiles that I added...

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It's not about the branch you're working with and how many twigs it has - but whether that branch can be followed through to the main tree. You'll know it happened when you see a message at the bottom of a profile page saying 'so-and-so' is x degrees from Queen Victoria (or some other notable). And it can happen in a non-linear fashion. My link is the first wife of my father's sister's husband lol not exactly direct, but still connected.

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Profiles with a link to Wikipedia are compared to the Wikidata item corresponding to the Wikipedia article (I think only when it is confirmed that the linked Wikipedia article corresponds to the profiled person). - this is done automatically, I think on a weekly basis (perhaps less often, but not more) through one of Ales's database tools.

If a profile matched to an entry in the Wikidata database has no connection to the main tree, this triggers DB Suggestion 568, signalling a notable (or close family member of a notable) not connected to the big tree. There are two suggestions, one for unconnected notables with family members attached (unconnected branches) and another for stand-alone notable profiles (unconnected "orphans" - nothing to do with the orphan status of the profile).

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I am still confused about the connection between Wikidata and WikiTree.

So, if a profile on Wikipedia matches to Wikidata i.e.a third party matches to another third party, but WikiTree gets the suggestion?  I could understand it if Wikipedia matched to WikiTree and WikiTree gets the suggestion.

It seems a bit like if FindaGrave matched with My Heritage, then WikiTree gets the suggestion i.e. nonsense?  

I suppose what I am asking is: Just how important is Wikidata to WikiTree?

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The profile at WikiTree is linked with the profile at Wikidata. Since there is a Wikidata profile the person is deemed "famous". Wikidata is a sister project of Wikipedia. it aims for expressing Wikipedia entry's text as machine readable data.

In my understanding, Wikidata entries are not as much quality controlled as Wikipedia entriesi. But it is considered a data set good enough to check Wikitree profiles against. This is a good thing IMO because quality control.

You may want to ignore error 568 or see it as motivation to find a connection to the global family tree. For instance I was motivated to find the connection of the famous Mendelssohn family and I did.

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 x degrees from Queen Victoria (or some other notable)

We do not all descend from or have connections to this band of brigands and robbers so why is this of any interest?

Are we saying this is actually an elitist European WikiTree in which there is no place for people from other countries without ANY connection to this rather dubious group of people?

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David - if Queen Victoria is on the global tree and anyone else is on the global tree then you can calculate the number of degrees between them. The same would go for any two profiles on the tree. That text is dynamic - today it is showing how many degrees I am from Henry VIII, Leslie Cooper and John Haynes.

If nothing else, I wonder if my brother-in-law's wife's family know they are direct descendants from the House of Tudor?

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OK I have a profile with a 568 error. Daly-966 Kathleen Daly who was married to Thomas Clarke. Thomas Clarke was executed by firing squad at Kilmainham Gaol on May 3rd 1916, aged 59 years. He is not connected either but my question is a) how does he or she get connected? and b) why? It is not the slightest bit on interest how many degrees he, she or I am from some knoble personage.

I see below my question about how is answered - and it is not an error so why is it of interest?

It seems there is an unhealthy need for people to be connected to someone of royalty, nobility or famous. Since many in that group of persons cause most of the ills in this world I would have thought they should should be shunned not praised or adulated.

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The point isn't how connected one is to, say, Queen Victoria.

The point is that we are all related, and Wikitree tries to show that by connecting as many profiles as possible to the same tree.

The connections to various well known people are only there to illustrate, and Queen Victoria is a good person to have as a permanent anchor because she is well known, and her family tree is well known (giving everyone else a lot of points to connect to).

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Only possible of course if you believe in Adam and Eve, which I do not. That does not detract from my statement that people seem to take a great delight in being connected to the Royal, the Rich and the Famous, the very people who oppress us. Vive la République!

Answer 2

According to https://www.wikitree.com/
the wikitree site includes 18,096,829 profiles.
According to
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:Unconnected
a total of 3,616,339 person profiles remain unconnected.
So doing subtraction ...

18,096,829 -
03,616,339 =
14,480,490 profiles are linked together in some way.

Wikidata suggestion #568 - Unconnected branches to global tree is not an error message that you have to do something about. They are just informing you which group you are in (the unconnected) and they hope you can try and connect your profiles up to the BIG tree of 18,000,000+ profiles. Obviously those numbers are constantly changing.

Comments

Thank you N Gauthier!  I think that was the simplest way for me to understand it!   

So my question for that answer is why is it showing up as an "ERROR" ???

You may not be able to answer that, however is there a way to suppress/inhibit that hit between the WikiTree and WikiData?

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It used to be called the error report for things that needed fixing or adjusting. Some people took offence to the word error, so now they call it the suggestions report. It makes the database better to clear away simple mistakes.

I doubt they will take that suggestion away because it is Wikitree's stated mission that their purpose is to make one global tree which shows that everybody is connected in some way.

They want to remind you to try and connect up your profiles. If you can't do it yourself, eventually in the years to come they expect someone will be able to link up your profiles. Some people volunteer to be Connectors and do that job.

Answer 3

There is a hope that all "suggestions" can be resolved and thus stop showing up as suggestions.

I have a 568 error showing up on a Roman Emperor who was adopted, succeeded by an adopted son, and married a woman with little known ancestry.  The chance of him ever being linked to the global tree is as close to zero as one can get.

Is there an approved way of getting him off the suggestion list?  Should I simply mark it "false error" with a comment?  The most prudent genealogists say nobody can really trace their ancestry reliably much before Charlemagne, so from that perspective none of the "Ancient Royals" people should actually be connected to the "global tree."

Comments

I would mark that one "false error."

The error message is in fact "true" because it is true that his emperor is not connected to the global tree. However, because it's impossible to connect him to the global tree, there's no purpose to the error (other than generating nuisance messages for you), so the error needs to be deactivated, and "false error" is the only way to that.

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Thank you!  I guess I was looking for permission to do that!