Is allowing GEDCOM import a good or a bad thing?

Question

I'm new here but already I see an awful lot of unsourced information with a note about a GEDCOM upload.  I could have easily downloaded my ancestry.com tree to a GEDCOM and then uploaded it to WikiTree but I'm glad I didn't.  At least for me I'm really trying hard not to create duplicates.  Going one seems the best method for me, I'm just sayin...

I'd be interested in feedback to this topic.

Answer 1

You're right that GEDCOM uploading does cause more problems than manually entering data. That's part of the reason we limit the size of GEDCOMs you can upload at one time, and also limit how far back in time your GEDCOM upload can go.

But, as it is, some people don't like these limitations. I don't think the reaction would be very positive if we did away with GEDCOM imports altogether. :)

I also manually entered my data, because my Ancestry tree was started back when I didn't know online trees weren't reliable sources, so I wanted to start things off right on WikiTree. I'm glad I did, because it also forced me to go over all my research and I discovered a lot of new facts along the way. So I agree that that's the best way to do it!

~Lianne

Comments

I'm going slow here so I have a lot to discover.  I've merged just one of my ancestors with one of his but now we've got some strangeness.  He can't seem to add siblings they way he wants to and I notice our merged spouse now has 2 husbands of the same name.  Again, this could just be a training issue but I think that some kind of step by step tutorial where you bring in one person, merge a record, add a source would be beneficial.

 

Ed

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Hi Ed,

What's the issue you're having with siblings? Maybe I can help.

As for the issue with the 2 husbands of the same name, that's normal. When you merge two profiles together, it doesn't automatically merge duplicates of connected profiles. So if an entire family is duplicated, you'll have to merge each member of the family.

See the Merging FAQ for more info, and feel free to email me at Lianne -at- wikitree.com if you need any help.

~Lianne

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I understand now what has happened and thanks for the reply.  As I begin to build out my tree it is becoming more apparent that many people have simply uploaded blank GEDCOMS with names only.  Really tough to make decisions on merging when every possible match contains no birth dates or other important statistics.  When GEDCOMS are uploaded are there any required fields?

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It looks like the simplist thing to do to remove clutter is to click the drop down only looking for matches that have dates.  I'm going to have to figure out how to set that as my default.

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GEDCOM vs. MANUAL

I do a combination of both in getting my trees up here . I seem to be in the habit of uploading about 20 people at a time , a family group, and then I make a note to myself to check for the duplicates right away.

This process makes me research harder while I am finishing the family groups up while on Wiki Tree . Sort of like a "okay folks , this is what I have found so far on such and such " . This way , I do not put all my research away & it really goes up . Plus , I can edit/update later.

 Working with smaller family groups via a small upload , and finishing manually works for me .

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I really can't let this topic die and I hope others provide feedback.  I've spent numerous hours checking matches against the more common names in my Tree (Henry Brooks).  Nearly every 'match' is an uploaded GEDCOM with no information.  While I really believe being able to manually create someone with just a first and last name is fine a mass upload probably isn't.  What I propose is that in order to do a GEDCOM upload you must have a Birth and a Death date (at least an approximate year).  If you don't even have that just create them manually.

Feeback?

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first i do sort of agree with at least an aprox death date or year.  in gedcom uploads. in addition i think if all basic gedcoms uploaded that are only names and nothing else should be merged if no activity based on the unresponsive managers policy http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Unresponsive_Profile_Managers then simply changed based on the decision of a bot or a person. so that when some one does come along with information that could be attached to the name they would not be stuck waiting for an inactive manager or creating a seperate page. in my example a bot could be setup to scan for inactive basic pages and msg the manager to add detials,trusted list managers, then if no activty again the bot could simply open it up.

Answer 2

For me uploading the GEDCOM was just how I started. Now I am going through each profile to verify the information, edit the bio, and add proper, verifiable sources.  I think problems arise when uploading a GEDCOM is percieved as anything more than the very beginning of the work.

My goal is to create definative profiles, with a focus on quality as opposed to quantity.