my tree is being corrupted and merged with out my knowledge

Question

I have  people appearing in my" suggested management report" I do not have and never heard of and did not enter and I have profiles which have merge with their children's profile an or others. A number of my profiles have been seriously corrupted. The logs do not show anyone making the changes but some how the  changes have been made in a random fashion. I am at a lose to understand but the system involving my tree is seriously corrupted... Can someone help me understand what is going on with Wikitree and correct this before hundreds of hours of work are lost

Ron McCoy

Answer 1

Could you please give us one or two profiles to look at the problem, thanks. All changes should appear in the changes tab. There you should be able to see what was done and by whom.

Answer 2

Ron, can you list a couple profiles where this is happening so we can help you?

Comments

Hi

Farmer 4183 Mary Hemphill has become a combiniation of Wm Hemphill and Mary Hemphill. I did not make these changes or create this profile like this?? Fife 432 Sarah McCoy contains all my family names but she lives and dies in Clinton Ohio. The names in this profile might be found in my profiles but I do not recognize this profile and I have no relatives in Ohio so it is hard to make corrections. I work at this as time prermits but lately I am inudated with corrections and most I don't even understand? I am also increasingly finding profiles missing or altered in ways like the Hemphill one that makes no sense. How do I deal with these????

Cheers

Ron McCoy.

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I suppose you mean this profile of Mary Farmer with "Farmer 4183 Mary Hemphill". Yes, it definitely looks like something has gone awry here. And the Change history desn't show much activity.

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Sarah (Fife) McCoy was merged with Hife-1 on 12 Feb, according to her Change log.  You would have to contact the person who did the merge to find the reason for it.  It might have been a mistake.

Mary (Farmer) Hemphill doesn't seem to have been touched by anyone but the person who created the profile.

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Sarah (Fife) McCoy wasn't truly merged. Her Last Name at Birth changed, which looks like a merge. You can see the changes for the original profile here: https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Hife-1

You can always get to the details of a profile that was merged (or had its name changed) by clicking on the profile ID in the change statement about the merge. I've highlighted that profile ID in the following example:

16:37: Saundra Stewart edited the data for Sarah (Fife) McCoy (1826-1904). (Merged Hife-1 into Fife-432: found correct spelling of maiden name) [Thank Saundra for this]

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https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Farmer-4183&diff=56017042&oldid=0

Mary (Farmer) Hemphill was created with Biographies for herself and her husband, both - by Ron using his old account which has been merged into his current account.

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Julie, how did someone not on the Trusted List change the LNAB?

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Hi, Herb ...

The person who created the profile is the one who changed the Last Name at Birth. She then apparently orphaned it and Ron adopted it in Apr 2018:

• 21:44: Ron McCoy added Ron McCoy as manager for profile of Sarah (Fife) McCoy (1826-1904). [Thank Ron for this]

That change trail is here:

• https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Fife-432

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Just because the names match does not mean that they are the same person or that someone in the past mistook them for the same individual. I was looking at Sarah Fife and I believe that there is definitely proof of someone with that name who was married to Robert McCoy and lived in Clinton County, Ohio [see contributions under Research notes section].

Depending on the sources that were used in your data on a similar family which I have no access to, and the fact that you were not aware of this location leads me to believe that they were probably 2 distinct individuals. Further research might lead to them being related in some way however.

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I'm not sure if this matters anymore, but I did make a mistake re: the name change above, and I just wanted to correct my thoughts on it. Please read a summary in this comment.

Answer 3

Just a thought. ..are you looking at the "suggestions "" report listed at the bottom of the of the pull-down on under your Wikitree  ID?  That lists profiles linked in someway to the ones you manage that need some work.  The ones under "My Wikitree " suggestions are profiles you manage.   The "watch  list " there should only include profiles you manage.

Comments

. . . and profiles whose Trusted List you're on.

Just to clarify. Don't you have to be a profile manager to approve its merge or LNAB change?

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For an Open profile, any member can complete a merge with default approval after 30 days.  No one but the Trusted List or a project leader can change an LNAB.

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Just to clarify, my answer has on reference to the statement; {people appearing in my" suggested management report" I do not have and never heard of and did not enter}  That most often happens when you are looking at the "suggestions" in the Wikitree ID list.  True your own suggestions will show up, but often those that you may not be familiar with are also there.  I also know that you can edit open profiles, but if the manager is active or has somehow indicated they don't want help... I just leave it and don't touch any of their profiles.  It would be different maybe if the profile was in my direct line but the suggestions I am referencing are not.

Answer 4

When I read the changes for Fife, it looks like Sandra created one, then merged them, and changed the LNAB. if you look at the bottom, it shows Sandra created it.

The only way that I am aware of that this could happen was to put in for the merge and wait 30 days without response and used a default merge.

Comments

Hi, Lynette ... see this thread of comments.

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Lynnette --

I've been traveling and am only now getting caught up on emails.

I reviewed the change logs again, and I think you're right. It does look like there were tow profiles and an actual merge rather than just a change of the last name at birth: 

• Hife-1 was created on 6 Jun 2017. Change trail: https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Hife-1
• Fife-432 was created on 12 Feb 2018. Change trail: https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:NetworkFeed&who=Fife-432
  • The above 2018 date is the same date that the merge happened, but Fife-432 was created prior to the merge, which indicates that it was not just a name change.

The same person did create both version of the profile, though, so she should have been able to put through the merge all on her own w/out waiting for 30 days.

Ron adopted the merged profile a couple of months later.

My apologies for the mistake re: the name change vs. the merge!!! 

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Julie, even changing the LNAB would create a "Merge" event. And the only person who can cnage a LNAB is the PM.

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Actually it's the entire Trusted List who can change the LNAB, not just the PM.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Correcting_a_Last_Name_at_Birth

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Lynette --

You're right. I feel like I'm missing your point, though. Did I imply something different than what you just said?

Answer 5

It's been happening with me, too. But, I'm grateful for the changes tab so I can change it back.

Comments

I too have suffered the wrath of newbies trying to be helpful but are destroying profiles faster than I can fix them :)

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These are great opportunities for those of us who have been here for a while to connect with new people to help them learn. I do that all the time and 99% of the time, I get positive responses back.

When you don't get a positive response back, start here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Problems_with_Members

Thanks, ladies!

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I notice there's a lot of  profiles, a project, that are using links to paid sites as sources. That really disappoints me because I am not paying to see the real sources on that website, because this is supposed to be a free site. I feel it's unfair to members who aren't paid subscribers for those websites.  I am a member of many websites, because I work as a Family History Consultant for the LDS Family History Center, and they like their Consultants to get access when working on LDS profiles. Commercial Web Sites as Sources