2. Prevent mergers with MH trees

Donovan, does SmartCopy replace the contents of the About Me section on Geni?

Hi Donovan - welcome! The comment to the size was rather a tongue in the cheek comment that it should be prevented altogether ;) Like you said, the functionality is great and I am pro technology advances, but the results are unfortunately causing duplicates and prospects of incorrect merges.

To summarise what I believe: Geni = one tree that is a collaboration effort of all users. MH = 1 tree by one user (maybe with a few smart matches to others or copied from others). Which one is most accurate and why would you copy data from one which is probably less accurate, in the process destroying the collaboration effort?

Brendan, No it doesn't replace, but adds to the 'About'

Geni is currently on a drive to increase the size of the WFT to over 100 million profiles, (you may have noticed that there is an increase in merges to stand alone trees going through.)

MyHeritage has a much larger user base than Geni and many many more profiles, admittedly many are duplicates, but it (and the other sites SmartCopy can access) is a great resource to tap into to grow our WFT, Jan why do you think it destroys our collaboration effort?

Don, MH is a great site for stand-alone trees per say and I have been an user myself.

However, the data transported from there, even if accurate and not in duplicate with Geni, loses the tie with that user - who has no interest in the WFT.

Results:

1. Subsequent data changes by the MH user (on MH) who created the profile in the first place, is lost - there is no functionality that will frequently check for MH changes and port it back to Geni.

2. A profile managed by many users can potentially be overwritten (or merged-up) by a profile managed by a single user with no collaboration interest.

Maybe it is a bad example, but MH is like a large corporation, where each user is a manager of his department only - and no one sees the big picture. In contrast with Geni - where there is only a big picture (except for those who choose not to see it). It should be clear which one is more valuable.

To my mind, the test on the amount of data - it is the total of Geni vs the data of any 1 MH user only. Yes, there are quite large MH databases, but NONE of them is as large as the WFT - not even close!! There can be no arguments!

So yes, back to how I worded it.... if data is copied from MH or any other source, it would be best that only data not on Geni is copied over....

Examples:

1. Profiles that does not exist on Geni - should be copied over unlimited. Here I am with you 100%. Lets grow the tree.

2. Profiles that exist on Geni - only copy data fields that are empty in on Geni. Do not overwrite any Geni fields (well, except where the fields are exactly the same, hehe). Maybe in the about section, where the MH match is recorded, write out the fields that were in conflict... - NOTE: here we are not growing the tree... :)

And my "pennies' worth.
If people do a SmartCopy and follow through with the profiles added and make sure it is correct instead of let other clean the incorrect SC(SmartCopy) it is a fantastic tool. But just to gain profiles that are totally incorrect - in my eye - and I am sure it was/is not Private User purpose. But Private User in my sister in law's tree one was made when we started and it was duplications, incorrect and the person responsible did not follow through to profiles to make sure. He/she messed up a well researched tree.
I am in favour of it, BUT then the people must follow through It took me and Hettie a week to correct the incorrect.
Judi

I suggest talking with the person, but I think we're pretty clear about the responsibility of those using it on the project page. It helps automate a process they would otherwise be doing manually, but in either case, duplicates should be merged and conflicts resolved. I can understand the possibility of introducing bad data - we all know the risks with using other trees as a source, but we should be being diligent and cautious as we bring in new data. Curators also have the ability to revoke use of the tool if we feel a user is being irresponsible, unless it's another curator, and then be beat them with the shame stick.

But do know that finding duplicates on Geni is sometimes difficult - they often don't just pop up and searching can also produce incomplete results. This actually happen to me recently - no match, searched, no result, imported family to then find out there were duplicates after researching the grandfather. So even when being responsible, you may end up with merging unnecessarily.

Yes Jeff :) - also see the item that the strength of the 'lookup' facility should be relaxed. In fact, I believe Geni should not allow users to Block other users, when that happens you do not see their profiles when searching - goes against some Geni 'colaboration' principles - major hassle for me personality as I always first look for a person before adding, and subsequently as if a miracle find that person exact spelling most of the time - maybe only block direct communication!

Even more important would be a functionality to 'warn' users when they create duplicate profiles - maybe starting point should be when adding similar spouses or siblings - easiest to implement direct relations? Then build the functionality from there (including your software).

Please join the project and add your 2c.