About Collaboration & Shared Profiles

I'm not writing this to offend pro users/collaborators. I'm writing this to protect all users.

This is a shared tree/social community. People can login all over the world & add to this site. We're bound to end up with duplicate profiles & memorials...within our own clustered shared trees & also throughout all of Geni. And in many cases even I would like to merge these dups if at all possible.

Some people think you must be a pro user/collaborator to locate & merge these dups. You do have to be a pro user/collaborator to be able to click on "2 matches in other trees" or "3 matches in other trees"...etc. But you don't have to be one to go up to the search box, type that name in & click go. This will bring up a list.

There's 3 tabs. First one's all of Geni, second ones connected to you & the last one is just the ones you manage. If you've added the exact same person twice you should have no problems merging these dups. Otherwise if you find dups it'll tell you who the manager of the other one(s) are. So you contact the people...tell them of the dups...& if they're not already in it then invite them to your family group.

If you all connect via family group yet you can't edit/merge things...they've got their managed settings set so that only they can edit the things they manage. You may want to contact them about that...some people don't even know. If you're nice...maybe they'll switch their settings. Otherwise it'll be up to them to initiate/complete the merges. If they won't do it then you just connected via family group for nothing.

What have I got against pro users/collaborators? Absolutely nothing. I have a problem with that one feature because as far as I'm concerned it makes a liar out of statements made on the home & about pages. And since I'm quoting these pages when I'm dragging people here then it makes a liar out of me.

With invite to family group...there's no guarantee you're related but the odds are a whole lot better. With collaboration...could be family...could be a pro genealogist...could be a writer...could be a scammer/spammer...could be a cyber-stalking psycho...you just never know???

Why am I trying to get the feature deleted? I don't want strangers in this cluster of our shared tree. So you say fine Dawn...don't collaborate. But I want to & this is my cluster of our shared tree so it shouldn't affect you. You're right it shouldn't...but if we've merged something making us co-managers then it does. Because when we connect with people via family group or collaboration they can view & edit (including merging) everything we manage which would include things we co-manage.

What do you do if the manager of the other dup refuses to reply? Contact Geni. They can either contact the person or help you locate one of their relatives to connect & merge with.

Also keep it mind that adding, inviting or merging with people...none are required. Some people want small/personal & currently this is the only way to get it...by not inviting or merging with people. And if that's the case you'll just have to let them go.

What about Shared Profiles? That works with collaboration. You're supposed to mark famous people "shared" to help collaborators locate & merge them easier. I have no clue why they have a button (via settings) to globally mark all profiles & memorials shared. But I really recommend you don't click on it. Always remember profiles are living people - children too. Shared is just another name for public. If you have a famous person in your tree & you allow collaborators in your tree...then go to those profiles & memorials individually & mark them shared. :)