Examples of when you should or should
not merge data
OneGreatFamily is the first
truly collaborative genealogy service that allows
everyone in the world to work on a common family
tree. Overcoming the challenges of letting people
work on the same family tree hasn't been easy.
First, we had to ensure that people would always
be able to retain "their own" view of their family
tree. This means that OneGreatFamily respects the
opinions and information provided by each person
using OneGreatFamily and preserves each unique
perspective. Where conflicts or disputed evidence
occurs in OneGreatFamily, each person maintains
his or her right to see the information believed
to be "right" or "most accurate."
Where other software applications require an
immediate choice to be made when merging two
individuals together as to which version of
information to keep, OneGreatFamily allows users
to merge individuals and still preserve all of the
information from both trees that have been
merged.
The rule for merging two people together in
OneGreatFamily is quite simple (but can actually
require collaboration or additional research):
"Feel comfortable merging together any two
individuals in OneGreatFamily who you are
confident are actually the same person." The
question then becomes, "How confident?"
OneGreatFamily can help with your confidence
level. When you click on a hint lightbulb, you
will see a tab at the top that shows
OneGreatFamily's confidence level that the two
records are duplicates. Hints only occur if there
is a high probability of duplication. You can look
at parents, spouses, children, siblings, and event
information to become more confident in your
decision to either merge the records or to reject
the hint.
Here are two good examples:
Example 1: Two individuals in
OneGreatFamily have the same name, parents and
birth information. They also have identical
spouses by name. On closer examination, however,
you see that the version in your tree includes
three children and the other version includes only
one child. The child included in the other version
is also included in your list of children.
This is a case where you can safely merge the
two individuals. OneGreatFamily did not
automatically merge them because they had
different information for the children; however,
the chance that they are actually two different
people is remote.
Merging these two people will create a
conflict, but that's OK. You will continue to see
three children from your perspective, and the
person who submitted the other version of the
family tree will now "inherit" two additional
children. Merging the two lines together may
provide both of you additional names and
information for your known family trees.
That's part of the power of OneGreatFamily. You
can collaborate with the person who submitted the
other version of the family tree. In this case,
there is a good chance the other researcher has
only focused on a direct line and has chosen not
to research other siblings. Merging the common
ancestor can provide one or both of you with
exciting new leads and information to verify and
"make your own."
Example 2: Two men in OneGreatFamily
have the same parents and birth information, but
their wives and children don't look the same. Upon
closer inspection, the two men have one wife in
common, but one of the men has a second wife
listed. You look further and recognize most of the
children also have the same information. The
common wife also has the same birth information
and names for parents.
In this case, you can also safely merge the two
men and the wife who is listed as the spouse in
both cases; however, be careful NOT to merge the
second wife who was listed for one of the men with
the first. Merging the two duplicate men does not
mean you agree that he had two wives or that you
necessarily agree with the information included in
the other family tree. It simply means there is
enough information available to identify both
individuals as the same person.
Merging these people will also create
conflicts. You will have conflicts on the children
as well as on the spouses. You will want to merge
both instances of the common wife, since you have
verified that the information has been duplicated
and merge together any duplicate children. Take
care NOT to merge the two wives together, since
they are not the same person and come from
different families.
You can feel comfortable merging people
together who are obviously the same, even if all
of the detailed information doesn't match
perfectly. Use your common sense to only merge
together people who are in fact duplicates of each
other. Looking at available notes and sources can
be another tool to identify when two people are
duplicates.
You will always be prompted to resolve
conflicts that occur as a result of merging people
together. Don't feel that you need to accept the
information that has been supplied by others as
your own. You will want to refer to notes and
sources to inform any decisions you make. You can
also contact the other researcher to learn more
about the information they have supplied.
Differences in opinion or evidence are natural in
genealogy. Resolving all conflicts, although it
may sound like a noble goal, is not necessary to
succeed with OneGreatFamily.
OneGreatFamily will continue to automatically
provide hints and merges; however, your
participation and the participation of others is
vital in the effort to create a "common family
tree" for all of humanity.
| 
