The BIG tree

Private User
THERE ARE TIMES THAT SHOULD TAKE CAUTION, CAN CAN BE WITH DIFFERENT NAMES OR WITH HUSBAND. Or no wife, with children or without children. CHOOSE TO BE VERY GOOD PLACE UNION, ALTHOUGH WE CLEAR AT OUR profiles to create the minor problem to merge the another tree, is your matter do´it . iI you don´t procede carafully , you create a problem, that is yout reponsability to merge and correct what is wrong in your merge

Private User
THERE ARE TIMES THAT SHOULD TAKE CAUTION, CAN CAN BE WITH DIFFERENT NAMES OR WITH HUSBAND. Or no wife, with children or without children. CHOOSE TO BE VERY GOOD PLACE UNION, ALTHOUGH WE CLEAR AT OUR profiles to create the minor problem to merge the another tree, is your matter do´it . iI you don´t procede carafully , you create a problem, that is yout reponsability to merge and correct what is wrong in your merge

Numerous trees have the same profiles, but lack all the information, i.e exact date of death, place of birth, etc. Merging them into one to show all the information is essential. However...beware...Son tree additions have misidentified relatives attached that can mess up a tree quickly. Be sure all information corrilates properly before changing. If in doubt, contact the other party to verify facts and dates.

Barbara,
YES this is what Geni wants, but Geni also acknowledges that NOT all Geni users want this. The Big-Tree has 45 million profiles, and the total on Geni is double that. Enough users have complain about being "dragged" / forced into the Big-Tree that it is a good thing they put the message there. it was the least they could do.

The great advantage that Geni has is that many of us collaborate. Barbara, you are right. For people to go to a site which is based on collaboration and not want to collaborate makes little sense to me. But Geni has a second objective as a for-profit company.

The great advantage that Geni has is that many of us collaborate. Barbara, you are right. For people to go to a site which is based on collaboration and not want to collaborate makes little sense to me. But Geni has a second objective as a for-profit company.

I am all for collaboration, but I think the warning message you are referring to is just a deterrent for bad merges. There are TONS of bad merges happening due to some users inadvertently connecting tree branches that shouldn't be connected - people with similar names living during the same time periods, even in the same geographic areas. The warning message is a reminder that one should be SURE of the identity of both profiles before merging, since unmerging seems nearly impossible. It becomes very easy to create a bad merge with the growing number of collaborators sharing their tree rights with others. Some people are good at it, some not so much. Bad merges effectively give a whole slew of people false ancestry, and no one wants that.

Barbara, you say.."I say, if you don't like the game, pick up your marbles and leave.", That is all fine and dandy for some, but not all. I too have been on this site for a long while, and there are many family members who have joined trees to just connect to other living family. They want to learn more and help each other work on their trees, never knowing that they were joining the "big tree" as they merged profiles. So please don't make blanket comments like that about members that don't like merging with strangers...even if they may be distant relatives. That is one of my problems on this site...those of you who think you are better or smarter then others...you are not . I am not going to get rude with some 70-80 year old because they don't want a public tree. I learn to work with them, maybe you should try that. You do get more bees with honey..you know.

Barbara, to go back to your original question, <Hi, sometimes I get a message in RED that says something like: Caution, these profiles are in different trees, merging them may result in merging of more duplicate profiles>--

This is the message that shows at the bottom of the "compare profiles" view (commonly known as the carousel) when one of the profiles is not currently in the Big Tree. It is a warning so that you are aware that if you say "Yes, Merge" that you are sending a merge request to a manager non-connected to the Big Tree.

Be aware that curators are NOT able to merge profiles from such non-connected trees; we are only able to merge duplicate public profiles that are both attached to the Big Tree.

Rather than sending a merge request in this way, it is best to write a personal message to the manager of the non-connected tree and ask him or her if she is willing to join the Big Tree, explaining that once one profile is merged into the tree then all the profiles will need to become part of the Big Tree.

Once that manager understands the process and the implications, if she/he makes a decision to join the tree, that's great--but I recommend NOT bombarding them with merge requests without any prior explanation and agreement.

I agree with Terri. There are many advantages to Geni.com, and not all of the advantages are tied to being a part of the Big Tree.

In addition to advertising their goal of tieing everyone together, Geni also advertises that our trees can be private ans secure if we wish. In a sense, these goals are contradictory, and we have to respect and honor that.

no one is being dragged into anything.....you are part of the big tree....you exist as a public statistic......big problem i see is a settings issue.....when settings are not right you cannot do much with the duplicate problem.

i assumed we all were.

Barbara, Geni says that you are my 24th cousin twice removed.

The only way you can be that is by being connected to the big tree.

It occurs to me that no matter how many glitches and merge issues along the way, ultimately there can be NO disadvantages in merging into the big tree. I have seen a lot of family trees outside Geni with glaring errors in them, which have been inadvertantly perpetuated by people who haven't had the time or expertise to properly research their family's history/genealogy.

However, if you are merged into the big tree on Geni, these errors will eventually be picked up and corrected by one or more of our cousins. Simply because we are forever researching and documenting sources, thus building an historically/genealogically accurate tree. How can that be a bad thing? I would much rather put up with the tedius bits re: sorting out my branch of the tree and know that it is 100% accurate, than not participate and produce a family tree that is full of mistakes. I guess it depends on your motives for producing your tree in the first place? If it's for posterity, or contains historical profiles, then I think that you really (in a moral sense) have a duty to get it right. Just my two cents worth, which I'm sure that a few will disagree with.

Our common ancestor, Barbara. Otto I 'der Rotkopf', Herzog von Bayern-Wittelsbach

I'm not going to say that yours and/or my line back to Otto is without fault. We're going through the Black death time period, and there can be several things that are wrong in these trees. So don't take everything at face value.

Yes, you are in the Big Tree. When I go to your profile it says I am connected to you. Unless we are close family members, that generally means that you are in the Big Tree. Otherwise, it would just say "This is the public profile for ..." Then when I asked it to calculate our relationship it says you are my 18th cousin 3x removed--we are connected through the de Luxembourgs and your 16ggfather Thibaut de Luxembourg, comte de Brienne.

You are my 20th cousin 6 times removed. I am in the big tree and you are too.

Until a short time ago, we had no way of knowing anything about the location of our request to merge and had an option to request collaboration. Now we know about the other trees but have to go to the managers profile to request to collaborate. I don't see this as an improvement, but as I come to these merges, I go through the steps. I have noticed that several collaboration requests have to go to people who haven't been on Geni for months so it looks like an exercise in futility. Since Geni is about collaboration, there should not be an option for private trees, or at least private trees should not show up in the merge center. Geni, free them up or hide them. We should be able to handle them just as we did before. Get them all merged then get the data correct one time instead of several times.

actually barbara your information is incorrect, at the time i joined geni and paid for my pro account it WAS NOT CLEARLY ADVERTIZED . that the object was one world tree. thats mistake info you are giving out. Why do you think geni alows people to unlink? because many of us would consider we were roooked and sue if we get something less than what we paid for, and they already aknowledged that they doid indeed not make it clear, thats why they clarified it LATER. Trying to herd the goats after you let them out of the gate is a lot of work. . Sorry, but i aint realted to batman, and my gramma didnt marry 40 versions of the same man, nor am i descended from adam and Eve. In my opinion it still isnt clearly stated when you get a merge request what is entailed, and there are inded people who try to trick people into mergers to force the one world tree on them, i go to the forums occasionaly and some of those people quite openly admit they do it.

edon, geni is not all about collaboration, thats your opinion of what geni is about. keep your damn hands off my tree partner. i paid money to geni for it and I have no obligation to share any of it.

being connected to the big tree also does not mean anyone aquiesced to it, it more likely means they were tricked into it by not knowing what would happen, a fact that most people conveniently omit when they request a merge and which was never made apparnt by management in the first place. I cut the branches off that were involved when it happened to me, geni told me how to do it which means they realized their obligation to me, and i lost a lot of time and hard work to do it. The stuff i got from the big tree, the profiles i looked at, they were crap to put it mildly. I dont give a dang if im related to cher, what a crock.

barbara, sounds like you dont like the game, why dont you pick up your marbles and leave?Thats your own advice that your ignoring.

Johnny, I don't think this is a place to flame people. You could at least be civil. You are not the only one in the world who pays Geni, I do also and I knew going in about collaboration. Maybe you should follow your suggestion to Barbara
PS If you had paid attention, maybe you would have spelled my name correctly. Capitalization also helps.
Eldon

I dont feel the need to be civil to someone who says such things as "if people dont like it they can collect their marbles and get out" in fact that crap makes me feel very uncivil. You all need to start delivering some respect to others before you demand it for yourself. i dont see you correcting her....and frankly i dont give a damn about spelling or capitalization, nor how to spell your name.

in any case edon, it was barbara who mae that suggestion to others, illustrative that you want to attribute it to me, why have you not corrected her....? refute me if you can, Geni admitted to me they didnt make it clear, maybe your smarter than they.

I also have made that suggestion to others including one who had a profile for my great grandmother and wouldn't merge. Maybe I worded it differently but the meaning was the same. If someone doesn't want to share family data, then maybe Geni is not right for them. They can use an offline program as I also do.

I don't consider myself smarter than anyone else. There are a lot of genealogists here who are a lot smarter and they seem perfectly happy to work with others and I value their input and help

" Eldon", considering as many people dont want to merge as do, and that geni admits they didnt adequately inform them..then it is just as reasonable for you who want merges to depart as those who dont. I myself use 3 on line programs, and one off line, i never add anyone to the tree i dont have a clear source for, and i constantly revise my information in ight of new information. I dont add side branches because i have no interest in them and I dont care whatsoever if Im related to celebrities, nor do I consider those who are excited to be related to celebrities or royalty to be any more than dilletants who are playing... the fact of the matter is, I myself have no problem with those who want merges, I am not advocating your ablity be taken from you nor that you be asked to leave....whereas you yourself admit not only that you do have a problem with those who dont want merges, but openly advocaet that Geni force them. So you want me to be forced to accede to your desires, then turn around and act like Im unreasonable or flaming..thats pretty funny. You ask for your desires to be assuaged yet demand that others be denied...thats wrong my friend. And despite your smart friends who want merges, there are plenty of smart ones who dont, and you have no more right to demand people be forced to share than nyone has to demand you dont. share all you like, but quit treating others badly because they dont have the same goals and drives as yourself, thats nothing but arrogance. I know several professional geneologists who have devoted whole lifetimes to it who have been horrified upon joining geni to have accepted a merge only to find themselves embroiled in a fantastic amount of worthless information. Your mistake is in thinking that because the majority of people on the forums want merges that equates with the majority of geni, but one only need peruse the forums for a brief time to see that its actually only the same people on here posting over and over about their merging..in fact my own supposition is less than half appreciate merging, most enter it all unknowing and dont have the nerve to figure out how to get rid off it. The fact that Geni alows private profiles AND advises those who complain how to undo merges tells me in no uncertain terms that Geni values my money as much as it does yours. In any case it boggles the mind that those who admittedly advise others, in nothing but rude terms, to leave geni, have the chutzpah to accuse me of flaming.

yeah barbs, you go ahead and ignore em. your attitude states all thats needed. go play marbles elsewhere if you dont like it since thats what you like to tell others. Then you accuse them of being rude? go blow your nose.

its ok when you run your mouth evidently..... i often observe those who are so arrogant as yourself dont like the shoe on the other foot.

I've just been reading thru this forum...when I came on Geni I put my tree here because I understood it to be able to be a "private" tree. The reason I didn't put it on Ancestry to begin with is exactly what Geni is doing now. I gave up and went ahead with the collaboratin but so many times merging has cause so many issues that I spend more time fixing the tree then I do researching these days!