STAY OFF MY DAMN FAMILY TREE

Geni.com is one world tree. If you have ancestors that are the exact same as someone else's ancestors, they get will get merged.
http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Big_Tree

I think you can split a tree, and then maybe not merge it (collaborate), but not sure because I'm pretty new. good luck.

You can split a tree, but it can still be merged back in the future. Geni's goal is to have one family tree with one profile per each person dead or alive.

i like the concept of one tree, but really don't understand merges that well yet. Had my first 'merge' of a whopping 10 names this morning. But I thought if you don't collaborate with owners of other trees then you basically will not get merged. Are you saying that Geni, or someone will just grab my tree and merge it automatically? Just wondering.

I'm also thinking that it might not be prudent to record my deep history and instead just merge it with someone who's already recorded the names, then add photos or other info to their entries. Is that a sound way of approaching Geni?

Nicholas Joel (Nick) Buccalo,
Geni automatically defines any "historical" profile as public, this means everybody beyond your 3rd-great-grandparents. As such anybody can see it, and when it is found to match other public profiles, user can request to merge the two. Eventually they WILL be merged. The entire system is designed to make this happen.
What Mark fails to understand is that these ancestors are no more "his" than they are "mine" or yours. We share them. Of the 246 profiles that Mark has added, 189 are public...

Yes, we would ALL appreciate it, if you didn't add new duplicates to merge, but rather find a more recent profile to connect to.

Nicholas -

Yes, that's a *great* way to approach Geni! Less time on data entry means an opportunity for more time researching, adding bios, adding sources, meeting distant relatives...

Here's a good explanation of Public/Private. http://www.geni.com/help/privacy

great info. I get though how it can be frustrating to have someone wipe out your work, basically erasing the time you spent on something, especially if the quality isn't as good (but I think you have to approve specific profile merges).

I've already done all the research but it's in hard copy format, so now it's a matter of figuring out the best way to upload it to geni. Finding other trees to merge is perfect. Anyway thanks for the info.

Nicholas are any part of your tree in the Public part of the Tree..just for talking sake any pre 1800?

If so the best thing to do is to do a search for one of them in that area, if you get a lot of similar names, you can fine tune your search by clicking on 'Advanced Search' then look on the left and choose the criteria you want to search for.

Thanks Jenna and Shmuel for elaborating a bit more. I was very brief. LOL

Mark, unfortunately we are unable to read your posts until someone from Geni gets back to you.

Nicholas, if you have hard copy data for your ancestors, you can store copies on Geni by attaching to the profile. If you have birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc., these are primary sources and we LOVE having those added to existing profiles.

You mention being new on Geni. You can ask any curator to help you. It's one of our primary tasks on Geni. Go to this discussion - http://www.geni.com/discussions/80793, post a message and a link to the profile where you need help.

I do have some pre-1800 but I think I'll delete all but a couple for each tree branch in order to find matches. I've been a member all of 4 days btw so getting this info is critical, still, in those days I've inputted over a thousand names so far which represents maybe a third of the research I've done. Certainly a lot more work to fill in all the blanks.

I got a message once when a person's branch was becoming public, so I think there might be about 3 people that are public. I didn't understand why it didn't happen to me more often and really didn't understand why that note came up or what I did to trigger it... I don't think they were pre-1800. I do have many entries that say there are matches in other trees, some 5 or more matches.

Mr. Warren seems to not understand the collaborative nature of Geni. The profile in question tagged here (John de Warenne) has 71 managers. Mark Warren is shouting and cursing that he wants everyone to keep their hands off of his profiles--but his profiles are not his alone as they are public profiles from the medieval period, merged into the Big Tree, and that the other 70 people who manage the profile have as much right to have their historical information in it as he does. In fact, earlier today Mr. Warren *deleted* pages and pages of well-researched historical information in the About Me section of John de Warenne's profile, which represented the very hard work of many people who had generously contributed it to the collaborative knowledge base. I reinstated the material he had deleted and I also set it as a master profile (I am the curator).

Nicholas,
The public-private cut-off is generations, not actual years. Depending on how long-lived your ancestors were, your 3rd-great grandparents may extend the period of years that YOUR actual family group covers. The general rules of thumb for public is born 1800-1850. Even then, if the profile manager wishes to make a deceased person's profile public, that option exists. I have my grandparents public. They all have been dead a number of years, I'm the only close relative on Geni, and I prefer to find people who can help me extend my tree.

Thanks for restoring it Pam. I used to curate in this area too as it connects with the Plantagenets. I have since left it all alone for everybody else to work on. It looks so good compared to about 7 months ago.

As an example, Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel is my 17th great grandmother. Her brother John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey & Sussex is my 17th great uncle.

When you are talking about medieval and earlier profiles, there are thousands or tens of thousands direct descendants who share the ancestor. Because we have the Big Tree, I have been able to find my ancestors and many cousins here on Geni much more quickly because we all contribute to the family tree.

And as Nicholas points out - he can concentrate on the areas where he can contribute unique value and offer primary sources. If we end up common ancestors ca 1750, as example, this is so wonderful for *both* our family trees.

well I like the concept and am looking forward to connecting to what i see as some extremely large trees. I do have a question, if I add photos, documents, even a bio on their profile page, does this info have the potential of being lost if over-written by a different profile during the merge, or is the data added to a new master profile?

@Nicholas Do you mind if I connect your tree? I see a spot on your tree I can connect.

Question:

"...[Wen merging] does this info have the potential of being lost if over-written by a different profile during the merge, or is the data added to a new master profile?..."

Answer:
When merged, the "about me" section (i.e. the bio) of both profiles are combined together. All info is retained in the combined "about me" section. For example if profile A contains a wikipedia biography and profile B contains a wikipedia summary, then after merging the new profile "C" will contain 2 wikipedia biographical summaries. This is quite common and there is an entire geni project here at: http://www.geni.com/projects/About-Cleanup to help hand edit these merged profiles.

When merged the photo albums are also combined. No photo's are discarded.

When merging 2 profiles there is the possibility that profile A and profile B will have differences in dates and places. Those differences are still maintained in the underlying database. However the visible profile will only display one set of data. To view the alternate conflicting dates and places you can go to the profile and from the "Actions" menu choose "Resolve Conflicting Data". The idea is that a person knowledgeable on the profile can then inspect the differences in opinion and based on verified sources choose to discard the erroneous info and just keep the correct dates.

It is better to leave conflicting dates and places alone if you are not knowledgeable on the profile.

--Randy

--Randy

Great job Randy...nice explanation..I just found that out a few days ago...

Randy - that was an excellent answer.

I have rarely used Resolve Conflicting Data since I only touch profiles I manage or curate and those I resolve through my Merge Center, but now I know why that's there!

The very last point is key and not stressed often enough. When there is conflicting data, leave it to someone who knows that part of the tree to resolve instead of "guessing" which is correct.

well, i think it was an excellent question :-)

And yes and excellent answer. Thanks Randy for allaying my fears and putting the merge process in perspective. Just accepted Ms. K's offer, here we go.

Nicholas...you are now part of the Big Tree project through the Newmans and the Cyrus trees.

Accepting the offer, you should now have more ancestors and extended blood relatives. :) If it doesn't show yet, rest assured, it will. :) If there are any profiles I manage that you would like to manage, please don't hesitate to ask to be a manager of that profile.

wow, amazing, and painless. Can't wait to tell my uncle and his wife who you've connected to. Thanks everyone for your great responses and of course Ms. K for the link to the BT.

You're welcome. :)

It was an excellent question Nicholas. Watch out, we'll expect great things from you!

Oh, by the way, Nicholas, there is also a system for reversion like wikipedia if the good information gets overwritten (as it did by Mr. Warren, who is no longer with us).

You are now my 7th cousin once removed's husband's nephew... Actually, that is a pretty close connection.

Reversion is good, and great to meet a new, very distant yesterday, but not so distant today, relative. My cousins are Wilson's, who knows maybe we'll connect from another direction.