SAR/DAR Locking profiles

Question

Would it be possible to lock profiles for say Sons of the American Revolution that are deemed valid?  Same should hold true for Daughters of the American Revolution.

We have to show hard proof of the lineage and that is no easy task in many cases.  For many to have this process trampled upon by others as we see on family search is just obscene.

Comments

Ed, when you say "lock" I assume you mean prevent any future additions or changes.  Even though the lineage may be solid, that wouldn't necessarily be a good idea, since new sources or connections, or other relevant biographical data might be found at some point.  The best way to prevent others from doing any inappropriate editing is to include in the profiles all the same source info that was provided to SAR or DAR, and indicate that they have accepted the subject as a Patriot Ancestor.  If you're still seeing the "trampling," it would probably be appropriate to call the member on it directly or file a Problems with Members complaint.

Answer 1

SAR membership is based on proven linage. The sources are researched by the local and national registrars. I think people that have did the legwork for their application could be noted on their profile.

Comments

Correct.   I was trying to stop the possible mutilating of profiles after many of us spend long hard hours of work to get certified.  This seems commonplace on Family Search.

Answer 2

As a member of DAR, what you say about solidly sourced lineages is true for today, but, there are thousands of records out there from years ago that may be incorrect because SAR/DAR did not require the level of sourcing until recently.   I see this all the time.

Comments

Correct. I’m. It saying lock it so no way to edit it but some type of protection to keep the verified clean.  Also many ways to add entries as other lines happens and new info is discovered.

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What you propose to "keep the verified clean" would require at a minimum comparing the WikiTree profile sources with the documentation the DAR has accepted for each ancestor. Even if you don't compare the sources against the documentation held by the DAR, the sources that appear acceptable as documented proof on WikiTree may not meet DAR standards.

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From doing further reading etc I’m not sure wikitree has anything that would be of much help in this manner. Also locking was not a good phrase to use. Should have been audit or some other word.

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Ed, I’ve read over this discussion, and would like to point out that WikiTree has built in protections for Profiles: First you are managing the profiles and can quickly see if anyone has made a change, ordinary changes are easily undone if incorrect. Second merges are not instant here and you can veto proposed merges of profiles. Not a perfect system, but for most of the profiles in your lines to the American Revolution this is much more protection than on FS. PS I have had similar experiences on FS where hours of work were wiped out by an ill conceived Merge.

Answer 3

No WikiTree profiles are locked to prevent editing.

Some profiles are project-protected to prevent bad merges or erroneous relationship changes. See Help:Project_Protection for information about that. It is possible that there are some profiles of interest to DAR and SAR that could qualify for that kind of protection.

Comments

This might be the thing for my family line. The Worcester streets are often merged into the puritan street line and it is not the same. Will have to look into this more. As for the SAR/DAR topic I am not sure this will help much.

Answer 4

I don't agree with locking the profiles just because they are SAR or DAR.  I am aware of a number of DAR profiles on WikiTree that are currently red flagged by the DAR.  The DAR will require new prospective members under these red flagged lineages to provide correct documentation.  Also, for a number of these DAR profiles on WikiTree not all of the known children are listed.  Locking these profiles would greatly hinder correcting inaccurate information, adding new documented sources, and adding documented children,

Comments

How about a sticker or a badge of some sort for SAR/DAR showing the person is a descendant and in their system?  I know the SAR is working on a new database / website and it will show tons more details and info than it does now.  From there we should be able to link the two.  With the info that DAR shows it should be able to be done now.

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Yeah I think a badge/sticker thing makes sense. These could take the form of DAR/SAR verified or pathway etc. This can be effected merely with editorial policy (formatting conventions) and diligent profile management.

I agree with the other suggestion to manage problems (with colleagues) as exceptions to the rule, via existing tools and escalation process; rather than creating new policy constraints, that would tend to slow the pace of profile improvement and connections into the master universal tree.

To the points made above in comments: there are many dubious older DAR/SAR approvals now subject to soft blacklist and re-review. We need to be careful here about perpetuating invalid descents merely because they were previously DAR approved. Standards varied a lot over time, and by location. In some cases these are impossible due to missing or destroyed primary source evidence of marriages and births.

I Iave this problem in the Hudson River valley are during and soon after the war; and in Appalachian frontier VA/WV/PA the generation after the war.

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I think for both agencies any application over a set number of years needs to be re-verified.  Some entries or even information will show older entries to be incorrect or incomplete and those get flagged.  I am also 100% certain they, both SAR and DAR, have a very elaborate system for flagging profiles to be re-verified and reworked.

Answer 5

You can stickers to profiles to identify those ancestors that fought in US Revolutionary War.

• SAR ancestor
• DAR ancestor

Comments

I am using those currently.  See here.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Street-132  This is for patriots and not descendants.  It is the descendants that cause the grief and headaches most of the time.