how do you merge profiles?

Question

It appears that I have created two profiles (6459 and 10095) for the same family tree.  How does one merge these profiles?  Thank you, Allyn Pratt.

Comments

Just an FYI, a profile number is made up of the last name and the digits that follow.  For example, your profile number is Pratt-6459.  Multiple profiles might have the exact same numbers, so just listing the numbers isn't meaningful.

Answer 1

Hey Allyn,

The first ID you give is that of you yourself. I don't think you would like to merge the other one into your self.

I you have created a duplicate profile, you can follow the steps outline in the help section on merging. You will need to have the oldest ID as well, and merge 'into that one'. So start with the newest (highest) ID and click the option at the bottom. Make sure you have sources proving the merge.

Merges cannot be undone.

Answer 2

Allyn, I think the only problem you have is purely semantic.  WikiTree has its own vocabulary for some things, that new members can easily become confused about purely because of the meaning of the terms we use here.  As Michel said, Pratt-6459 is you and Samuel Pratt is Pratt-10095.  Since you and he are different people, it is correct for each of you to have your own profile.  Here's a little explanation of the terms we use here that should help clarify things:

family tree - typically used to identify a group of people who are related along with the ways in which they are related.  Many genealogy websites allow each person to create his/her own family tree but WikiTree doesn't have separate trees for everyone like that.  Here, there is one single tree that we all work on together.

profile - the collection of all information about one person.  Because we only have one huge tree here, there is supposed to be only one profile for each person.

duplicates - sometimes, a member will accidentally create a profile for a person who already has a profile here.  When more than one profile per person is discovered to be here, we have to fix the problem by merging them into only one profile.

merging - is the action of combining 2 separate profiles into 1 single profile.  Although it is not appropriate for the instance you asked about, if you ever do discover duplicate profiles, you can make note of both WikiTree ID's (made up of the LNAB - last name at birth - followed by a hyphen, followed by a number that was automatically assigned by the system when the profile was created).  Then scroll all the way to the bottom on one of the duplicate profiles and you'll see a link to propose a merge.  Click that and you'll be able to enter the ID of the other profile.  After you propose the merge, each profile manager will be notified so that they can see if they agree that the profiles are really duplicates of the same person.  If so, they can approve the merge.  If a manager of both profiles approves the merge, then it happens.  If 30 days go by and neither manager rejects the merge, then it receives "default approval", meaning that any WikiTree member can then complete the merge.