Matches not found when creating profiles

Question

I am trying to connect my poor unconnected folks. During the last several days I have added a number of profiles, with each one hoping to connect to an existing profile.  No luck.

But, my Suggestion list grew longer because several of my newly created profiles had existing profiles. Exact, not questionable matches. Even the same sources.

Why weren't they caught when I was entering the ʻnewʻ profile?

Luckily, the ʻoldʻ profiles seem to all be orphans so I am able to easily do the merges. (Except for the Full Save I mentioned in my earlier question).

I suppose the failure to recognize matches is a bug that will eventually go away.

Comments

That's happened to me. A small difference in spelling or a few years difference in estimated date of birth and the system doesn't find the match.

---

It is really a funny bug. In this case there were no differences except mine had more sources.

I do wonder about small differences being the issue, because I often get suggestions for possible matches that have very different spelling of surnames. Oh well, merging is rewarding.

---

Oh well, merging is rewarding.

Yes, but ... one of our objectives here is to avoid having duplicates in the first place because every merge adds the need for a redirect, which uses extra server resources.

---

Don't assume that the search algorithm in ADD PERSON is foolproof. It isn't!!!

Run name search BEFORE you try to create a new profile. Use wild cards (* or ?) if the name spelling is uncertain. Then filter or sort your search results (for example, sort by date, or filter to results to plus or minus 12 years of your estimated date) to make it easier to find your person when you screen the results.

Answer 1

That happened yesterday when a very active, experienced and knowledgeable member created two duplicates (a husband and wife) that I manage.  She proposed the merge as soon as she discovered it and apologized to me for adding duplicates that did not show up on the list of possible matches.

It's hard to understand why we see long lists of profiles that are so vastly different from the new one we're adding as possible matches, yet a profile with identical birth/death/marriage dates/places and the same parents (making them look like siblings and bigamists after the new one is added) doesn't appear on that match list.

Comments

All of us sometimes accidentally create new duplicate profiles, but it happens far less often if we go the trouble of running name searches before creating the profile.

---

Gaile is right. I think or hope I haven't actually created any duplicates. But there are often so many suggested "matches" which are really quite irrelevant that I'm afraid I'll lose concentration while going through them and miss a genuine one.

Ellen is right that searching manually first is safest, but it may no longer be necessary if the project under way to improve the match identification software succeeds. I hope that won't take long, or if it does that some interim "low-hanging fruit" adjustments can be made in the meantime.