Are you following up on Merge requests?

Question

The Arborist project regularly sees merges that could be completed by an "active member".   Please remember that after 30 days, merges are default approved, so even if you initially approved the merge, you may need to go back and complete the merge.   Once merges are default approved any member can complete the merge if the profiles are both Open Privacy.

But, for those profiles with Public or private privacy levels, only the profile manager who has set the privacy level at Public or private can complete the merge.   We currently have over 7000 merges in that condition.

I would like to ask every active member to check their watchlist of pending merges that can be completed every month, that will help the Arborist project a lot.   Just go to your watchlist and hit the button that says "Pending Merges".

If you need more help, please see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Merging

Answer 1

Yes, I try to review my pending merges at least once a month.

Comments

How do you review your pending merges?

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At the top of your profile click on find then pending merges.

Answer 2

I get around to them eventually, usually when I check my emails. LOL

But I have just now cleared 2 pending merges that were sitting on my watch list so my list is currently now empty!! YAAAY!!

Comments

Yahoo!

Answer 3

Yep!  My four report lists reads:  This list is empty. Yay!

Comments

Congratulations!

Answer 4

The auto-created comment for the merge should be deleted as it is no longer relevant.

Comments

I prefer not to delete that comment because it is an easy way to see that a merge happened on a profile, rather than having to trawl through the change log. 

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I add an update to my comment for the merge proposal that the merge was completed.

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I usually delete that merge comment, because most of the time I see no need for it.  And I like the cleaner look, especially if there are other comments that are more meaningful.  The unnecessary merge comment just gets in the way!  I have occasionally kept a merge comment if it seemed "historically relevant" to the profile, then you don't have to go through the change log to discover it.

But, since there is a change log, I err on the side of deleting the comment!

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I like to keep the merge comment, since it's part of the history of the profile. Sometimes it's helpful to see the reasons for the merge request when troubleshooting issues. If I don't want it to be "in the way" I just set it as an archived comment, then it doesn't show up unless you specifically want to look at your archived comments.

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I have to confess that I have not used the Archive feature.  Does everyone have access to an archived comment or only its creator?

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I just logged out to check... anyone - even someone not logged in to WikiTree - can click the "View Archived Comments" button that you'll find on the last comment (if there are archived comments). To post a comment, you must be logged in.

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only the creator of a comment can archive it, as far as I know, but anybody can view archived items.

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In addition to the creator of a comment, the profile manager can also archive any comment on a profile they manage, regardless of who wrote it.

Answer 5

What exactly are the procedures for getting the ones with privacy settings done?  Do we treat them like unresponsive profile managers?  I have a couple that have been pending for a few years now.  I thought some 'higher power' would come through and complete them now and then.

Comments

I've occasionally emailed the info at wikitree address to request that one of these merges be done.

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This is what I do too.

Answer 6

Just checked my tag feed after spending an hour or so merging a default-approved pair (two more of those on the "to-do list" for today).

I try to wait a week or so after the merge is approved from one side by default when one of the profile's managers had approved the merge. It's a bit disheartening how few PMs complete the default-approved merge.

As to having my four reports read "This list is empty" (I'm jealous Tommy!) ... I've got 2 like that (My Watchlist & Waiting for Action by Me). I'm proud to say that my unmerged match list is down to 11. But my "Merges Initiated by Me" list includes six with non-open profiles - is there a protocol/procedure for asking the Team to attend to those?

And just a comment about the fifth report - "Rejected Matches Initiated by Me". I have found pairs there that were of merges that I proposed but which had been rejected by someone else (often without good reason). So I would encourage folks to check that report also (I switch to "Most-Recently Added" from "Oldest on Top").

For an example of an appropriately rejected merge proposal that shows in my Rejected report as having been initiated by me (because I had proposed the merge), see https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:MergePerson&user1_name=Welch-12562&user2_name=Welch-150&action=compare

Answer 7

I do check my pending merges, fairly regularly. However I don’t think someone should jump in and merge two profiles just because they are now available to merge. It happened recently to me and I’d been waiting for the month to be up when someone completed it for me, the day it became open to merge. I had to change some the information that they had decided to keep, as I knew the family into which they were being merged, and they had selected the wrong information during the merge.  At least give the profile manager who requested the merge the opportunity to do it themselves in the week or so after that is possible.

Comments

I like that idea!  After a default approval, just open it for merging only by the proposer or Profile Manager(s), then a week later, open for any WikiTreer.

It's worth a discussion!

But in the mean time: if you are the Profile Manager, and it is a recent enough profile, and you want complete control, you can change the profile to some level of Privacy, which means nobody but you can complete the merge!

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Thank you, that’s an interesting idea that I hadn’t thought of, I was just really shocked it had been merged immediately after the 30 day wait for me, it had never happened to me prior to that occasion.

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Changing the privacy level on a profile so that it can’t be completed would cause an e-mail by someone else (like myself) to WikiTree staff that this merge needs to be completed.

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As I read L and Bartley's points, the goal was to give profile managers a short breathing space to complete merges themselves before someone else does, not to prevent completion of the merge indefinitely.

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Yes thank you! I would have thought it would always be better for one of the profile managers to complete a merge rather than someone who wasn’t previously working on either profile. As the other manager hadn’t replied to my request to merge them then I was having to wait for the 30 days to be up.

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When admin is asked to complete, possibly they check to see if locked profile PM is active or not.

Answer 8

there are a lot of pending merges where profiles have same info but different parents (so one is attached to wrong parents) , would prefer someone more familiar with family would solve issue.

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:MergePerson&user1_name=Parks-3140&user2_name=Parks-3123&action=compare

Comments

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:MergePerson&user1_name=Giffin-388&user2_name=Giffin-290&action=compare

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:MergePerson&user1_name=Cooper-22846&user2_name=Cooper-5275&action=compare

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https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:MergePerson&user1_name=Bell-7401&user2_name=Beall-1104&action=compare

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I am trying to understand how these merges are appearing on your watchlist.   You do not appear to be on the trusted list for these profiles....Can you explain?

Please read the question being asked.

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not on my watchlist, but merges i initiated. just wanted to bring it to attention of arborist without starting a new G2G.

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I did some cleanup on that Bell-7401 profile to remove duplicate text, move Sources to bio, move things into chronological order, but I didn't see any birth source on either profile with parents.

Answer 9

I got a request in the middle of the connect-a-thon been trying since to determine if they are the same person theres's a big age difference (one could be wrong) they both marry the same wife (but again one might have the wrong wife) also one has Parents the other - which is the one I adopted has none - the dates on the gravestone are correct but does he marry the wife attached or a different Betty. Doesn't help that the records are lost for the one I have been asked to merge with, grrr.

Answer 10

Yes I have always been following up on my own initiated merge list for years now.

Since May I have been working on the oldest outstanding ones in the global default merge list and have now cleared all the ones before 2023! But it is a BIG list so I am still working on it. All help is much appreciated to process these 7000+ default merges.

Answer 11

yes, I periodically check for merges awaiting my action (my watchlist) or those that I have initiated outside my watchlist.  Anything with default approval gets taken care of then.  Sometimes I wait before approving a merge if the other PM hasn't approved theirs, as there are issues of correct LNAB to consider.

Answer 12

Oh, I didn't realise that after 30 days, I as the merge initiator could go back and complete the merge. I've always been waiting for the other manager to respond. Nice to know.

Comments

After the 30 day default approval, if both profiles are open, any member can complete the merge.