FamilySearch_APP

Question

In most cases when I see that there is new or different information appearing in the FamilyTree Search matching profile(s) compared with the Wikitree profile and go to 'Update Wikitree' I find that the information is actually on the Wikitree profile, not the Family Search Profile. Why is this reversal of data happening?

Comments

Hi Clare. Do you mean the FamilySearch Connections app? Would you like to give an example of a profile exhibiting the issue you describe?

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Yes, the Family Search connections App. When it displays the demographics for both the Wikitree profile of which i am manager and the Family Church profile, I have found that the demographics from my Wikitree Profiles are more often than not being displayed under the  Family Search profile number and vice versa. I have wasted time "updating" the profiles of which I am manager only to find that I already have the supposed new details and that the Family search profile does not.

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Hi again Clare. What do you mean by "demographics" here?

The purpose of the FamilySearch Connections app is to create a URL link from a WikiTree profile to a FamilySearch one and vice versa, not to add any sources to either profile.

Edited to add: The app has been updated to do more, though this is not documented, and the banner on the app web page still says "No data is exchanged."

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I would be surprised if you do not know what demographics on a profile means. There is an Update Wikitree Tool which allows one to transfer limited data such as birth or death (not parents, siblings or spouse) from the Family Search profile to the Wikitree profile. Even if it did not it is incorrect / misleading to display data that is on the Wikitree Profile as being on the Family Search Profile.

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Demographics are the social characteristics and statistics of a human population, not of an individual.

If the FamilySearch Connections app is not doing what you want, maybe using the WikiTree Sourcer browser extension will be better:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_Sourcer%2C_FamilySearch_Build_All_Citations

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That is not the point. I use Sourcer and other apps regularly. I just want to know why this App is making that error and if that is not possible, just to see it amended.

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As I said, an example of a specific profile would help to illustrate the problem. The ones I've looked at today seemed pretty much correct, apart from suboptimal formatting in the resulting biography text.

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When I tried the App again today it had stopped reversing the data. Now it can be very useful. Last week, I tried going out of it, restarting the computer and trying again, but that did not help.

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That's good to hear, Clare. I'm glad it's recovered.

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Demographic questions are asked about individuals in surveys, on all sorts of forms and above the biography section of the Wikitree profile construction form.