Proposal for {{Easily Confused}} Navigation Box for disambiguation [closed]

Question

WikiTreers,

We have been discussing standards for Navigation Boxes.

Here is a proposal for {{Easily Confused}}, a Nav Box that would be somewhat like Disambiguation on Wikipedia.

Example:

{{Easily Confused
| person1 = [[Lincoln-429|Thomas Lincoln (bef.1603-abt.1675)]] the Weaver
| person2 = [[Lincoln-4|Thomas Lincoln (abt.1617-1692)]] the Husbandman
| person3 = [[Lincoln-590|Thomas Lincoln (abt.1605-1691)]] the Cooper
| person4 = [[Lincoln-1878|Thomas Lincoln (abt.1603-bef.1684)]] the Miller
| explanation = Space:Disambiguation_Thomas_Lincoln
}}

See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Example-6 for how it might appear. Note that the design is subject to further discussion and other considerations.

See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Easily_Confused for proposed rules and recommendations on usage.

What do you think? Please post an answer below with your comments, questions, or suggestions.

Thanks!

Chris and the WikiTree Team

Comments

Chris, 

I'll point to this profile for Thomas Lincoln as an example of how it would look on a profile where the subject is included within the box. It may help to illustrate.

Thanks for all your work on this proposal!

Bobbie

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{{Easily Confused}} is now available for use.

Bobbie, I updated the four Thomas Lincoln profiles. Thank you for all your help on this.

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Thanks for all your work on this, Chris. The Thomas Lincoln example is probably one of the more complex, so I think this is a great example of how to use it to resolve questions about a lot of similar "confused" profiles.

Answer 1

I think it's great, Chris. It's a real problem-solver for us. I like the green 'advisory' color and the ability to tweak it to suit different situations, like adding the FSP link.

I expect a lot of projects will find it useful, in addition to general membership.

Comments

I too would very much welcome this.

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This is excellent, thank you for proposing it.

Answer 2

This is so awesome!  It will be extremely helpful for Scotland Project!  Thanks for putting together a proposal!  I would support this.

Answer 3

Yay! I'm really excited about this.  I think this will be helpful to both those actively working in WikiTree and those who are just using WT as a resource.

A couple of thoughts/questions:

• Is there a way to indicate the current profile in the list...a sort of "You are here" designation?  I know that if this box was on one of the Thomas Lincoln profiles it would be in bold rather than a link.  But I'm not sure that the meaning of that formatting is intuitive to someone new to WikiTree. Ideally, I think the first profile listed should be the current one, and it would be good for that to be consistent across Wikitree.
• Is there a limit to the number of profiles that can be added? 

Comments

Perhaps we should propose a limit and then suggest that additional people go into a FSP?

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I now see that we have a reason for the order:

The exact same code should be copy-and-pasted onto each linked profile. The code should not be edited to remove the link to the profile on which it is being placed. This makes it easier for the viewing user to navigate between the profiles because each name will remain in a fixed position on the list.

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Ah, thanks.  That makes sense.

I do think there should be a limit to the number to what is shown in the box.  Perhaps an option "to add and others"? and then a link to expand to a full list and/or space page.  Obviously, I'm just brainstorming.  Not sure what's possible.

Answer 4

Fantastic idea!

A quick Google search reveals at least eight sets of profiles where I have pasted text beginning "care must be taken not to confuse" into research notes in each profile.

Answer 5

I like this idea too, there are quite a few Acadians who could use this.  Is the space page line optional?

I also like Bobbie's suggestion that this could be copy and pasted which make it easier to add to the other profiles.

The most profiles I can think of is three in our project, assuming their equally easily confused spouses get their own entries.

Comments

Cindy,

The way I read the proposed help page, there will be an optional paramenter to include the free space page if one has been created, otherwise it will take you to == Research Notes == on the profile. I may be misunderstanding this, though. 

• If the explanation parameter is left out or blank, it will default to [[#Research Notes|See the text for details]].

Answer 6

This will be extremely useful. It makes it VERY obvious that there is confusion and the ability to have a free space page where the explanations can be given in great detail is also welcome.

Answer 7

Excellent! This will be very useful.

Answer 8

This looks great. 

As a side effect there must be guidance for the placement of any navigation box, and a corresponding update to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Biographies#Proper_order which as written says that any other element (e.g., navigation box) goes under == Biography ==. It is probably best to look at several profiles that have both project and navigation boxes to decide proper order. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Tudor-1 and https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jefferson-1

Comments

There is already guidance on placement in the proposed help page for this box here at How to Use. 

Navigation boxes already have guidance on placement here.

Whether people follow the guidance is a whole other question ;) 

I agree that the Proper Order page might need a small clarifying update once these are finalized. 

Answer 9

It is the DNA section that confuses me.

Daisy R. Ricetti

Answer 10

Any thoughts on adding to each profile a primary occupation box, so that the disambiguation script can just read what has been entered instead of us having to type it into just the disambiguation Nav box?

Comments

Hi Rick, I think that occupation isn't necessarily a part of the disambiguation.  It's just the example used.  One could use location, a title or suffix, a spouse's name, age that can be used to distinguish them.

Answer 11

This would be extremely useful to many Appalachia Project profiles.  For many reasons, families would name their children, the exact name of their siblings (which, depending on the sibling, could have close enough birth between an Uncle and Nephew).

But, Appalachia tends to have a tremendous amount of George Washington xxx and Thomas Jefferson xxx and so on.  Once a family has 12 kids and they have 12 kids, the George Washington xxx's get to be {{Easily Confused}}.

As mentioned, if we could have the links determine which profile is currently being viewed would be super handy.

Thanks!  Sandy

Comments

Sandy, 

This example for Thomas Lincoln might give you an idea of how it would look on a live profile where the person is listed within the box. The currently-viewed profile is shown in bold face type. 

Hope this helps you envision how it will work.

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Thanks Bobbie.  I was hoping it would look like that since it's using Wiki Code but I wasn't sure what the end result of the template would be.  Nice to see it would be what is expected from Wiki Code. 

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This is a minor point, but in the Thomas Lincoln example, the capital letters on "Weaver", "Husbandman" et cetera look odd. These are common nouns, not proper nouns, and in English (unlike German) common nouns are usually not capitalised.

The template allows whoever edits it to determine this, but an official example has influence. Perhaps it could be changed to "weaver" and so forth, or else an explanation could be given for why capital letters are suggested.

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Further to that I now notice that the Thomas Lincoln profile has "The Miller" in the nicknames field, according to the text "to distinguish him from the other three". Unless there are contemporary sources calling him "Thomas the Miller", this seems to break the WikiTree rule against personal coding systems.

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There are contemporary sources calling him Thomas Lincoln, the Miller.  The clerk at Hingham had to distinguish them as well, and used their occupations.  The couple of records that do not do this are left a mystery and not attributed to any of them.

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The capital letters are simply how Chris typed them in, and are similar to titles of a chapter. I find it visually clear.

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Thanks M, if there are contemporary sources using the nickname field does seem appropriate.

Answer 12

I've already been doing this manually where profiles can be easily confused, so this makes it easier.  

I'm not sure we should impose a limit on persons within this Navigation Box, but the instructions should suggest that 4 or 5 is the preferred maximum and that the persons should occur at similar time frames.  John Doe born in 1500 and John Doe born in 1800 should NOT be easily confused!

Comments

Hi Jack, 

I think this covers limiting the usage:

• The people must be easily confused by genealogists. Before using the Navigation Box, you should know that genealogists or casual family historians have confused them in the past (e.g. if family trees or other unreliable sources have conflated them) or are highly likely to confuse them in the future. The people should not merely have similar names, dates, and/or locations. This is a higher standard than the one we use for Rejected Matches ("If two profiles look similar but represent different people they should be set as Rejected Matches"). All profiles with the Easily Confusion Navigation Box should be set as Rejected Matches, but not all Rejected Matches should have the Easily Confused Navigation Box.

Or do you think it needs to be more explicit?

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Since on WikiTree we give sources for our assertions, do we point to specific conflations on other sites which give grounds for the knowledge required by this rule? Doing so would fully justify and explain use of the template, but on the other hand might seem tactless.

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@Jim, If a conflation appears in a published (i.e. print source), or a frequently used website that was previously cited in the profile, I will document the source.  Often I'll say "frequently seen in online trees."  When something is a common mistake that I can find dozens of examples of just by googling, I don't see the need to cite a specific example, unless I can document what might be the original source of the error.  One could probably always point to the FS Ancestral File or Pedigree Resouce File if you want an actual example.  I think probably all possible conflations would be found there.

Edit to add: Sometimes the confused genealogist could be me.  I was the one who confused two people who were difficult to distinguish.  That might be an example of where the explanation of how they can be distinguished is necessary, but perhaps citing the "confused entity" might not be.

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Thanks for the helpful suggestions, M!

Answer 13

Looks great! An obvious need, and a step towards further types of navigation boxes.

Answer 14

Yes, please!

I already do this in the narrative biography and the box would be a nice visual cue to look for/add more info to the profile.

Thank you WT Team!

Answer 15

Great idea - the England Project Managed Profiles team will find this vey useful.

Jo, England Project Managed Profiles team coordinator

Answer 16

Great idea.

Ann

Answer 17

Chris,

When I first saw this, I thought it was a sticker that I should put on my profile, because I get easily confused! I think it's an age thing. Obviously, with a list of names included it's all about the person on the profile who could be easily confused with the others. I might even suggest a minor tweak to label it as such, "Easily confused with" or even "Not to be confused with". Just my two cents worth.

Comments

I like that rewording.

Answer 18

I like this - there have been a few instances in the past where it would have come in handy on profiles in my family and extended family.