Why do Suggestions Defer to Find-A-Grave? [closed]

Question

I've just now discovered the "Suggestions" page for my profiles and have been going through them.  I must ask WHY is WIkiTree deferring to Find-A-Grave with its plethora of inaccuracies, as data we should use as our base line in WikiTree profiles.  Baptism dates are NOT birth dates, estimated dates are just that and can vary within several years.

Comments

Thank you for responding. I've also read the other posts now about the same question.  I get it!

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Glad you found the answer you needed.

If you are satisfied with the info you have received, you can close this post.

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As a "data doctor" I believe that only the manager of a profile should be the one to make changes based on a Find-a-Grave suggestion. Those suggestions are either from and empty or different information than currently exists on a profile.

The manager should make the decision and they can mark the suggestion false if they wish to not make any change.

Hopefully the manager (or another member) will add a source and if there is still a difference note that in the biographical text as a research note.

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When I have time, I like to check Find a Grave suggestions so I can research their data and see if I can find a source.  If yes, great: if no, I mark it as a false suggestion with the comment "Unsourced date."

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Walt - unfortunately, most profiles are open to edit by anyone who has signed the pledge... and I know there are FaG advocates out there who think their records are 100% a source (even though we have official records sourced that prove otherwise).

All we can do is lay the info out there with a good research note based on the official source to try to keep the record correct. I also use one of the tricks of the WT markup language to put a lettered superscript link to the appropriate Research note in that section.

Other than that, there's not much you can do besides contact the person who made the "correction" and "suggest" that they prove their change.

rsl

Answer 1

I don't think FindaGrave suggestions are listed unless we have linked to FG as a source, in which case the suggestions report checks for discrepancies.  Researching which is correct, improves both WikiTree and FindaGrave when we report FG errors and get them corrected or correct our own error.

Answer 2

See this discussion

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1573731/find-a-grave-used-for-suggestions

Answer 3

From the other discussion that was linked to, you can see it's an on-going debate. 

Some people feel strongly that they are just 'suggestions' and not to worry, because nothing at all needs to be done about them if there's nothing wrong.

Others notice that data doctors officially see that 'suggestions' are a list of things to be fixed and "fix" them.

Personally, I feel that seeing something like "Empty birth date: The WikiTree profile has a link to a FindAGrave Memorial with a birth date set but the corresponding WikiTree profile has no birth date entered" is akin to a suggestion that might say "Empty birth date: WikiTree profile has no birth date entered, but this rando with a tree on Ancestry has one." It's worse than annoying; it encourages people to use unreliable information.

However, it's been made very clear that no changes to this system will be considered, because they're "just suggestions."

I feel the best way to deal with it is to stay on top of all the "suggestions." Otherwise, someone else will come along and do it. I'll take a glance to make sure there aren't any bad links, mark them as "Corrected Forever" or whatever that option is (so they don't come back), and add a note that "FindAGrave is not a source." I never bother to look at whatever junk data the system is suggesting.

I'll probably get in trouble for being a subversive, but there you are.