Invented Parents

Donald, your problem is unclear, although your tone is not.

'Unknown' is not a fictitious name, but a placeholder.

Through merges, profiles accrue data which is not always the best data, - it is nobody's fault, but the essence of the collaborative process on Geni.

If you notice that a profile’s data is in need of examination, you then contact the managers of the profile and point out that the profile has accumulated data that is now in conflict and talk about how everyone wants it changed to appear. You will find that people work well together on this kind of research, if approached politely.

Once everyone is happy that the data is the way you all want to keep it, you ask to have it made into a Main Profile, as an alert for other merges to defer to this data.

As regards the Dutch spelling of the name - Pierre Jacob (my gggrandfather) arrived on board a Dutch ship - fleeing French persecution, and coming - with Dutch help - to a Dutch colony. It is perfectly likely that his name was recorded in the Dutch form on the ship’s register, and one or other Geni user uploaded his name from that register.

You probably wouldn't like my views on collaboration Geni style. But as one of my profiles was hijacked, without so much as a bye your leave and now connects to one of yours. Well, you're gonna get it.

It's a complete waste of time. It is ridiculous to assume all researchers are created equally intelligent, diligent or serious.

If a merge is forced it means that compromise has to be accepted. Well I do not accept this, so you would have to back down. Cooperation, on the other hand, means we can agree to disagree. Much more civilized.

Facts are not democratic, 10,000 people with the wrong answer are over-ruled by one with the correct.

I do not use place holders, it's meaningless - the default position is ALWAYS unknown. And in the case of these refugees it is extremely unlikely that you, or anyone else, will ever fine out the parents of my son's ancestors.

Genealogy is a Science, and Science has a wonderfully elegant method to test if a principle holds water. It's called Reductio ad Absurdam. Why not use placeholders all the way back to the slime mold. Because that's where it would all go.

So what if the JACOB stamvader was transported on Dutch ships to a Dutch colony?

If a pig gives birth in the stall of the champion race horse it's still a pig.

Yes, you make the point about the pig very well.

The logic behind why, if you have a problem with collaboration, you joined a site specialising in collaboration - remains unclear.

As to the 'Unknown' Placeholder for an immediate parent - If it includes a possible surname and something that hones down the range of possible dates - it is a mechanism to aid the search and match aspect of this MERGE programme - which is one of the fundamental principles on which it is based?!

Hi all,

This is speculation, but i did read that French Flemish is 'a thing' Native to the French Region; Nord-Pas-de-Calais: Dunkirk, Bourbourg, Calais, Saint-Omer and Bailleul.

This could be an anenue to explore.

Thanks

Pierre Jacobs parents from his marriage document not fictitious .

Language and being French or German can become very restrictive.
In the old Pas de Calais area a lot of people of Flemish origin and even various dialects used.
My own relatives in Belgium some French Speaking with Flemish/ Dutch names and surnames same with Flemish / Dutch Speaking with French names and surnames .
Also from records we know a lot of the Huguenots were actually not French . Italian ,Slovenes ,Alsatian , " Germans" and actual Flemish Protestants as well.
Myself "Afrikaans " names and surnames but not Afrikaans really more South African ; my paternal grandparents spoke Plattdeutsch and Polish..My partner van Rensburg and he and his extended family can hardly speak Afrikaans.

Pierre Jacobs my mother Elsa Jacobs direct ancestor.

Use of Unknown ? Maybe better to just leave blank I agree that by default means Unknown anyway. No need really to state the obvious.

As for finding parents of our ancestors ?
Sharon and I plus others working on Geni have actually discovered a few trawling through old documents . SO that is very possible.

Donald Robert McArthur - you will find that Sharon is one of the first curators that would remove fictitious / unsourced parents , children and information. As it should not be here.