Collaboration Pool

I'm carefully checking profiles here before I merge, but I have noticed that some which I haven't merged disappear out of my merge centre, so am assuming that somebody else has merged them...is this how it works? This worries me in that the information in some of the profiles which are being merged therefore seems to me to be wildly inaccurate, and contributing to the mess.

I do like the curator's notes on profiles....if I see one of them, I steer clear altogether.

With some merges, you can have backup to one side of the merge and the other side of the merge can be wildly inaccurate. However, when you look into it, you see that they inaccurate is the right person, but with bad data. In that case, I merge them. The result will be the right information or the wrong information. If there are multiple managers of the right profile, Geni seems to always take that info. However, if the bad data gets accepted, I just fix it. It's better to merge and fix than to leave it to someone else who might merge and not fix it.

If neither side can be verified, it's best not to merge them. Putting backup in the "About Me" section is always a good idea. There should probably be another section for "Sources"

Private User

I have been resisting joining, but with the curators at work I have some hope that the historical parts of the tree can be cleaned up. Also, I find that with the curators and 100 collaborators I am being merged constantly anyway, and this should help clean up the debris from these merges.

Michael, give it a rest. :-) or at least post a link to the other discussion. It's disappeared into history.

I am in

Private User

FARKAS Mihály László

Gonna be away from my computer for at least 1 week maybe 2. Won't be able to merge so do whatever you need to do to keep things moving!

It helps with collaboration pool - I have passed 600 partners now and it really helps when some extensive mergers should be occur. There is always some partners who have partners who can help if the administrator is not available. Excellent solution with Collaboration pool.

Count me in,
@Sam Molander

Private User

Private User

Private User

@Aivar Reidla

Henn, maybe you're comments make this a great time to bring up a concern of mine. I'm really happy to see that you now have 4000 collaborators. My concern is that Curators don't need collaborators now and that the rest of us may lose a great opportunity. My hope is that curators remember that they don't want to clean the tree up alone and that by collaborating with others, we'll be able to be a 2nd tier in an important structure of keeping the tree going.

Thanks

As a Curator, I depend on the majority of Geni users. i certainly do not know every family in the tree, and i don't have the time to research. All the merges that need to happen must be done by everyone. The curators are here to work on the public, contentious, historical difficult profiles and to provide a contact point for mediation.

Thank you to everyone who works to make our forest clean.

It is correct that curators technically don't need any collaborators, but it is not fair since it is just a one-way access (like it once was for Pro versus none Pro users)

As Henn I always try to send collaboration requests to new managers I find when merging my own profiles, to ensure that they get access to my profiles as well and can help with merges them self.

When it comes to expectations about Geni curators I really hope that people don't think that the curators will do the research for them.

We all depend on your hard work and input, but have options and tools to resolve duplicates and errors and might be experienced enough to make decisions based on available sources or know where to look for sources.

I agree with you both and expect that everyone else will as well. We are all here because we want to help. Glad to see your new power isn't going to your head ;)

Brendan,

You are allowed to slap me down to size if my head gets too big. :)

Seriously, every single person I've collaborated with has helped me so much in introducing me to something new. I would be upset if my own learning curve slowed down.

Henn! Me, too! Moi, aussi! 4014 is an outstanding number! Kitty

@Private User

je ne comprends rien je parle français
@Myriam Frèche

Myriam: http://translate.google.fr/#

j'ai changé d'adresse
On ne voit malgré tout que le profil public et pas l'arbre des gens avec lesquels on collabore.
myriam

j'ai trouvé une connexion grâce au pool.
Myriam

@Jonathan Wolfson

Reading back this discussion we should realize that GENI is used by many different people with different objectives and different backgrounds. They also have different expectations and use of the system. It is of course not black and white, but we can consider the EXPLORER versus the RESEARCHER.

The EXPLORER is an amateur for who GENI is also a basic source of information. He (or she) is happy to accept the work of others and hopes to find many ancestors and relatives on the system. He is not really working with a plan, checking facts is not for him and he leaves the hard work to others. He is attracted by the ease and friendliness and without GENI he would not be into genealogy.

The RESEARCHER is more a professional for who GENI is just a tool that can help to show and share his work with others. He is critical and well documented and proud of his results. He will not easily accept a profile of someone else. He is happy with GENI, but without the system he would continue his genealogical work.

Probably the EXPLORERS form the majority of users and their numbers will keep growing, GENI would be wise to somehow accommodate both groups. It is always an illusion to expect all people to behave well in all circumstances. Better think ahead and prepare for trouble to come.

People use Geni as a tool to send birthday greetings to relatives whom they are not close. Out of my 2,000 relatives, zero share my interest, which intersects with that of the posters here, which is dedication to a mission of creating a single collaborative tree. Thus, zero per cent of a random sample of 2000 people wish to use Geni in the method for which it is intended to be used.

I recognise that low interest of relatives. But it also proves the point that the majority of users are not researchers , but explorers. And it might become worse.
When I discovered ancestors like William the Conqueror and some Roman emperors, many relatives suddenly became interested. I guess, and fear , such will create a huge interest. And how are we prepared for that?

I think that the above is a continuation of another thread?

Jonathon "intended to be used" are VERY strong words, and simply wrong. If Geni did not intend people to send birthday greetings, they wouldn't have put in the effort to enable this. If anything, Geni.com was intended to do, is make money for Geni. as such they serve BOTH (and other) types of users. But also don't forget, for information regarding one's actual family, those casual users are often the best source of family history.

Geni DOES do a pretty good job of walking down the middle, and now with the Curator team, we can get the historical tree into good shape, making the "Pros" happy as well.