ATTENTION Curators, please assist

OK, hows this;

Add an ICON that would appear on profiles owned by a person that does not want to merge.

He/she could chose it as an option when he/she joins.
OR
If he/she chooses the option, then the request to merge button changes to a "This person Does not wish to Merge" button.

That would save the trouble of asking and them the trouble of declining it.

As for those that have not logged on for a long time, and have not canceled their account. Geni should cancel their account after 6 mths or so of inactivity and compleate any outstanding merges.

And for those who now they will be gone for long periods of time there could be a vacation mode to hold the account for up to a year before closing.

What do you thing, and Geni people, you heard our cry, what can you do?

To me, that's what the user should do if he doesn't want to be merged. I'm not memorizing his profile ID or anything. He's got to put up a big graphic on the profile ... and I'll still request it anyway. :)

Geni does cancel inactive accounts after a year and releases those profiles into the wild. We're cleaning them up in our merge sweep of the database.

Anyway I think the whole issue of private trees will go away soon enough. Stay tuned. :)

I really like the big tree, but there was a point where I regretted joining it because of all of the mistakes. It felt like all my hard work was shot. The benefits have outweighed the negatives for me since.

There should be a way for people to use Geni without needing to join the big tree. But, they must get crazy with merge requests. So, I like the idea of an icon that would indicate that the profile is not mergable (i.e. private tree and staying that way). Ideally, those profiles wouldn't appear in our merge center.

I have a n00b question -- I have been subscribed to this discussion, which makes me suspect I can be helpful in some capacity here -- but I have no idea which profile I'm connected to because I'm truthfully not that familiar with the upper portions of my own tree. How do I know which name mentioned here was the name that summoned me? Should I just open them all and get to work if I can?? Help!

Charlotte...

Once you post to a discussion you are automatically following it. You can "unfollow" via the link at the top of the discussion.

If you were mentioned in a message, we will just need to find your reference by paging through, but I am not seeing your name in "profiles mentioned" (to the left), only as a participant.

Will keep looking!

Charlotte...didn't find you, so must be a reference to your profile was deleted.

Charlotte,
your enthusiasm is GREAT. This particular discussion is for REQUESTING help from Curators. So... not much to do here. BUT... if you want to help work on the shared Historical Tree, there are TWO different things that you CAN do, if you like:

1) Join the Collaboration Pool. This will involve getting 500+ Collaboration Requests (a 1 time thing), and Collaborators, enabling you to do merges pretty much most places in the BIg-Tree. See: http://www.geni.com/discussions/6000000008539319639

2) Review the current list of 86 genealogical Projects being worked on, on Geni, find one or more that interests you, and ask to join/help. See: http://www.geni.com/projects

An interesting discussion on people who do not want to join the big tree.

At first glance, it seems logic that they should indicate that they do not want to join the big tree, but be carefull. Many people will start with the idea that they just want to use GENI as a geneological prgram and only later discover the big tree and its attractions. So I think that everybody should be exposed to the tree and all its aspects, before they are allowed to isolate themselves.
I have no practical solutions yet, but that could be worked out I trust.

I have to admit that the first few days I was in the Big Tree I felt like I had been sucked in to something I wanted no part of. I didn't know what had happened, I was getting merge requests that I had no idea what were or what would do or what I should do with, I suddenly had all this other info on my home page that I had no clue what was; I wanted out!!! I started searching help and the discussions for that way out, but instead, fortunately, I found a friendly curator in Erica who showed me the ropes, introduced me to discussions, projects and other "friendly helpers, and got me interested in staying rather than leaving.

Hhmmm...Gee, Thanks a Lot, Erica!!!!! (jk)

Perhaps a "welcome" group who is notified of a new merge to the big tree (I am guessing Geni can identify those people) and then sends out a welcoming hand...much as Erica did for me...that explains what is going on, how things work, etc. Then, if after getting a chance to really understand what is happening, they can detach from the tree. I am guessing most people will not want to leave the tree once they see it.

I envision a group of munchkins singing: "We represent... the Curator Guild... and we'd like to welcome you to The Big Tree..."

Erica Howton Come on, give us some clues about the private tree issue :)

I think I need a hand here, and I hope I am asking in the right place and the right time :) I'm rather new here...

I have a pending merge where the manager has not been online since August. Can this be done by the curators or should I sit tight while longer?

The merge is for @Véronique Trottier and @Veronique Brazeau (Trottier) .

I am very confident that they are the same person.

Thank-you all for being so friendly and approachable!

Heather

I think I also need some help learning how to tag profiles properly! Let me try this again: [[Véronique Trottier]] and [[Veronique Brazeau (Trottier)]]

Ok, here's the URL: http://www.geni.com/merge/compare/6000000010130269612?fsession_id=1...

done - and yes this is exactly the right place to ask.

Thank-you VERY much..this was incredibly quick!

Heather...

You were trying to tag correctly....it just doesn't always work!

If it is going to work, you will get a selector box (like you do in the to box of an email)...if the box doesn't pop up, it won't tag, so then the URL is easiest.

Good to know! So now that the merge is complete, Véronique Trottier has conflicting data (3 parents), and I seem to have another issue where the manager has left Geni (last login in January!). This one is http://www.geni.com/merge/compare/362956619290011347?fsession_id=12... . Is there something I could be doing to solve this on my own?

By the way, I'm pretty sure I'm part of the big tree and I LOVE IT! Thanks to everyone who has built the branches!

Heather...if you have more relatives than you thought you did, you are getting closer to being part of the big tree...if you have over 46million, then you ARE in the big tree!

Or if your counter is pegged at 5,000... that's a pretty good indication you are in the Big Tree...

Heather, are you saying that Joseph Antione Trottier and Joseph Trottier are not the same person?

I can complete that other merge you linked to for you if everything is correct.

This one:

http://www.geni.com/merge/compare/362956619290011347?fsession_id=12...

Would you like me to?

Correction: Antoine.

@ Heather Lynne Bostelaar, please see previous page. Thanks.

Heather Lynne Bostelaar

There. Please see previous questions. Thanks.

@Kim Odenweller
Actually I believe that Antoine and Joseph are the same person- Antoine's father's name was Joseph according to the church records I have to reference, which is where the confusion might have originated.

It would be lovely if you could complete the merge!
Many thanks,
Heather

Ah okay. Yep, I'll merge them.

P.S. Done. :-)

Thanks, Anita and Shmuel! I think I figured this out, because I was just auto-subscribed to another discussion about John I of England -- it must notify you if a profile you manage gets mentioned. I must technically "manage" one of the profiles mentioned somewhere in this thread - just goes to show you how familiar I am with the huge honkin' tree! Thanks for your help!