Finally on Family Search /Family Tree we have another very effective deterrent to irrational changes without sources. Now there is a box that pops up telling you how many other people are watching the person you plan to edit. This is brilliant.
From James Tanner post on this new feature see it here.
Since the creation and launch of Family Tree three years ago, we have talked about monitoring your people by Clicking on the Star on the Person Details Page in Family Tree.
This monitoring allows you to be notified by email once a week when someone has made a change on one of your ancestors. Some people do not play by the rules and make changes based on wishes instead of SOURCED facts. Some people put in things that are completely irrational without carefully checking the feasibility of such entries. You know the ones, children born after the mother's death, children born before the father, etc. Some people have deleted relationships and ordinances and even people for reasons unknown because they do not even fill in why they are making the changes. Most of the time they are made without sources being added. This has understandably led to some people losing faith in this process.
This new feature will refocus someone in the moment they are about to make a change. They will no doubt recheck their entry before completing the edit. Thank you Family Tree developers.
Some are new at family history, some are young, some are very old. Some people make honest mistakes, others are just careless. Most are well-intended. This new feature will help a lot.
Most want Family Tree perfect right now. They do not understand that FS/FT is a process towards perfection. This is a process that will take time and it's unrealistic to think it will be instantaneous when we are trying to clean up 150 years of records. We have made great advances in three years but the work is not done.
By creating one world wide tree as we work together it will become better and better. The synergy of working together on a common goal of a perfected tree is better than each one of us doing our own thing. This is not a great idea since we share so many common ancestors with others. Collaboration will move us all forward. Some people do not want to participate at all thinking why should I? I did all this hard work, why should I share it? Why not share it? Think about that. Another thing is why should I share it ...I have no descendants. Do your siblings or your cousins or other people who share these same ancestors seek after this information you are holding so close? Probably. Whatever happened to random acts of kindness and unselfishness or contributing to the common good of all? Just sayin'...
Some people resist clicking on that star to Watch their people. I am not sure why. If you value your time and effort getting things into the tree with good sources, wouldn't you want to see the changes made by others? On a wiki-based database, it is a little nuts not to do this. Beside you might get some new information yourself. We cannot just assume that because we added something it is perfectly correct. We do not hold all the documents or information on our ancestors. Others have their share as well.
To get the perspective of responding appropriately to others and their changes please read James Tanner's blog post about it here: It is very insightful.
http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/04/responding-appropriately-to-changes-in.html
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