Conflict Resolution
From SharedTree Wiki
Attempting to merge and coordinate genealogy research across families and individuals ultimately leads to some sort of conflict. Some issues are a simple misunderstanding of the facts. Others are complex historical disputes that may date back for generations. SharedTree won't be able to resolve all of these conflicts, but our goal is to at the very least to document them and attempt to educate all parties.
One reason for conflict on SharedTree is the One Tree Only Principle. SharedTree only supports one current version of the genealogical tree. When two researchers disagree, only one entry can remain "in force." Below are the step to take to resolve conflicts:
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Assume it was a mistake
No one is perfect, and there are MANY errors in genealogy due to lack of information. Simply assume they didn't know any better and correct the change. No message public or private is necessary.
Make public post and fix again
If they revert your change, then post a message explaining your reasons for the revision and make the change again.
Debate the change
At this point it's time to stop playing edit war and try to debate the issue. Consider posting photos of your evidence. You can add scanned documents to any event as a source. Refer to these document or any other primary or secondary evidence you have. Try civily to come to an agreement with the other individual. Most intelligent people given the same set of facts can usually come to the same conclusion. Remember to consider the possiblity that you're actually wrong!
Invite others to judge
In some cases it may become necessary to invite others to join the debate and judge the evidence from an independent perspective. Post a message asking others to comment. Remember that individuals may have hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of descendents who are interested in their genealogy as well. SharedTree is the forum to have that debate.
Let time pass
Ultimately it may prove too difficult to prove one stand or another. If so, then let time pass. Do more research. Wait for others to join the debate and possibly add more evidence. We simply may not have enough information to make an educated decision today. That's OK. Post your thoughts and leave it for another generation to solve.
Don't
We suggest you don't do the following:
- Email the person directly -- unless you feel it's really important to have a private conversation, we encourage you to ask questions and provide answers publically. There are hundreds of other relatives that have the same questions about that one tombstone and don't want to repeat the same debate.
- Show your negative emotion in the post -- if you want to get angry, then go outside and scream. There are too many people who said something belligerent in a public forum and later lived to regret it. Don't be one of them.
Locking records
If we need it, we may consider adding a locking feature that will lock certain controversial records. Examples may include public figures like John F. Kennedy or Joseph Smith. However, for now we will rely on the public to monitor and police this themselves.
Banning users
We will attempt to ban individuals if necessary. However, permanent banning has proven to be ineffective in many cases since the banned individual chooses to create more problems after the ban than they would have before the ban. Temporary bans can be useful in some cases to simply help remind a person of the rules.
