Q. WorldConnect Searches would be easier if there was less duplication of names. Why are there so many duplicates? Why can't they be merged?

A. Refine your search when you discover many name duplicates. To do this, use the Advanced Search option of WorldConnect Global Search on this page: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi This helps eliminate same-name individuals who are not actually the individual you wish to locate.

If you have done that and still find duplication it means that many people have the individual you are looking for in their files. That is good news because it means that any one of those researchers might have discovered information you didn't know.

Keep in mind that WorldConnect is not one huge master database but a collection of individual family trees that must remain separate and cannot be merged, because each file belongs to the person who submitted it. The files are the work of many thousands of individuals independently researching their family histories.

If you have found duplicate entries within one individual's WorldConnect file you might wish to direct the submitter to WorldConnect Tip #9, which explains how to remove duplicate entries from a file. http://www.rootsweb.com/~review/tips/tip-09.html

RootsWeb Review's WorldConnect Tip-of-the-Week Storehouse: http://www.rootsweb.com/~review/tips/index.html

RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, Using technology to dig up roots http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson3.htm




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