Creating Green Arrows for Others to Use

Over the past few years, I have written a number of times about mining the "green arrows" from the New.FamilySearch.org program and now, from the FamilySearch.org Family Tree program. My concerns have centered on the fact that most of the so-called green arrows indicate duplicate entries where one entry has the Temple Ordinance work complete and a second (or more) entry shows those same completed ordinances as available. In New.FamilySearch.org this situation initially lead to a multiplicity of additional duplicate ordinances.

In New.FamilySearch.org, the green arrows were defined as a marker where Temple Ordinances were available. In Family Tree, there is a difference. The same type of markers usually lead to a request to search for duplicates.

Now, Family Tree has released their Descendancy View with the same invitation of what is essentially "green arrows." But there is a substantial difference. Here is a screenshot showing the Family Tree equivalent of a "green arrow."

The difference is in what happens when you click on the "green arrow." Here is a screenshot of the results of clicking"

However, if you disregard all of the warnings and explanations of warnings, you could add the person to your Temple list. But in this particular case, there are this number of possible duplicates:

All of them, with one exception, seem to be the same person. So, there is a way to avoid all these possible duplicates and do the Ordinance work over yet another time, but the warnings and education are there, if the user wants to heed them.

One very important detail about this entire inquiry is that every one of the individuals in the Descendancy View above have a marker that indicates that they need sources. In effect, there is no assurance that any of this information is correct. By the way, after doing one or two of the possible merges, the record shows that all of the Temple work has been done. But the "green arrow" remains and could still be used to reserve the Temple Ordinance. But if you refresh the screen and go back to that same person, the "green arrow" has disappeared. Here is a screenshot showing the arrow is now gone:

I would suggest a couple of things need to be done.

First, I would suggest that anyone working on Family Tree focus on doing as many valid merges as possible. That will help to reduce the number of possible duplicate Temple Ordinances.

Second, I would suggest that if you are looking for valid genealogy to do, that you add to and correct the Family Tree file. Add records and allow people to "glean" them from the Family Tree field. That will give those who do not yet know how to find additional records the experience of participating in Temple Work.