Collaboration Without Collaborators: The FamilySearch Family Tree

The whole idea of a wiki is to allow collaboration between the various users. The FamilySearch.org Family Tree is basically a wiki as I have pointed out many times in the past. See "The FamilySearch Family Tree is not paper" for an example. Here I need to quote myself, which I rarely do.

The Family Tree is not a paper genealogy program. 

This is probably the first and most difficult concept for the present genealogical community to accept and understand. Most of the current users of the program began their involvement with genealogy (or its euphemism, family history) either filling out paper forms or watching others fill out those same forms. The Family Tree is not limited in time and space to paper forms but the "paper forms mentality" still pervades the entire community. The most common symptom of this mentality is the "my treeism" noted by Family Tree Project Manager, Ron Tanner in a number of presentations. See "Ron Tanner Discusses Family Tree Road Map at - #BYUFHGC" and "Ron Tanner -- Live From Salt Lake City!" and many others. Contributions to the Family Tree immediately become the property of the Family Tree and not any individual contributor. No one owns the Family Tree. This fact is fundamentally disturbing to many users.

That post was written almost two years ago and I could have written the same thing today and still be facing the same issues and the same problems.  What I am seeing today is that the Family Tree is turning into more of a battleground than a venue for collaboration. For different reasons, a number of my children and their spouses have become very involved in a high level of research with the Family
Tree. As a result, I receive a significant amount of feedback about their interaction with other users of the Family Tree.

The main issues revolve around the fact that the contributors to the Family Tree either ignore attempts to communicate and collaborate or react so adversely as to discourage further contact. I have highlighted some of these negative responses in recent posts. For about the last ten years or so, I have been intentionally watching the cumulating mess in the Family Tree (and in new.FamilySearch.org) concerning my own "Tanner" surname line. One observation that I have made from time to time is that there is a dearth of primary research.

Finally, I decided it was time to enter the fray and start sorting out the Tanner family entries in the Family Tree. More recently, I have been chronicling my efforts in a number of posts using the title "Finding Francis." So far, I have yet to find even one person who has added even one supporting source document to resolve the issue. In some cases, dozens of "sources" have been added, but those sources consist entirely of repeating the unsubstantiated conclusions of past researchers. In effect, I am contributing in a vacuum.

I am aware of many very competent and highly educated people that claim ancestry through the Tanner line. Where are these people? Why have I been spending years now adding supporting documents and records without encountering even one person in the huge Tanner family that is willing to collaborate or provide a modicum of additional support? I do not have to go very far to give examples of the problem. See "Finding Francis -- A Major Breakthrough."

Unfortunately, every one of my children and their spouses involved with the Family Tree on other family lines has been giving me exactly the same feedback. Their frustration level is rising rapidly.

I can give one really pertinent example. The main battle consists of establishing the parents of Francis Tanner MTC6-5WW. The traditional claims are based on incomplete research done in the early 1900s. There are currently two duplicate copies of a "William Tanner" who the traditionalists claim is the father of Francis Tanner. This "William Tanner" is very likely a composite of two or three or more "William Tanners" who lived in Rhode Island about the same time. There are dozens of sources cited for each of the two duplicates. Many of the people who have been adding these sources have added the same records over and over again, apparently without noticing that the records have already been attached. Here is a screenshot of part of the list of sources for William Tanner LH2G-FGG.

There are eight copies of the same index attached as sources for the marriages recorded for this particular individual. This index is found on Ancestry.com. Here is the description of the "index."

Original data: This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles, querie.

None of the records in this database are substantiated by original documentation. The sources cited are worthless. Interestingly, not one of the entries for this person showing a marriage has a marriage date. You might also note that one of the sources listed is the FamilySearch Family Tree. Hmm.

Now, is there one of these people who would like to spend a few minutes talking to me or writing to me to find out what is really going on here? Not a one. Where are the collaborators?