Source-a-thon thoughts

Question

Was there a Source-a-thon page with everything on it? Rules, tips, links to teams and team threads, to The Table, to categories of unsourced profiles, prizes, winners, countdowns for winners to claim prizes, etc?

I was traveling over the Source-a-thon weekend, so when I did get a chance to contribute, I wanted to be able to get back into the challenge and up to speed with what had been going on for the last 6-8 hours without having to try to track down where I had seen a link to this or that information.

The live feed didn't work well for me because most of my Source-a-thon time was spent in a shared hotel room late at night with the sound muted -- and closed captions were horrendous. Consequently I never saw or heard a prize announcement (which is NBD, but it was part of the advertised fun) and didn't know where to look for a countdown for winners to claim prizes.

Maybe it was just me? Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Source-a-thon. And I can't say enough about the fabulous Source Counter, the Table of Numbers, and RootsSearch! Just sayin' maybe there's a way to improve communication?

Comments

Most of what you were looking for was in an email that I received a couple of days before we started. It was the one that had the table of your team members. I kept that open in my email program and was able to get to the most of the links from there. The one that I had trouble finding was the tracking table links which I finally found and bookmarked on the Source-A-Thon help page.

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Good observations, Stephanie.

Before and during the Source-a-thon, I observed a number of queries in G2G from people who were feeling lost in their search for Source-a-thon information. Most everything we could have wanted to know was on the https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Source-a-Thon page, but the length of that page probably made it difficult to use to find specific things.  Eowyn's question at the top of G2G thread https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/472793/do-you-have-source-a-thon-questions listed places to go for various kinds of information, but G2G posts (including that one) seldom stay on the main page very long. I never thought to look back at that "Are You Ready For the Source-a-thon?" email that Debi mentions for ready-reference info for use during the event. That long, chatty email was not a handy source of key information for me, and probably many others. (And I never watched any of the videos.)

All good things can be improved. Next year, we need to have a small "Source-a-Thon ready-reference" box on everyone's Nav page, with links to use during the event.

Answer 1

Maybe I didn't do a good enough job communicating.

I did try to keep the Team Page fairly simple with links to relevant pages.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:%C3%89quipe_Acadie_-_Team_Acadia

At the bottom, I did add links to scores, hangouts and prize threads. Some of us also kept in touch in the G2G thread that is also linked from the team page.

I should have made sure everyone knew about the page and thread. It was my first Source-a-Thon so I'm still learning. I'll try to do better next time! Sorry if you missed out on some of the info and chatting!

Comments

Roland, it wasn't you, it was me. I don't know why I didn't see the links at the bottom of the team page. I guess I didn't scroll down? Or was lighting the candle at both ends and fried my brain a bit. I did see the link to the thread on the team page. So I should have asked there. I didn't think I was going to be able to participate much, being out of town and without the wonderful arsenal of sources so many on the team have, but I used RootsSearch for the first time and was AMAZED at its efficiency.

Answer 2

Personally, I had bookmarked all the pages prior to the start, and was able to find all the information I needed quite quickly.

I think it may have helped to have a "pinned" thread on the G2G page so that it was always at the top (maybe a larger banner type heading)- with just links to all other relevant threads, but overall I found I could quickly get back to sourcing even when I had to take an impromptu trip to the skate park and source on my new lap top which didn't have everything bookmarked

I guess there is always room for improvement but I have to say "Well Done Everyone!" to all the organisers, the Team leaders, the Hang Out Chat peeps, To Ales for the great tracking and everyone who contributed!