Unsourced Profile Question

Question

This question is NOT ABOUT what a source is and what a source is not,

This question is

Is there a way to add the Unsourced Profile Category tag to multiple profiles at the same time or do I have to add it one at a time.

Most of my profiles do not have sources or biographies. I have a hard time writing. I have also checked on Familysearch.org and have not been able to find sources.

Comments

Chris, since I am from Pennsylvania, I am going to write a biography and source your Great Grandfather Frederick M. Glass, Glass-2914. I will tell you when I am finished.

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Thank you.

My DNA is through that line, but I am more into my adopted family line.

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Hi, Chris. I, for one love, researching profiles and adding sources, so I would be willing to take a look at your profiles and source where I can.  I am not alone either, as the Sourcerers group will attest.  We have actual competitions every Saturday as well as month long competitions to see how many profiles we can get sourced. And then there is the big annual Source-a-Thon too.   It's fun, and it helps make the Tree more accurate and complete.  So don't feel badly that yours are currently lacking sources.  It would help if you (and/or others) could add the Unsourced template to them so the Sourcerers can easily find them for researching.

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Here is the one I completed for you this morning. Please review it.

[https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Glass-2914]

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I just completed sourcing about 13 of your McCombs' profiles.  I will continue sourcing them and cleaning the profiles as I can.  Hope you are pleased with what I have done.

Answer 1

Hi Chris, as far as I know, you have to do it one at a time. This is unfortunate, as it can be time consuming.

If you like, I can help do a bunch for you. Do you have an example of a profile you want tagged?

Answer 2

Well, I hope this doesn't seem rude, but why did you add them in the first place if they have no sources?

Comments

Julie, in the grand scheme of things, our purpose is to build an accurate and well sourced tree here.  Since we're all volunteers, a more specific description of "our purpose" can't be dictated by someone who pays us money in exchange for doing something his/her way.  The result is that "our purpose" is probably defined in as many ways as the number of individuals included in "us", with all the individual versions meeting a description of contributing toward that overarching goal.

While we are all in agreement (I hope) that the goal is to have a well sourced tree, we all go about it differently.  Some only work on their own family, others work on specific groups of people - maybe by historical association, maybe by culture, maybe by affiliation in a group or an historical event.  It also continues down to how we work - some put a sourced timeline in the biography, others write prose, some put a lot of effort into eye candy (graphic decorations), and some take pride in cleaning up the mess left by others.  I've done, and continue to do, my share of mess-cleaning, but don't hold it against anyone else who doesn't care to contribute to that … and now, the day has arrived that I'm one of the makers of the messes, which I will work on, but probably won't ever finish cleaning up.

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Well, Gaile, that is an exceptionally well stated Comment (from 'in the grand scheme of things') and I wish it had been an Answer so I could ward it 17 gold stars 

LOL I have to admit that some gedcoms and some "by hand" profiles look more like Ms Liberty Profile said "Give me your wastrels and cads and the feckless and I will figure out what to do with them. Probably. Well, I hope to."  

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Well, yes, Julie, one of the volunteer contributions is to clean up and source profiles that are lacking same. However, if you or any other active PM don't want to, no one is going say anything  -- it is after all a voluntary service to the WT community and its holdings 

Collaboration is to communicate -- an exchange of ideas and hopefully some agreement -- and usually there is some agreement on "what to do" -- and in your post today you have been Communicating. 

Contribution is an action taken. Such as sourcing a gedcom profile, or adding the notice it is Unsourced or ... in all the actions mentioned and many more 

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Sorry Gaile,

Legacy links with Family Search. This is the one I use most.

Roots Magic links with MyHeritage.com. I have to pay to get information from this one.

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Chris, I saw the hint links when I brought the ancestry gedcom into Legacy, but didn't pursue them.  All I did with Legacy was to export smaller gedcoms, then upload those to WikiTree.  I guess, in the process, the gedcom first deteriorated from Legacy's import process, then got further damaged by WikiTree's import process.  All these import processes seem to leave a lot to be desired.  I'm thinking of developing my own import process, starting from scratch instead of incorporating available open source existing code to do it.

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Adding new profiles without sources -- sure, we (almost) all do it. You have a family and they have a child that you know is their's but there is no official birth record and then never show in a census, etc. but adding them to WT get's them out there for someone else that might eventually be able to tie them into their records and add to the original profile. I have many such in my records and I know it works as in the past 3 months I have had four new managers find their family on WT via my original profile creations.

And that is why I normally put a single reference to my own records as a source thus avoiding the "unsourced" tag which  would lead to someone contacting me for/with more information.

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Some of us add profiles that are marginally sourced (what others might consider unsourced) as a means of filling in our trees to make them available to others who might also be looking for these people, and who might have sources to add.

Personally, I refer to it as "fishing" - every so often someone else comes along with the sources and the balance of the universe is restored. <g>

rsl

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Well Susan, I don't believe Julie said anything to indicate she thinks that Chris is a "sinner." Most of us who have been around for a bit, are more than familiar with the enormous MESS GEDcoms make of our tree, and the number of unsourced duplicates that arise as a result. If Chris is unable to maintain his profiles and asks for help -great, but Julie's question was no where near out of bounds. Why does anyone add profiles without sources, no place names, surname or even date approximations? We see this over and over and I am tired of the laissez faire attitude that leadership appears to have regarding some of these very real concerns. There should be a relatively simple solution to stop that kind of proliferation of profiles without sacrificing the growth of the tree. I think some leaders may forget what it's like to be new here, and worse, that it's gotten more complicated as we move forward. See my frustrated post form a few days ago: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/946368/same-sorry-situation-with-sources

WHY aren't these very real issues to all members addressed? I understand the need to grow the tree, for ads and for world-wide reach, but the messes that are erupting (not to mention the upset members), really are becoming untenable. 

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I just hid two comments on the topic of whether or not another member was using G2G tags and categories correctly.

We should not be talking about the behavior of other members by name in this fashion -- and surely there are weightier concerns for us to think about than G2G tags and categories.

It's apparent to me that many folks among us are under extra stress at this holiday season. As a result, we may overreact to little things. If that describes you, maybe it's best to take a break from this forum until after the New Year.

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Thank you Ellen, I'm sure you're correct. It seems that recent posts have been more fiery than usual. We could all take a step back. I notice that the first comment has been removed, can the second be removed as well?

Answer 3

Chris, you and my husband, Greg Halpin-348, are fifth cousins via https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Leader-114 Joseph Leader. I'm not fast or the best at sourcing but I know I will definitely be able to help out as I do my husbands family along with my family. I knew I had seen your name before.

Does that make me your 5th cousin-in-law??

Comments

Hey Louann,

Here is one for you. My Pastor is related to me. Forth cousin once removed. Also through Joseph Leader. Last name order is Leader, Markey, and Larkin.

Cannot confirm your relation to me. as your husbands tree is not public.

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Thanks for letting me know his tree is not open. I shall open it now!

I find a lot of people related in York county. I always say that good ole "Pennsylvania Dutch" county. A lot of Germans settled there so not much surprises me anymore.

Answer 4

Hi Chris, I added a biography and sources to your great grandfather Frederick M Glass, Glass-2914. It was a profile that needed work. I also added his cemetery category. Please check it out and see if any other edits need made. I used Family Search sources so everyone with a free Family Search account can view it. I know you said you were more interested in your adopted line, but I do not know who that is.

[https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Glass-2914]

Comments

Thank you. Looks good. As stated before don't know much about that line so am not sure what needs edited or not.

My father told me he came from Stubenville, Ohio. and he was adopted (complicated story). So with that I don't even know if McCombs is my real line.

Answer 5

There's an easy-to-use tool to generate simple biographies available. It uses the data already entered into profile. Just click on the above link, enter the wikitree ID and generate. Then cut & paste to the edit page, with little or no tweaking.

Here's an example of one I did. Works best if profiles for spouses and children are attached.

Change details  for  Joel Knous.

Hope this is useful.

Comments

Pat, does this work on profiles that need cleaning after a merge?

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Wow - works great. Especially for creating live links to other family mentioned in bio, which is so tedious to do, one-by-one.  Thank you!

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Rodney, If the profile you're working on doesn't have much of a written biography, it would work great.

Doing the generated biography while cleaning up the merge might help to merge different styles together by using the best from each merge. But then it could also complicate the job. It really depends on your preferences.

Normally I would not be thinking of cleaning up merges and starting a biography on the same day. But if I had two or more styles to merge then it might be easier to merge them into the familiar format of the generated biography. I try to keep something from each profile.

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Patricia, I'm glad you like it. Sometimes I use it more than once on a profile: once before and then again after adding the spouse(s) and child(ren).

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Thank-you for your response Pat. I will try it sometime.