G2G: Should Notables stickers be used on profiles managed by other projects?

Question

What is the policy on using Notable stickers on project-managed profiles? It seems redundant to have a Notables sticker on the profile of someone like a monarch, a Mayflower passenger, a Magna Carta surety baron, etc. These project-managed profiles are all obviously "notable". Just wondering if there was policy on this.  Thanks!

Answer 1

Ideally - Notables stickers should be placed on any profile where the profile subject has a wikipedia page or an entry in a National Biographical dictionary or Encyclopedia.

It does not matter who is managing that profile.

This is my understanding.

Why do you ask?

Anyone can place a notable sticker if that profile qualifies under the requirements I mentioned above. Some people on the Notables may not be certifieed to place such stickers - ie those who do not have the pre-1500 certificate.

It is not necessarily up to the Notables Team to place those stickers. There are millions of profiles that need Notable stickers. There is no way we can do them all.

If you would like to place the sticker on any profile for which you are able to open, feel free to do so. It would certainly help the Notables team.

You may also want to leave a PM with Scott Fulkerson as well, so he can add those profiles to the Notables list. We do like to keep records.

Comments

PS you can also join the Notables team if you wish.

Leave a message on this thread!!

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1097960/notables-september-2020

Answer 2

Stickers are meant to be decorative and to serve no unique functional purpose, apart from highlighting an important fact about someone. I doubt any highlighting of this kind is called for where someone is, for instance, a monarch. Their notability is self-evident.

Categories are another matter. They do serve a functional purpose.

Stickers can also be removed, under WikiTree guidance, by any contributor to a profile. There is more information at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Stickers.

Comments

That be true.

Monarchs and the Nobility are already Notable in their own right!!

But Magna Carta Barons and those in the PGM project could probably get a sticker.

And of course anyone in Movies, TV, music, sports etc.

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Robynne, The point is that the stickers are not necessary on profiles of monarchs, etc., it is evident that they are noteworthy. Adding a notables category to the profile of a monarch is fine. I asked because some projects do not necessarily want those stickers on profiles they manage.

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So is there a comment on the project pages that specifically says that they wont want notable stickers? I don't think I have read or heard of any such comment. A link to a page with such a comment would be helpful.

And if there is no such coment, HOW does one know if they will allow stickers or not?

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Do you mean, Michael, "Stickers are meant to be decorative and to serve no unique functional purpose," only in relation to Notables stickers? That may be true of "notable" stickers, but not true of others. Scotland's Clan stickers, for example, provide a link to their associated Clan page and to their tartan information. 

I'm unaware of a policy that certain, or any, stickers shouldn't be placed on project-managed profiles. Since that seems to fall into an esthetics issue, perhaps it needs to be addressed in the project's own styles and standards? I think the stickers draw additional attention to the profile. Would you also disallow a EuroAristo Sticker or Migrating Ancestor sticker? I personally don't think redundancy is a problem.

Should there be a special Style Rule for this?

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Bobbie - the phrase which you have highlighted from Michael's answer is actually from the Wikitree help page about stickers. 

I was chided for removing a Notables sticker from the profile of an English king. He's a king - it's obvious he's notable! Being notable is also a value judgement - where do we draw the line at how notable is notable? It gets to the point where everyone from royalty down to people involved in local politics (including my mum) could have one, so it becomes of no discriminatory value. 

It is also implying that the person with the notable sticker is more worthy than the person who hasn't got one.

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It's my understanding that the original sticker rule was written with non-project stickers in mind.

That being said, the profile does operate within the Notables project guidelines, so it's something that "should" remain on the profile. Because there are so many Notables profiles within the project, it is impossible for the team to constantly hunt and restore project boxes and stickers to profiles, so there are going to be situations like this that pass under the radar. However, because the profile meets the project conditions, another PM could come along tomorrow, see that it's missing, and restore it without questioning why it was missing. And then another could remove it. And another restore it. The reality is that it is going to be easier in the end to keep key project stickers on profiles than it would be to go out and remove them.

The other aspect of this is if a Magna Carta Baron that fit the project was encountered that had only a Notables Project box and no MCB sticker or project box. I strongly suspect that no one would think twice to add that project box to the profile, since it fits well within that project. I would also hope that at the same time, one would not then remove all other project boxes to simply eliminate them.

Notables also serves as a key search criteria by a number of PM's, so by removing it from those searches, it impacts PM's efforts to find key profiles. If we reach a point where we agree to disagree about the stickers (and I would hope that is not the case), then I would think it would be suitable to manually add the category to these profiles to continue to enable the search capability (which is essentially what the sticker accomplishes).

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Thanks Scott! I knew that the Notables sticker also attaches a category to the profile, but I was unsure whether Notables wanted to categorize profiles that are already managed/categorized by other projects (monarchs, MC barons, Mayflower...etc.). Seems the answer is yes. Appreciate your response!

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A profile should only have a specific project box if it is managed by that specific project. There is even a special DBE Project Status created by Ales for this. The report for Notables Project can be found here; https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:DBE_Project_Status#WikiTree-11_Notables_Project

In the cases someone adds a Notable project box to a profile managed by Sweden project, with aSweden Project box, I simply delete the Notable project box and replace it with a sticker. Since the Notables project have not expressed any interest in managing the profile, the Notables profile box should not be used.

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Thanks! Project boxes and stickers are used in different circumstances. The Notables project doesn't want to co-manage profiles with other projects. I was only asking about the use of the sticker and related categories.

Answer 3

Having the Notables sticker on is perfectly acceptable (as long as all the conditions have been met).  Having the Project Box on, when the Notables Project doesn't manage the profile - that's where people fall down.

It may be useful if someone searches on it.  Probably useful to the Notables Project maintenance teams, to see who has got the wrong sort of bling.

People certainly do love to put stickers on!

Comments

I believe the limit is four stickers on a profile.

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Active members aside - not more than 5.

Answer 4

As a notable sticker now serves the function of adding a CC7 number on a profile, the rationale for the previously selected answer no longer is appropriate.