Will you join us for the first ever WikiTree Friday Date Night?

+48 votes
1.2k views


Date: 6 Nov 2020

Time: 4 pm Eastern US (2000 GMT)

No need to swipe right or left! We're looking for lonely profiles without dates!! Let's give them a little TLC!

Pick from one of these lonesome categories on WikiTree+ (don't forget to click "find suggestions" to generate the report):

We'll kick the evening off with a video (Facebook | YouTube) on 6 Nov  4 pm Eastern US time (2000 GMT). So pop some popcorn, grab a drink, and come and join us for "date night" !!!


This "challenge" is really just for fun, so we're not tracking or keeping score. Just join in to have some fun, share some social time with your fellow WikiTreers, and make some big improvements to the tree. 

Important Info & Instructions:

  • Profiles for Living People
    • Add [[Category: WikiTree Admin]]
    • Add the correct date(s) and sources to support them
    • Save
    • The Team will use the WikiTree Admin category to make sure these profiles are handled appropriately, including removing you from the Trusted List, if necessary.
  • Where else can I find profiles to work on?
  • Are we making progress?
    • Check out the new free-space page attached! It's chock full of all the details. Let me know if anything's missing!
in The Tree House by Julie Ricketts G2G6 Pilot (486k points)
edited by Julie Ricketts
I just thought to ask. How long is this date?
Well, Eowyn and I are doing the video kickoff, and I imagine we'll be around for about an hour or so, but people are welcome to keep working as long as they like.

We hope to do this on a regular basis, too. So, maybe once / month??
I just glanced at one with my LNAB, with no dates, not sure if it should be unlisted. This could be very hard.
Please take a look a the "Important Info/Instructions" section I just added to the original post. We set up a category where you can add profiles that turn out to be for living people, and the Team will handle those.
Perfect!!!
Awesome, Julie, thanks!
Eowyn gets credit for the category! I just typed it in. lol
Date "night" starts in about 3 hours! I hope a bunch of you can join us!

I just updated our starting stats on the free-space page linked up above. We have our work cut out for us!

Wish we had a place to chat while we work since we're on a date!smiley

I just set up a channel on the WikiTree Server on Discord. laugh

Link: https://discord.gg/uMN4JFH3

(If you tried to get in and couldn't, try this new link I just posted)

19 Answers

+17 votes
Great idea!!
by Traci Thiessen G2G6 Pilot (294k points)
Thanks, Traci!! I'm looking forward to it!!
+20 votes
It's a date
by Ronel Olivier G2G6 Pilot (122k points)

laugh

See you then, Ronel!

+22 votes

I can't tell you how long it's been since I've had a date (cough), so I'm in! I also love fixing up these tragedies. I do wish we could track our own personal numbers though because I'm very much goal oriented if you haven't noticed before nowlaugh I guess we could set the status on the database error and watch those numbers.

by Emma MacBeath G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Absolutely! Track if you want to. We're just not doing it formally. And feel free to report your accomplishments. That's always fun.

And, gee, Emma, I didn't think you had a competitive bone in your body. hehehehe

LOL. You must not know me very well then, Julie. You should see us at family game night around here! laugh

I bet it's quite similar to ours. hahaha!!!
Many have most likely fallen at the hands of Landlord Emma in Monopoly. =)
Ha! Monopoly is too tame a game for the likes of my family.
Have you tried Chronology?
I hadn't heard of it until now, Kay. It looks interesting.
+18 votes
ok -a win for team Frances

(had to adopt to change the typo in the LNAB) and now a whole host of just lovely LNAB have come into play.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stettaford-1
by Frances McCarthy G2G6 Mach 2 (24.1k points)
That sounds more fun than sorting out Browns or Smiths!
for sure -- my LNAB is Jones... and my family have Jones married Jones :(
+17 votes
Great Idea, Julie. I think i can make it next week. I might start early, just for something randomly interesting to try.
by Nancy Wilson G2G6 Pilot (146k points)
It's a little addictive to get started on these, Nancy! But it's also frustrating when you run across several in a row that don't have good information to work from.
+15 votes
Okay, this sounds like fun. Please count me in.
by Robin Shaules G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
Yay, Robin!!
+17 votes
I've done one that had a whole family of unsourced I am working on now.
by Nancy Thomas G2G6 Pilot (207k points)
That's fantastic, Nancy!!
+16 votes
I will try to make this. The 133 are one of my favorite to work.
by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (597k points)
Terrific! I enjoy them, too. Major rabbit holes!!
+14 votes

No flowers or wine needed laugh

by Maggie N. G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
Wine would be nice. hahahaha
+13 votes
Since there seem to be no men so far who might want to go on a date, I'd better start the ball rolling.

However I might start a bit earlier, Australia is so far ahead of everyone else (time wise) that it would be Saturday afternoon date for me, which just doesn't sound right.

The other way I use to find 'no date' profiles is to search for a surname I'm interested in, arrange the list in date order, and then scroll down to the bottom, and there are sure to be some profiles that need a date.
by John Atkinson G2G6 Pilot (618k points)

Well, John, then we'll just have to join *you* ! laugh

And, yes, that's an excellent tip! I do the same when I'm working on a surname. You can usually find a treasure trove of unsourced profiles doing that.

John,

I go to the weekly suggestion report, pick open profiles, then change the URL to jump way ahead in the report. For 133 and 134 they are in approximate birth sequence based on relatives dates.
+8 votes
I commend Julie on her double-entendre. Kudos! =) I'll definitely be in the stream and I'll see about those dates!
by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (764k points)

Hey Chris, I'll see you there!smiley

Glad you're joining in, Chris!
+9 votes
Fantastic idea! I'll work on a few of them. When I have encountered profiles with no dates and I suspect they are living based on parents or spouses profiles I check Facebook.

I've found a bunch that are on Facebook and confirmed it was the same person by looking at their "About" info and their Friends or Family.

Glad to see a way to deal with living people by adding the category.
by Emily Holmberg G2G6 Pilot (155k points)
Yay, Emily! I'm glad you're going to join us!
+8 votes
Thank you Julie! I thought you would never ask :-)

It's a date!

Ian
by I. Speed G2G6 Mach 7 (77.3k points)

Great, Ian! Glad you can join us. laugh

+9 votes
This is a great idea! And thank you so much for the instructions for how to deal with open living people.  I have already started a few.
by W Robertson G2G6 Pilot (118k points)
Oh, good! I hope you can stop by on Friday, too! :-)
I dated a few Iowa profiles tonight.
+8 votes
so this week I started with https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Warren-2015

and haven't made any progress with him (although I think there might be a duplicate of him as https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Warren-2014)

But I have put dates on a few of his in-laws.. and found some of their names (lots were imported as "Living" or "unknown") Along the way I have learnt about the history of Fulda Indiana.
by Frances McCarthy G2G6 Mach 2 (24.1k points)
Thanks, Frances!

I spent a little time this weekend taking a look at that family. Seems like there are some questions that need to be answered before we can do any merges.

I wasn't able to find any marriage records for Mary Speckner / Spechner ... weird.
oh - I like the estimated birth date marker!
and did you check out Felger-1?

I can't find any sign of her, but she's been imported with a bunch of children given her maiden name - yet they look to be Speckners.
but managed to connect that branch to the tree via the lashers - lots more to be added there too.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lasher-8
+6 votes
Here's a handy hint...if you run up against a family and find they were created by someone with a closed account, you can check the closed account's contributions for clues!

Just use the link:https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&who=

and insert the closed account's Wiki-ID. Here's one I was working with and I got clues:https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&who=Henson-793

I was working on this profile:https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Henson-796
by Natalie Trott G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
Thanks, Natalie!!
+6 votes

If you want to look everywhere you can try around https://www.softdata.si/wt/Err_20201101/133_60_245.htm

And you can change 245 to other nearby pages. I was working on page 250, which put it in the mid 1800s.

Don't forget to add locations when you find them!

I just added some info at the end of the Bio Check help about searching via WikiTree+ for profiles created by a specific manager Id or associated with a GEDCOM. These can also provide clues.

by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (597k points)
Fantastic, Kay! Thanks!
+7 votes
I got about 138 profiles done. It was hard to keep track. But it was extremely satisfying!
by Emma MacBeath G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
I know! I love working on these types of profiles.
+4 votes

I've been taking your hints & tips and updating the WikiTree Friday Date Night space page.

If you have more to add, please do so, or you can message me w/ them if you don't want to edit that page.

Thanks, everyone!

by Julie Ricketts G2G6 Pilot (486k points)
I go to the weekly connections, pick a profile up about every 8 degrees (or an interesting name) and check the suggestion list, as a WikiTree connector I am typically looking for connecting suggestions (106,585, 591 or 592) but for date challenges I look for 131-134, especially if they are within X degrees of me better chance of finding the info.  once I find a branch with a lot of 131-134 suggestions, I just stick with that branch until they are done.

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