Making the most of G2G

Question

Gaile Connolly recently suggested a help page specifically for G2G. For a while I've been gathering thoughts and references along these lines, so maybe it's a good time to post them for discussion, with the aim of making G2G an even more effective way of communicating and collaborating.

These ideas are meant as suggestions not rules, and for each one there may be contexts where it isn't relevant. Many are intended mainly for new members on G2G, and some are not:-)

1. Questions

• 1.1 The title of the question goes in the box “The question in one sentence”. Make the title as specific as possible, while staying reasonably brief.
• 1.2 Then expand the question in the larger box a bit lower down called “More information for the question”. Please use this large box to give full details of your question, including exactly what the problem is and what attempts you've already made to solve it. This will help people save time by not suggesting approaches you've already covered.
• 1.3 Choose the right category, e.g. Genealogy Help or WikiTree Help. General questions can be asked in The Treehouse.
• 1.4 Add a WikiTree identifier like Surname-12345 in the appropriate box if your question is about a specific profile. Don't add your own WikiTree ID unless the question is really about your own profile.
• 1.5 Add relevant surnames and/or tags in the box for them. Different surnames and tags are separated by spaces; multi-word surnames and compound tags like project names are joined together with underscores.
• 1.6 For a Genealogy Help question, summarise everything that you already know and the sources you've used, so that people won't have to rediscover it. If there is an existing profile containing this information, referring to that profile is sufficient.

2. Answers and comments

• 2.1 Just as on WikiTree itself, if you provide genealogical information, cite sources in full so that others can find them. A genealogical assertion on G2G without a source lacks confirmation, should not be used in a profile until a source is discovered, and is not in the spirit of WikiTree. If a web link exists, e.g. a full FamilySearch or Find A Grave URL, please insert it, so your valuable research won't need to be repeated or hunted for. Giving full sources in G2G answers is important not only to save other people time, but also as a good example to new members.
• 2.2 More generally, if you mention a web page of any kind, copy the URL link for it from your browser and paste it into your answer or comment, so that people reading your post can go straight to the page with one click.
• 2.3 If you're only making a brief remark, suggestion or return query rather than giving a substantial piece of information, please consider making a comment on the question, instead of submitting an answer. One reason for this is that once an answer has been added, the question no longer appears in the Recent questions without answers list, so people who look there to find questions to help with will not see it. (This recommendation doesn't apply to cases like Weekend Chat, Appreciation or Photo posts, which aren't seeking a specific answer.)
• 2.4 If you answer your own question, say what the answer was, not just “Found it!” This will help other people in future if they seek out the old G2G question through the search box (top left corner).

3. Helping new members

• 3.1 Be gentle and welcoming with new members, and give detailed answers, not too terse or too complex. Be clear, but don't try to cover everything at once, or offer too many different options. A good experience in response to a first G2G question can encourage further participation, and a stronger feeling of belonging to WikiTree as a community.
• 3.2 Also for new members, be cautious with embedded links created with the G2G what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor. The URLs on such links are stripped out of the email copy sent to previous posters, and new users may only read the email, not the web page, so they could miss the link. It may be better to write links out as the full URL. Other fancy formatting and images don't survive in the email copies either.

4. Voting and stars

• 4.1 Consider voting for good questions and answers. Not everyone is fond of the voting system, and it has drawbacks, but it can provide one sort of encouragement for effective collaboration on G2G.
• 4.2 If you vote the wrong way by accident, you can undo this by clicking the arrow again. It will turn from yellow back to grey, and the other arrow will reappear.
• 4.3 A star can be awarded for best answer to each question. Anybody can do this, but it may be worth waiting a while, for at least three reasons: to allow the originator of the question to make the choice; not to discourage other people from answering; and to see the merits of all the answers provided over time instead of picking one of the first.

5. See also

• 5.1 G2G Help: gives discussion rules, a full list of G2G question categories, and more about profile links and tags
• 5.2 Official FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) help page: new
• 5.3 Have you noticed all the New Members introducing themselves? (Peggy McReynolds)
• 5.4 Using abbreviations in the G2G (Dieter Lewerenz)
• 5.5 How To Get Great Answers on G2G (Herb Tardy)
• 5.6 Questions Frequently Asked on G2G (Julie Kelts, Dennis Barton, Herb Tardy)
• 5.7 Don't mention your own or anyone else's email address on G2G: help page section.

I hope people will add further ideas and suggestions as answers or comments below.

Edited to fix typo.

Comments

Thanks Jim!  That is a great set of suggestions!  

I especially want to applaud this one: 

• 1.4 Add a WikiTree identifier like Surname-12345 in the appropriate box if your question is about a specific profile. Don't add your own WikiTree ID unless the question is really about your own profile.

We might want to be even more specific about 'appropriate box' - maybe snip a little image into the list, with an arrow pointing to that field....

And maybe make the second part of that, about not linking to your own profile, its own separate point.  New posters to G2G do that a lot; i probably did it too in my first G2G post.

I wonder if there could be a suggestion about checking to see if the ancestor in question already has a profile on WikiTree.  It seems to me that over half the time when i respond to a new member who has asked a question but not linked a profile, a profile does already exist.  And less than half of those times does the G2G poster seem to know that the profile existed...not sure what to do about that...

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Thank you Shirlea! Yes, the purpose of the WikiTree ID field often seems to be misunderstood.

That's a great suggestion about checking for already existing profiles. An explainer for new members about ways of doing that—for example using the fine controls on the Search and surnames pages—could be a big help to them.

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It seems like having clear guidelines would help get questions answered. I like the bullet point list!

I would like to encourage questioners to use some type of bullet point list or at least paragraph breaks. Two or 3 inch long paragraphs which include several ancestors are hard to read and likely get skipped instead of answered.

I know not all WikiTreers are comfortable with the computer or with writing skills. Does anyone have an idea about how to ask that a question be rewritten?

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Kristina, that's a very good suggestion about formatting. Questions consisting of a single large paragraph are indeed very hard to read. As you imply, for people not adept at computing, the numerous icons in the G2G edit box must look quite opaque, so an explanation of the most useful of those is something I'll try to add if I do a second formulation of this.

As far as asking people to rewrite their question goes, I think this could be worthwhile if done tactfully, along the lines that it might encourage more answers. It's a bit similar to asking the questioner to add tags: if you explain how this can be done by editing the question, many people will do so.

Answer 1

But Jim, a specific Help page for G2G already exists, linked at the upper right corner of the G2G page.  It opens with the Discussion Rules.

Comments

I think it's important not to overwhelm newer members in particular who are curious and just want to know more about an ancestor or aren't used to the site yet. This is to the point and does cover much of what is above:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/about

Even if people mean well it's important not to be exclusionary.

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First, THANX Jim, first for the callout and second for taking the baton and running with it!!!  Your product is fabulous.  I would suggest two more things to add to it - explanation of the plus sign for favorites and explanation of what flags are supposed to be used for - new members very often mix these two things up.

Herbert, although the G2G Help page does already exist (and is linked in Jim's "see also" section), it does not include all this stuff about the elements on the question page and advice about how to use the question page, so I would love to see all this be added to the current help page.  In addition, I would love to see your recommendations (also linked in Jim's "see also" section) added to this.

The need for this kind of information is obvious from seeing all the questions about how things work and also the questions that can't be answered because there isn't enough information provided to - sometimes - even know what is being asked, let alone have a shot at finding an answer.

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Gaile, are you saying the existing official G2G Help page is less than Helpful?  Please pardon me for being a bit dense.

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Oh, heavens no, Herbert.  The existing help page certainly provides good information about G2G, but I think (if I'm permitted to express an opinion here) that the information on your page and on Jim's proposed page here would expand what is now on the help page, making it even more helpful to members who don't already know all this stuff.

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Thanks for clarifying Gaile!  I certainly welcome your opinion, but of course I don't speak for WikiTree.  Whatever comes of Jim's proposal, I hope the final result keeps the truly important information at the top of the page.

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Herbert, sure, there is already a page, which as Gaile points out I've mentioned. Comparing however I think shows the only partial overlaps with it are with my points 1.3 to 1.5. At this stage I'm not worried about how or where the material should eventually be presented: maybe this G2G question itself can be a reference. I'm certainly keen to hear more suggestions like Gaile's about extra points that are not well known, like favourites and flags.

Answer 2

The first section "Questions" is redundant - this is handled by the "Ask A Question" button, which you have to use in order to ask a question. Have a look at it: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/ask?cat=7

There are instructions there, for each step.  Perhaps they could be expanded upon or made clearer. Use of colour could be introduced for emphasis, e.g. the link to Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ ) is linked to there - maybe this could be highlighted in RED so that it is not so easily missed.

There is no equivalent for the "Answer this Post"  button. That could open up a similar box to the Questions one, containing hints and instructions etc.

This would be much more elegant and efficient than having to go somewhere else to find out the basics.

Comments

Thanks for the comments, Joe. Unfortunately there is evidence, as perhaps you agree judging from your second paragraph, that the question form doesn't necessarily succeed. If it did, there wouldn't be so many questions consisting only of a title with no body; without any tags; or with the questioner's own ID instead of that of a relevant profile.

I agree that ideally the information would all be in one place. At the moment, as in my reply to Herb, I'm more focused on collecting ideas here in this G2G thread; we can consider later if and where it should be placed.

Thank you also for noting that there seems to be little guidance at present about answers and comments. I hope people can consider and add to the points about that in my section 2, as well as sections 3 and 4 which haven't been mentioned so far.

Answer 3

Here's a link you might add to your See also section:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/947682/g2g-101-down-votes-best-answers-and-flags-little-known-tricks

P.S.  I think you should explicitly mention the discussion rules.  Anyone who ventures onto G2G should understand what they can and can't say.

Comments

Thanks for that link Julie! I hadn't seen it, but there are lots of good points both in Gaile's post and the ensuing discussion.

It's also a good idea to give more emphasis to the five Discussion Rules.

Answer 4

IMHO, this post/discussion points out exactly how most of WikiTree Help pages are written :(

One gets portion of the picture but not the complete image.

I really like the way Jim used bullet points. Makes it much easier to read and follow. Also makes it easy to update or add to.

Thank you Jim for sharing your knowledge, vision and structure.

Comments

Thanks Loretta!

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I wished I had your talent and vision.