Adding blog posts to profiles?

Question

I have a genealogy blog with many posts about my ancestors. I need advice on how I would be able to add those posts to family profiles? Memories or Free Space Profile? Right now I have a link to a particular post in my grandfather's profile.

On a side note -- does his profile appear too cluttered? This is my first attempt to flesh out an ancestor...it is still in process.

Answer 1

Instead of adding it as a link, you could add it as a source using ref tags, or add it after the Sources under "See Also" by just starting a new line with an asterisk. It's harder to see where the information comes from as a link, and clicking on links to figure it out is how people can be misdirected to malware, so making it more obvious will be better anyway.

Lastly, if you wanted to make sure your research and thoughts from the blog were incorporated, you could just rewrite the bio to include them and not worry about the link.

Comments

A blog is not a source, anymore than an Ancestry tree is a source.

If there are good sources on the blog those should be added to the profile as sources.

If you want to add stories about the ancestors to a profile you could put them in a FreeSpace or in memories.

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I would think, if the profile's manager is also the owner/manager/writer of the blog they could cite their own work..

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Yes, I do agree that my blog posts are not sources which is why I am reluctant to add them to the profile. I think I will go with the FreeSpace idea, because the story is not a memory either. Also, I will not be around forever and eventually my blog will disappear into the ether, so using links to the story won't hold in the long run.

Thanks for the advice folks.

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Adding it to a See Also section though would indicate it's not really a source, just something that mentions the person. I think that's not an improper use of it, and keeps it visible within the list of links at the bottom of the profile.

Answer 2

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Sources

A source is a source. Wikitree procedure as I have long understood it (eight years now) and to me seems clear from the Help page linked above, is to call any source of information, even a blog or a website or my grandma's memory, a source. No judgment as to quality as to whether it can be referenced.

Of course we all want primary and secondary sources to be properly cited when available, and better sourcing is what we strive for. You would want to pull out references to secondary sources linked on your blog whenever possible.

If you are working from a blog post (and there are excellent genealogical and historical blogs out there, just as there are sloppy ones,) you can absolutely cite the blog, including whatever sources they used as well in your citation.

edit--if you are worried your blog might disappear, have you added individual pages to the Wayback Machine? 

Comments

You can add pages to the wayback machine? Huh, I didn't realize you could do that, even though I use it all the time. Definitely will be looking into that. That would be so much easier.

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Mr. Peabody only added it next week, that's why you didn't know about it.

Thinking about it again, the blog might use sources, but is likely a derivative source itself, unless the author was personally present for whatever is being discussed. So, I think it's appropriate to include in the sources or under See Also. Best case scenario is to list the sources in the blog post too, so others can see why you are saying the things you are.

Answer 3

Jennifer,

I like the profile you've created for Clarence - and the Blog post is very impressive.  At some point you might want to add a Census source or two.

My suggestion: but without changing anything else in the profile (leave the existing links as they are), add a "Research Notes" section above Sources.  Give a brief sentence that informs readers that there is an extensive Blog post about his parents' move west at ... repeat link there.

This will call attention to the importance of the Blog post that readers might otherwise overlook with the embedded link.

Comments

Thank you for the comments Kevin. It sounds like sound advice.