Toddlin' Tortoises Team Chat for the April 2023 Connect-a-Thon [closed]

+14 votes
1.3k views

Do you feel guilty that you are dragging down your usual 'Thon Team, because "everyone else" is doing 300 profiles to your one?  (I know I have done.)

Do you even avoid signing up for 'Thons because you just "work so slowly" that you fear YOU will be the reason they fail to come in the top five?  (I've felt this way, too.)

Do you want to participate, but avoid doing so for the above (or any other) reasons, and then live vicariously by hitting refresh on g2g to see what everyone else is doing?

Then WELCOME to the Toddlin' Tortoises Team — where we don't care if you are slow because you are thoroughly adding as much information as you can find – and verifying it all.  We are committed to a "whole profile approach" ideal — where we don't just add a source to satisfy requirements and think "I'll come back later and fill the rest in" (because we almost never do — due to rabbits and squirrels and shiny things).  

Our Team's commitment is to make each profile as "complete" as we can do at the time of creation (because no profile is ever truly "complete").

We don't care if the best you can do is a single profile.  If that's all you can manage, then that is your best!

If you haven't already registered for 2023s April Connect-a-Thon (starting 8am on the 21st and ending 8am on the 24th (United States Eastern time)), then this other thread is where you do that.  Be sure to click the Answer this post "button" and say which Team you'd like to join.  

If you'd like to be a part of this Team, just say you want to play with Hertyl and Spertyl, or "I'd like to be a Tortoise", or "I want to Toddle along", or anything else that will identify the Tortoises Team as the one you wish to join. 

Do be sure to click that large answer button, and not the comment link, as that won't count – and don't reply to someone else's answer, or comment, as neither of those count, either.

You can even ensure I get your name on the Team's Member list by returning here and posting to let me know! 

Check the Toddlin' Tortoises Team's main page for Team info, my silly images, and maybe more (if I think of anything, or you do).  You could also add what you plan to be working on, and any resources, or hints, that you think will be helpful to others, for this 'Thon to your name once I've added it to our member list — or feel free to add it yourself!



Want to see how the Team is doing so far?   Are we still in last place?  Are you a Hare among the Tortoises?  Check here to see how we are doing.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to "touch base" as you plod along, feel free to answer this post — or just post a comment, if that's your thing.

➢ There is also a Toddlin Totrtoises channel on Discord
➢➢➢ Note: If you are new to Discord and are taken to the registration screen, continue with the registration process and get signed into your account, then return here and click the link again.

Remember — the goal is to HAVE FUN while enhancing the overall growth and health of the Tree.  

It doesn't matter if we come last.  

In fact, if we DO come last, we'll have made every other Team look good!  (Who could ask for more?!)

(I think I got all my links correct!)

WikiTree profile: Space:ToddlinTortoisesConnect
closed with the note: This 'Thon is done and over!
in The Tree House by Melanie Paul G2G6 Pilot (455k points)
closed by Melanie Paul

We are at that "counting down" stage again, with just four more days, plus whatever is left of today, for registrations which close at midnight US Eastern on Wednesday.

If you were thinking of signing up — and it doesn't have to be with us (although we'd love to have you!) — don't forget to go and register now!  (The full list of teams is here.)

Love from we who are not "turtles" because we have feet!

Looking forward to it - this is my first Connect-a-Thon, and I'm going out for the whole day on Saturday so not sure how many I can add for the team, but I've been getting lots prepared.

I've added sources for children to profiles and added them to the category for Needs Profiles Created and resisted creating them this week laugh

I also really like this app because it easily shows where the gaps are (some of the others are just too complicated for me!)  CC7 Connections app https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/beacall6/cc7_table.php

D, whatever you can manage to do is fine!  One profile, or 100, it's all growth for the Tree.  smiley



G'day everyone!  There's just a little over a day before registrations officially close, so if you know anyone who has been hesitating, now's the time to remind them.  (They don't have to sign up with us, although we'd love to have them.)

Counting down the hours, now.  Registrations will close at midnight (US Eastern) today.

Registrations officially closed about 50 minutes ago, so anyone who had been thinking about it, but had hesitated --

This was a difficult weekend for me -the profiles I was working through involved domestic violence, a young lady who died of sepsis after an abortion (decades before before abortion was legal), and a man who was subject to depressive episodes who ended his life by shooting himself in the chest while his wife jumped out of the bath and ran to call for help. The bright spot was that several years later, this same woman's heroic efforts succeeded in saving the lives of two young grandchildren of her 2nd husband after they fell through thin ice. I now understand why I never heard much of that branch of the family- so many tragic stories. I didn't dare join the chats while I was under that dark cloud. I plan to get out this week for some fresh air and sunshine before I get back into Wikitree. I have some projects in the works but they will keep.

8 Answers

+10 votes
Hi Melanie, I've registered on the main thread to toddle along.

I'll be working through my own watchlist and Barbados unconnected profiles
by D Grosvenor G2G6 Mach 5 (59.3k points)

Got you added!

oh my, I'm going to have a little chocolate break I think laugh

Kept getting stuck not having any birth dates for relatives I wanted to add, so switched to my ready prepared Barbados profiles with 5 or 6 baptisms that I could copy and paste.

Getting as many done today because there will be 'nada' tomorrow.

Hope you are all tootling along yes I see that we were halfway UP the leaderboard YAY

I got stuck on FamilySearch untangling a conflated mess because it involved a family I had been researching, so I am just toddlin' on!  cheeky

Blame the geese for that, I'm sure they do it on purpose cheeky

I found myself getting all hot and bothered when I got thwarted, so I gave myself a talking to - reminded myself to slow down laugh

Chocolate is supposed to have calmative properties.  laugh

I have a pair of 2nd great grandparents whose entire extended family seems to be a conflated mess on Family Search - but they set us up by repeatedly marrying people to whom they were already related. They were also fond of reusing names. I've worked for decades on sorting this family. Today, I finished connecting their grandchildren. Now, I'm finishing grandchildren's spouses and I'm trying to add more of their great grandchildren.
I've already had my lip-smacking choccie fix. Now I am on to crackers and cheese for my next snack.

It is just after 2:00 am here in Queensland, Australia, so all is quiet about me except for my elderly mother and adult children softly snoring in the background.  

Might be time to pop on the headphones and listen to some of my favourite music. Perfect time to be doing family history on WT. Loving it, and having lotsa fun!
Did you manage to last with the crackers and cheese?  I still have loads of saltines left.  (I spread 'em with Vegemite!  B-vitamins are good brain food!)
Hi Melanie

The crackers and cheese all ran out (or it was my cats eating them!), but I soldiered on anyway.  Today my body is complaining that I have been sitting in the same position for too long over the weekend.

Kept working on my tree for hours and hours, and then having small naps, and starting over again. Loved every minute of it even if I am brain dead today. Maybe I should have had Vegemite instead of cheese...

Thankyou for leading the Toddlin' Tortises in this Connect-a-Thon. Perhaps for the next one, we could suggest some subtle exercises to help keep old folk like me more limber. :-)

Vegemite (or its "cousin" Marmite) is not for everyone, but I grew up on the stuff.  cheeky  (We actually had both in the cupboard when I was a kid.)
Fish is also brain food!  You can get salmon, and tuna in small packets (or tins) that would go well with crackers.  Or cook some up beforehand and crumble it, mix with lemon, or mayo, and make your own "spread" for crackers - or cut it into cubes for easy snacking.
I see folk saying they have lots of chocolate, but choccy is a comfort food, not a power food, and for a 'Thon you need power food!

Make yourself get up every 20 minutes or so (ha! as though I do that!), get a drink, walk around the room.  Do something physical.  If 20 minutes is too often (it seems to be for me, I think my timing is more like "every hour or so", with the emphasis on the "or so"), just get up and move around "every so often".  While sitting, move your legs, do foot exercises, stretch your arms, do shoulder and neck rolls.  Keep moving.  It's important to get your blood flowing, but the HOW you do it is up to you.  smiley

+11 votes
Can’t wait!

I’m not sure what I’ll be working on a month from now. Right now, I’m working on filling out my CC7 numbers.
by Katrina Lawson G2G6 Mach 5 (57.7k points)

Yay!  it'll be fun!

+9 votes
Melanie, thanks for the welcome on the main Connect-a-Thon sign-up post and for directing me here and to the other links. Looking forward to connecting (aka "adding") in association with the Toddlin' Turtles.
by Nelda Spires G2G6 Pilot (611k points)

Yay!  So happy to have you aboard!  smiley

+10 votes
Look forward to participating next month. Thanks for the welcome.
by Anne Young G2G6 Pilot (115k points)

Always happy to have you aboard!  smiley  Choo choo!  

+11 votes
Counting down the hours, now.  

Don't forget, as well as this chat thread, we also have the #toddlin-tortoises channel on the WT discord server.  

Feel free to ask any questions in either place, share what you're up to, tell us what you're snacking on, ask for help in researching your current log jam (brick walls are not for Thons!), or just anything at all - including rabbit trails and where they take you.  (The discord channel is great for discussing rabbits!)
by Melanie Paul G2G6 Pilot (455k points)
+12 votes
I had to comment on this somewhere -- I may have just gotten my first {name}-1! While working on my husband's Italian ancestors I noticed that his 3GGM is Lauritano-1.

Gotta love records from cultures who included not just parents but grandparents on some records :-).
by Lorena Wolfe G2G6 (8.7k points)

Congrats on your name-1!  What a find.  smiley
Yes, those records that include extra generations are a real boon!
Are you on discord?  if so, you should come join us in #toddlin-tortoises.

Data doctors will send you a follow up suggestion to point out that you have entered an unusual last name. That happened to me with one of my aunties- Philomena Maria Piermarocchi.
Or you can check the suggestions list for the profile to see if it's been marked as unusual.  If so, just mark it as a False Error (and save).
+10 votes

Well, I turned out to be more prolific than I thought I'd be. :-) Adding my and my husband's nth cousins and families, I already had lots of sources in my off-line tree so it was fairly easy to copy them into the new profiles. The Antenati Citation Builder got a serious workout!

Hope I didn't blow the curve too badly. :-)

by Lorena Wolfe G2G6 (8.7k points)

Curve?  What curve?  cheeky

We all do what we can do, whether one profile, or one hundred!  (Or one thousand, in extreme cases for Tortoises.  surprise)
We're all winners in the end.

+8 votes

Well, everyone, we're done for another 'Thon!  What a great effort by all involved. Remember, 1 profile, or 100 (or 1000), it all helps the growth of the Tree.  
Thank you all for being part of the Toddlin' Tortoises — and thanks to those who kept company in discord!  (Now that was an experience for me!)
And even for those not able to be involved, thanks for cheering us all on from the sidelines!  

(Don't forget, if you need to orphan any of the profiles you created, wait a week or so until a couple of cycles for DBEs/suggestions have passed so you can correct any issues — or figure out how to keep track of those you orphan, so you can still fix any issues that may arise.) 

by Melanie Paul G2G6 Pilot (455k points)
Thank you, Melanie, for being the the best coach of the best team! We rock slowly, but we rock!!!

We did, didn't we‽  laugh

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