G2G: Are project managers relatives of the people they manage?

Question

Simple question.

Answer 1

I suppose you mean profile managers.

You automatically become the manager of every profile you create. You can also adopt profiles orphaned by other. Most people create profiles of their own close relatives and ancestors, so they'll naturally manage those. But there is no rule saying that you only have to manage people you are related to.

And ultimately, we're all related here

Comments

Thanks, very helpful.

Answer 2

What Leif said... and also, there's a way to see how a Profile Manager is related (or not) to the profile they manage.  Just click the tiny green & white button next to the Profile Manager name.

I create tons of profiles unrelated to me.... I try to "orphan" them after I make them decent, so my watchlist doesn't go beyond 5,000 people (oops, it's over 5k again, time to go do some fixing :-)  )

Comments

Ah, just what I needed to know, thank you. I have also just found the help page, and am about to read up on them.

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Elaine, thank you, you made me feel better about my watchlist. My aim number is lower than yours at present, but decency is something I aim for before orphaning and somehow I keep expanding my aim number! Natasha

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I'm only keeping profiles within distance 7, my direct ancestors, and a very few ancient (pre-1700) profiles besides. In this way I've managed to get well below 3,000 profiles on my watchlist.

Answer 3

No, they are just people who create profiles because otherwise everyone would co-exist as a project manager of everyone, and that just wouldn't make sense. So some people literally go through census's and create profiles of random people in a place like London. In short, you do not have to be related to someone to manage their profile.

Comments

Sounds like this could be a life-time job! Thanks Brantley.

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just stick with it. Although think of it more of a hobby, not a job because when you associate it with a job you will get burnt out more. Also I would suggest for sources you can use use wikitree sourcer, its a chrome extension for sourcing. you can find It here: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/wikitree-sourcer/jaokbnmpdigpgfjckhgpdacpcokipoha

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Sourcer is also available for Firefox and Safari, as well as "for Chrome, Opera, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi and other Chromium based browsers."

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_Sourcer

Answer 4

I have created over 5000 profiles and a large number have no close relationship to me whatsoever. However, anyone who wishes to take over is welcome to let me know and I will release the profile. I only learnt how to orphan profiles after creating them last year so have many to orphan as I go through them.

Cheers, Rich

Comments

"orphaning" a profile sounds terrible, but I can see the logic. Thanks Rich.

Answer 5

Hi Anne,

I know you've asked a simple question, but there are many ways of answering, so I thought i'd share a little about how I chose to continue to be a profile manager of a profile I have created or chose to adopt one.

First off, I've decided that I'll continue to manage all those who are related within 4 degrees (as wikitree defines it including spouses/siblings) plus direct ancestors before that if I've set them up or adopted them.

Then there are my "interested profiles" - more distant relatives where I am curious or feel affinity for and launching profiles for research I am doing for friends and long forgotten minor local names that I was curious about.

Finally there are working profiles linked to all of the above where I want to add additional profiles to expand their tree.

Active profile managers tend to have their own criteria. It's part of the fun of wikitree. Inactive profile managers are a different story. Learning to understand a profile manager's approach (from their own profile and contributions) definitely helps in working out how to work with profiles on wikitree.

Natasha

Comments

I am sensing from what you say that Wikitree gets addictive, much like genealogy itself. Thanks for the very detailed reply, that was fascinating, if somewhat scary - I am not sure I have room for another addiction in my life, but you make it sound so tempting!

Thanks Natasha (I think)

Answer 6

For me i I’m often the manager of profile I created, though I’m trying to reduce the number. I may create a profile because, I’m related, or I’m taking part in a “thon”, or I came across an interesting story, or it’s a person with a blue plaque but no profile…. The list is endless…. I do not mean to keep them all after creation but I usually want to keep them for at least a week to check that I’ve not made any glaring errors when I check the suggestions report, it’s just I fail to go back and remove myself as manager after that point frequently.

I like to keep a profile if I feel I should do more work on it, even if that time isn’t now…

Comments

You can easily check on suggestions of profiles that you've created, rather than the profiles on your watchlist:

https://plus.wikitree.com/function/WTWebAll/Suggestions.htm?Query=Creator_Kristensen-547&MaxErrors=1000&ProfileSearch=1

Just replace "Kristensen-547" with your own ID.

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I feel that getting to understand Wikitree plus ought to be a goal for 2025… I’m sure I miss out because I’m a slow adapter of new things…. Thank you for that information, it would be useful after a thon!

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Thanks, I can understand that if you are doing a lot.

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That is useful to know, thanks Leif