What good is a profile that lists their name as "B Anonymous formerly P because they "don't want their name out there?"

Question

If a profile manager thanks me for an addition, I would like to know their connection to the profile. This profile manager has only an initial and anonymous as a name. Doesn't seem to add to Wikitree's goal. It could be anyone, not helpful.

Comments

I recently found a profile. The profile I found was Unsourced. The profile manager was not aware of his significance. I notified the Mgr. quickly. He is my 16th Gr Gf from Virginia. Virginia record sources are scarce. He was a U S Congress Man / U S Congressional Representative Virginia. Except that I am related to the profile Mgr. their name is insignificant. In just a few days the profile Mgr. & I created a great profile. It has accurate source. I will post it at the bottom.

 I was working on a different Goode profile that I manage. A newbie (No disrespect intended.) randomly thanked me. They were obviously monitoring a Goode tag. I scanned their tree & saw a sourced connection, that I confirmed. I wound up adding the profiles mother, father & some greats. The mgr is also my cousin. Does not matter their name. This same profile is at least 4 way connection that I initiated between all us 4 cousins :) The following link is also connected to all 4 of us. I works both directions, both examples.

Another example might be that: A wikitree members tree is huge. They may want to monitor more than 20 tags. I could therefore sign in as my own son. Being myself & my son I could then monitor 40 tags, instead of 20. My grandson (6 months old) could be my third & allow me to monitor 60 Tags. I have some Cousins that have 18,000 profiles that they are sourced to on another site. At some game sites I had up to 5 Avatars, Identities.

 http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Goode-1042  I also found this connection to my 6th Gr Gf almost the same as my first example. He is a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judge/Justice: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Atlee-7    P.S. Anne B & I share a common Royal ancestor(I think), & because she was watching her feed/tags, she stopped me from making any further mess/duplicate profiles. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fleming-69

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Whew! What do you do in your spare time? Thanks in advance for all your future contributions! You've added so many already.

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And just a point, you said that you scanned their tree, but in this person's profile, there is no tree to scan, no other information. And really, what do you mean "game site" and "avatars" on a genealogy site?

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In my spare time I help my Sister here on"The Ranch" as she fosters dogs for a: NO KILL 401-c non-profit dog shelter, Texas Star Rescue. http://texasstarrescue.rescueme.org/ .   

 I love gold prospecting, camping in the wilderness, survival skills, martial arts as a hobby. I am currently clearing the land in the back 40 acres to build a cabin :).

Game site = a place online where you play games. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_role-playing_game 

 I played the Beta (Limited access, before the general population is allowed to play) here years ago: https://us.forgeofempires.com/    

Avatar = alias name, "AKA" , player profile

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maybe they are in witness protection :-}

Answer 1

The individual's personal information is not at all relevant to the purpose of WikiTree. What is relevant are the contributions that person makes to our shared tree. If their additions are accurate and well-sourced, their name should not be important.

A couple of our best WikiTreers use only a first name and an initial for their last name. Does that detract from what they contribute?

Comments

So, theoretically, we could all be members of the Anonymous family, with an initial as our identifier. ;-) When someone thanks me for an edit on a profile, I like to see their connection to it and what additional information that could be gleaned and added if there is any.  But a profile manager's profile that contains no info except the name Anonymous and an initial doesn't add to the Tree. There isn't anything else. Thanks y'all for your input, though.

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BTW = By The Way. I like helping people on wikitree, sometimes randomly. I noticed your profile security is RED that means others here on wikitree can not see your tree to help you. :) Have A Great Day, John

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Sherry, Just to follow up on what John wrote--If you'll change your privacy level to 'private with a public tree' the rest of us will be able to see how we're related to you. Right now we can see your name, but not how you're connected to any other profiles.

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But sometimes people thank others even if they have no connection to that profile.  Maybe it's a surname they follow; maybe they've run into one too many unsourced profiles that day, and they see you've added a source . . . it's not always going to be people connected to that profile.

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I feel its irritating with a person you cant see the tree...

Normally I check the roots of people to lean if tehy have Swedish roots and I can help... I fel privacy reed is contra productive.... you never understand the relation a person has to other persons....

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Thanks Kay! I had no idea! I'll change the setting, I just assumed living members all should be private for security reasons. Frankly, I often feel like I'm flying blind! I appreciate your help on this, many thanks!

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I assume that the anonymous among us are all on the federal witness protection program or fugitives from the law. Perhaps I should lay off the Blacksheep profiles and true crime stories for a while.

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John you are busy! I know what game sites and avatars are, but have trouble understanding why these terms apply to anything on Wikitree. Is this comparable to a "game"? If we members are in a competition then count me out.

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I agree with you John, I just had another amazing contact. I got a email from a nonwikitreer who came across my name connected to a 3rd great grandmother - who happens to be their 4th great aunt. The profile said on it I was their 3rd great granddaughter which you would not know without that note. They just dropped their big toe into genealogy and they found me - and I gave them a ton of info, including the fact that their 4th great grandfather was a twin - they just thought the two very similar names were the same person Alphus and Aldo.