Others editing our pages.

Question

I have to wonder why people are always editing others family trees when they do not know a darn thing about our families. And, or are not doing the real leg work. If you can not read the documents posted and shared due to a language barrier (your ignorance) then leave the darn page ALONE!

Today I had a woman post that my page was unsourced because she couldn't find information on my great great great grandmother on www.familysearch.org. I am the one that has had someone look into my family history and found documents (which a few are posted on her page). Just because those of you that want to say "HEY LOOK AT ME I AM CONTRIBUTING", when you are not and just doing what you do for popularity or to get on a "look at me" list(s), STOP IT!

I agreed to share my information on here to help others, not to be abused in such a way. I have no problem with others helping if it is real not made up for points. I know I am not alone in this problem and the site managers/owners are the real problems. You have given strangers free rain to run amuck with profiles they know nothing about. I can not tell you how many times, for example, I have had my ancestors changed from male to male and updated just to get in on one of those darn contests. Contests will always have cheaters for honesty is sadly lacking when egos are involved.

Now if there is a problem with me speaking my mind, PLEASE fell free to delete me!

Comments

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kosina-6

You should know there is a digital record in the changes log of what has happened.  You created the profile and at it's creation the unsourced category was automatically applied because you didn't add a source yourself.  Then someone saw the profile likely in the unsourced category and this caused them to have a look at the profile.  They must have seen it was from Bohemia|United States so in order for a person looking in Bohemian|United States records they added this so records could more easily be found by someone specifically looking for records from this area.  Then another person had a look on FamilySearch and couldn't find anything there so they made a note of that so that the next person trying to better the profile wouldn't waste their time looking on Family Search for these records.

I think this is just a misunderstanding.  The persons that edited your profile didn't do it to win any contests or to get recognition, they're just friendly and helpful and are trying to make the Wikitree better.  If they did this to one of my unsourced profiles I would thank them for their effort.

---

The profile had sources. passenger list and marriage record.

---

Yes Eddie...but those sources were a digital representation of the document. (Not that that isn't valid)  But to remove the automatic "unsourced" designation they need a text description as well.

---

To check a change log you can click on changes on a profile.  Then on each line it will have; for instance, Mary "created" profile.  Click "created" and you can see a snapshot of the profile before and after an edit.  Then click "next change" etc and so forth and you get the whole story.  As far as I know I don't think an image counts as a source if it's not well explained and cited, especially if the profile manager leaves the profile with the "unsourced category" on it.

When I find my own profiles without sources I add the unsourced category hoping someone like the ones who helped on this profile will also help to find sources for that profile.  It's worked on several occasions and I'm grateful to have had the help.

---

Then why do I not deserve the courtesy of such a note along with their comments? As I stated, every time someone messes with my tree at all is every time there is a contest. Hence I just found on the forums a contest for SOURCING in this lovely month of March.

It is not done to help when it is done for a pat on the back!

I would love and welcome anyone showing me the courtesy of a notation in the profile and something of real value added not nonsense to get an "at a boy here is your pat on the back for others!"

We should check our egos at the door and treat every single person on here with respect and kindness. The horror stories in my inbox make my complaint look like a speck of dust.

---

We should check our egos at the door and treat every single person on here with respect and kindness

 

Yes yes yes.  Hugs!

---

Hmmm.. I just edited out the edit comment stating this had not been sourced and that is also not showing. So, from what I see it has been changed and my record of this isn't showing to me now.

I will have to go online on the computer to look in the morning. This is part of what I am saying. One minute something is there and later it is not. Just saying. I really just want to raise the awareness of lacking manners.

No more points system making one "King of the Hill" so to say. Some of us work hard labor jobs 40 plus hours a week and can not spend the time like others editing info endlessly. Also, said edits are by strangers looking for points are not always right. I just found one that had been edited and the linked in for was way off base with no proof. Although, I honestly am glad of said effort for they did make note that the death date they edited could not be confirmed (that being said they should have left it blank like I had it.)

Answer 1

Deborah --

I'm a little confused about why you're upset. The profile has an Unsourced template on it, which is why it's showing up in an Unsourced Profiles category. If it has sources, you should remove that.

It also helps to add citations for the images of the documents that you've included on the profile. You can then link those citations to facts that you state in the biography. 

Please also remember that WikiTree is a collaborative community, and we all work together on a shared tree. The ancestor you're talking about had nine children, and presumably, all of those nine children had children. And so on and so forth. In other words, you share this ancestor with hundreds of other cousins, and any one of them may be just as interested as you are in her history. 

Finally, you did sign the Honor Code here. It might be a good time to review it.

Comments

Funny that one with such points is confused so!

Wow, you know exactly who I was talking about your awesome!!!

My information has been edited out and I am all for collaboration as I stated before, but you missed that digging so deeply into my tree.

It is the lack of courtesy others show many of us just to get a pat on the back and gold star!

If anyone honestly has anything to add GOOD, when you don't hand's off (it is about respecting each other). Wait till you find something, then communicate on the profile is all any of us would or could ever ask for. By doing the stuff that you and others are doing for your points and stars, you are disrespecting the rest of us. Read a few of the others comments and see what I am saying.

My own mama would never have stepped on my toes before saying "Hey look at what I found!"

---

Well said, Deborah!

Sometimes we forget that collaboration is a two-way street and that it means more than just adding information to a profile or correcting errosrs.

Courtesy, communication, respect, and understanding are all part of the collaborative process; if you omit any of the parts, you are not truly collaborating.

---

Thank you, that is my point!

We are all here to work together as one big family, check the ego's at the door. Some are amazing at this stuff, some not so much.

 For example I just found info on one family member in my tee someone edited. And, they at least stated that there was not enough info to confirm. But, I can confirm it was a bad bit of info they linked to the profile for the mothers given name is wrong. We are all human and communication will prevent such errors on a lot of cases.

---

Deborah --

Yes, I have a lot of points. I've been here for 6 years. I'm also a team member, and it's my job to come out here and moderate G2G. The tone of this thread is heading in a very unproductive direction, and it needs to stop. 

I checked your contributions, and the last edit that you made was yesterday on this profile: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kosina-6

Nobody has removed anything from this profile except for you when you removed the research note that someone added on 11 March to simply says that she found no records for that profile on FamilySearch. You can see that change here.

The only other edit made on that profile by someone other than you was on 24 Jan where someone added locations to the Unsourced template to help you get help finding sources.

No one has been rude to you. No one has made substantive changes to the profiles you manage other than to add sources and research notes.

Courtesy, communication, respect, and understanding are all part of the collaborative process; if you omit any of the parts, you are not truly collaborating.

This is exactly true. Courtesy, communication and respect are all part of the collaborative process, and that applies to all of us -- all of us. I have been respectful, and I expect the same in return and for anyone else who tries to help here.

If you are truly having issues with something that someone is doing, we can't help you if you don't tell us. Use the Problems with Members process. You can find it on the Help menu in the upper right corner.

---

Sorry if I upset you! That was never my intent. Although, a dialog on a real problem I did create.

It was not just about one person. It is many people making changes for points (so now I and others have to spend what little time I/we get on here making changes that I/we did not make).

I did not mean to make anyone mad just make the point that communication has not happened and reporting different someone's every time there is a contest is not going to get anything done. Does that make more sense?

I am done with this conversation, thank you!

---

Deborah --

I appreciate your apology.

Something to keep in mind: The people you're talking about are participating in the challenges to improve WikiTree. They add sources to profiles, they correct mistakes, and the "points" you're talking about are just for fun.

The changes that they made to your profiles, specifically, provided hints -- if not actual proof -- for you to use in your research. They were not vandalism.

I'm putting this here not just for you, but for others who come along and are put off by your comments, which make it sound like people are making random, useless changes to profiles.

This is an extraordinary community of kind and generous people who spend hours of their time improving the genealogy in our tree. My suggestion is that you spend some time getting to know the community. Maybe by becoming more familiar with how things work, you will feel more comfortable.

Answer 2

I feel your pain. I had my family profiles on open. I was working on my father the other day, had a bunch of sources on the profile,  went to do some laundry and came back to find someone else had "edited" my dad. Yep, my people are green locked now.

Comments

Eddie --

The reason someone edited your father's profile was because you have some formatting errors that are preventing the headers from displaying correctly.

You've also deleted the <references /> tag that goes under the Sources header. This is what allows inline references to work.

The individual that edited your father's profile was simply trying to give you a helping hand by making sure that the biography displays properly.

There are some help pages that may shed some light on how things work here:

• Biographies
• Sources Style Guide
• Communication Before Editing

You might also be interested in taking a look at our new "guided tour." Start here: How to Start Climbing Our Tree and work at your own pace.

I hope that helps! :-)

---

I've been told my work isn't good enough. That's why I won't be adopting/sourcing anymore except on my own family. I'll stick to suggesting merges.

---

Eddie --

WikiTree has a learning curve. I had no idea what I was doing when I got here. It just takes practice and asking for and accepting help.

There are plenty of people here who are happy to help new members along, and I can guarantee that nobody here expects you to understand the site right off the bat.

We also take courtesy here very seriously. If someone has been unkind, then you can always walk through the Problems with Members process. You'll find it on the Help menu.

---

Snippet from Julie's comment:

The individual that edited your father's profile was simply trying to give you a helping hand by making sure that the biography displays properly.

I agree with Eddie on this issue. How did this person help Eddie to understand the finer points of proper style when he/she did not communicate beforehand?

---

That's a good point, Lindy, and it would have been really nice if they had. There are some of us who will seize a teachable moment, and, unfortunately, there are others who won't.

If I had been in Eddie's shoes, I would probably have sent a polite note to the person who made the change to suggest that communication and instruction would help me learn so that I could avoid the same mistakes in the future.

---

Thank you for this information. I do find it hard with my limited free time to navigate this site and information on how to work things.  

Your information will hopefully help change my sourced persons to show they are sourced and stop the changes that bring no change or bad sources being added for points. If I have offended anyone I am sorry, but as no one wants to communicate much sadly my point was lost on a lot of people.

I have had 2 family members find me on here, and yet they are the only ones to have ever reached out to me and collaborate. I am done with this line of conversation and beating my head against this wall.

You and family that have found me have helped me more than anyone of the persons changing things on files I have posted.

I honestly thank you from the bottom of my heart.

---

I know I am in the minority here, but I find the inline references very distracting in a biography narrative. On one hand we want well written compelling narratives that best reflect the lives of the individuals; on the other hand,  there are some who get notation bound. So you get to read a biography [1] that has[2] plenty of facts[3] which makes their whole lives[4] look like nothing but a footnote. [see 1-4 below] .

I much prefer a sequential bullet point system of sources below the narrative. Really how hard is it to look up a source if its there below the bio?

Answer 3

Hi Deborah,

I had to open your statement in another window because I just had this urge to respond even though there was great answers from everyone, including Julie Ricketts.

I know it is wildly frustrating to have people all up in profiles that you did countless of hours researching and putting together. I have had it done a few times. Most of what frustrates me is when others make changes with NO Sources to prove or disprove what they changed. It's like "Really?"

While this is frustrating, most people that do this are honestly just trying to get individuals connected and they get so far ahead of themselves, they forget to put sources on or even reach out to the PM's to let them know their theories or what have you. It's okay though. Great thing is, things can be fixed.

As Julie did point out, WikiTree is HUGE on collaboration. I tell a lot of people that I work with on their trees, "If you are not a people person, might want to rethink this." Why would I do such a thing? Well, the reason I do this is to save any hard feelings. There are some that cannot take constructive criticism and can sometimes make a mountain out of a mole hill. I can honestly say at first, I was this way. Until I got in my nitche and then I was on a roll. I was all up for joining groups such as the Mentors and Greeters and yeah, my schedule gets so hectic that I forget to do a lot of things at times but hey, I'm human.

Honestly, it's not about contests or "Look at me". It really is about "Hey, we may be related" or "Let me help out since you may be stuck". There is no real way to be popular on WikiTree. I am just a person trying to find out where I belong, like most of the people that come here.

The best advice I can give you is to take a step back and take a long deep breath. There are better ways to handle a frustrating situation. Mentors are there to help and I always recommend to someone that if you get to this point, in which it seems you have, reach out to any one of the Mentors and see if they can help. We help out with sourcing, merges, issues with other members, and the list goes on. Share with us what has you frustrated so you can enjoy the experience of this great site and so that others can as well. We are only as good as the members and without feedback, we don't know how to improve.

If you would like someone to show you how to put the sources you share in your images in the profile so the Unsourced Template can be removed, let me know. I can show you a few things that will help lessen the frustration and maybe not so many people will be making edits to the profiles.

If you want to take my advice and reach out to a Mentor, I provided the link to the list of Mentors out there to help you. You can read a little bio on them and find one that best fits you. All of them are really great people and I guarantee after working with one, you'll feel ten times better. I hope the experience gets better for you dear.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Contact_a_Mentor

Answer 4

I may not  be sourcing right, as per mechanics but I've answered questions that went days without an answer because I can find things that elude other peeps. And I produce the documents to prove I tell the truth. Do you want my documents? If you do, step back. Ignore for the moment that the ≤≥== aren't exactly right.