Unconnected vs Unlinked

+13 votes
524 views
Why have 2 categories that are basically the same. Under Maintenance Categories, there are Unconnected and Unlinked profiles. Any Unlinked profile is Unconnected, but any Unconnected isn't Unlinked. Unlinked seems to be redundant. I've seen many unconnected profiles with no links that are classified unconnected instead of unlinked.
in Policy and Style by Bob Keniston G2G6 Pilot (260k points)
retagged by Ellen Smith

That Unconnected List puzzled me at first.  Because all the profiles that were on it were connected/linked to someone.  And then I learned that the "Unconnected" refers only to the "main body of profiles" (or something like) on WikiTree.  But it still does seem redundant.  

...the unlinked are "floaters", those that aren't connected to even another profile.  They would of course be unconnected as well.

...the unconnected could be a whole family who would be linked to each other but still unconnected.
What Vincent said. Some people like the unlinked because they pose special challenges.
I do understand the difference between the two categories.

It is the titles, by definition, that make them seem redundant.

4 Answers

+12 votes
Many people get confused between 'Unconnected' and 'Unlinked'.  Instead of giving them one-word titles, perhaps it might be clearer to call them 'Unconnected To The Main Tree' and 'Unlinked to Anyone'?
by Ros Haywood G2G Astronaut (1.9m points)
+5 votes
Ros suggested a name change for the category; I think this particular category would be a great candidate for our new Project Maintenance categories that use the "Needs XXX".

What ideas do we have following that pattern? Needs Family? Thoughts?
by Abby Glann G2G6 Pilot (722k points)
+8 votes
Rather than a category - I mentioned this idea in a post not long ago - I would like to see a visible icon near the top of the profile signifying that the profile at hand is not currently connected to the global tree.   As I had commented - we could either have an icon that signifies the disconnect, or an icon that signifies that the profile *is* connected -- or we could have one for each case.  

If the first qua negative-- it becomes an icon we want to clear from the page

If the second as a positive - it becomes a goal to strive for on each given profile.

 

If both - it supplies more immediate visual information to the status of the profile and the culture and goals of the wikitree community platform.

 

The information that would allow this iconic/visual cue to function is already present on the loading of the page, so it should be trivial for the code team to implement.  (i.e the data is present in the set of connections to anchor people toward the bottom of the page)

Deciding which of the three options makes more sense Negative/Positive/Both is a matter for policy discussion, and coming up with a good symbol for these will take some creativity.  There should also be an explanatory page (or pages)  with a set of tools and strategies for getting the person/record connected to the global tree.

This is a different approach than applying categories - it would be automatic for those who are connected/unconnected.  I suppose we'd want some convenient ways to survey or pull up subsets of the unconnected. I know we can already identify those on our watchlist that are unconnected - which can be sorted by number of people they are connected with.
by Michael Maranda G2G6 Mach 7 (70.7k points)
+4 votes
I think that having something really clear for those profiles that have "no connections", no parents, no children, no spouse....we need a very specific category like...."No Family"   

For the ones that are Unconnected, and I have several family branches that I am working like that...do we want a category that goes on every person in that branch?   I mean I have an unconnected branch that has a lot of profiles as I am trying to figure out how to fit it in.   Or are we really just interested in the "oldest profile" in the branch and how to connect it into the tree?   I guess I did not understand the two categories....
by Robin Lee G2G6 Pilot (852k points)
If an entire branch is listed as unconnected, connecting any profile in the branch will connect the entire branch. If you're in the Connector's Challenge, the only connection that counts is the first one. As far as the unlinked go, there is a Needs Family cat.
Robin, if I am placing a category, I often just put it on heads of family where there are a lot of options or open profiles. It definitely is not necessary to put it on all the people in a disconnected branch.

This discussion is to approve the use of "Needs Family" for profiles where there is absolutely no one attached to a profile-a single profiles floating in Wiki-Space :-)

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