Can the Tracker be adjusted to count profiles with only "bad" sources?

Question

I notice that the Tracker does not allow us to count profiles when there is anything in the Source section.  This is a change since the Source-a-Thon, and it does not allow us to count profiles with "bad" sources.  Here are some examples I believe should be countable profiles for sourcing challenges:

• The only source is "Ancestry.com" (does not even specify the specific Ancestry tree)
• The only source is the GEDCOM import file
• The only source is a note saying someone will provide a source by a specific date
• The only source is "family records" or "family information"

If the challenge specifically states that the profiles must come from the Unsourced list, these would not apply.  But the Saturday Sprints state "All profiles improved must come from the Unsourced categories or already be present on WikiTree and unsourced..", so it seems that either the Tracker or the instructions should be adjusted

Comments

Star,

Thanks for asking my question! The same instructions are on the monthly challenge.

You forgot “as remembered” for someone who died over 100 years ago. There’s also “FamilySearch.org” with no other information.

I found one yesterday linked to the FamilySearch FamilyTree and the only source for that was the WikiTree profile.

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I've found a couple like that, Kay. So disheartening sometimes.

I've answered what I know about the Tracker and the Sprints. Unfortunately, there's not a way to test it until next Friday afternoon. I'll post the thread right at noon EDT as usual. If either of you are available, would you find a couple of profiles and have them ready to help me test. Thanks so much

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Kay I accidently came across several long family lines where the only sources supporting the ancestor profiles are brief variations on the statement: "The information came from personal knowledge". The ancestor profiles I'm referring to start in the early 16th c. and work backwards 500 or more years. I realize ya'll are going to have issues with fraudulent / malicious users but I was still taken aback at it's blatent disregard for what you folks are trying to accomplish with this site. (reference Rookwood-120).

Answer 1

I have the tracker set to "ALL" for the Saturday Sourcing Sprints. My understanding of Aleš' instructions on setting the tracker up, that should make it track any entry when a Sprinter checks the box (that's where I usually fail).

Can you give me a couple examples of profiles which have not been tracked so that I can work with Aleš to figure it out?

Comments

Forgot to add that, by setting it to all, the "unsourced other" column went away. They are all supposed to show up in the totals column.

Answer 2

It may be against some rule, but when I come across one of those type of profiles (other than when I am trying to source something), I clean it up as best I can, getting rid of "* Add other sources here" and moving the gedcom reference to == Acknowledgements ==, then I put {{Unsourced}} at the top.

Without a tree to refer to either in FamilySource or Ancestry, I don't consider it sourced. It doesn't change anything for the counts if you are looking for sources.

I sometimes feel mean doing it, but I am consistent and I really believe they aren't sourced.

Comments

I do something similar. Cleaning up  the profile so that it is easier to source properly.

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I come from one of those families of very straightforward common surnames; accordingly, I've gone thru a fair sampling of ancestor profiles in Wikitree and found even in their well organized One-Global-Tree system there are a number of garbage profiles - profiles comprising of elements supported by the weakest of secondary sources: public family trees. So my 'job' had been to add primary sources profile by profile and either confirm or refute the data in the existing; secondly, where I can I eliminate the incredible redundancy's in uploaded text so the profile is more professional looking and easier to read. But these are my direct line ancestor's and I've been doing this awhile. Cheers.