Keeping it chill

Question

My real world job is working with at-risk youth. This is the politically correct way of saying lil gangstas . Juvenile delinquents. I spend most days arguing with the kids, the police and probation officers, teachers, school principals, social workers, parents, grandparents,  clergy.....

I come to wikitree to recharge. To relax . To keep my brain from going to mush. I don't worry about big contrib numbers and monthly badges. I like the work.

I usually work on profiles for the projects I belong to . When I start on a line, I usually put a note in the comments on the profile and wait . Sometimes a manager will send me a note "Shoo, Eddie, go away" and I do. No problem.

Last week, someone ( not a new member, ) filed an MIR because ...??  He never told me beforehand to go away. Never indicated in any way that he had a problem with me. When I asked why,

Because says he, I don't know how to do things and I "needed a nudge in the right direction."

After taking counsel with my posse, which includes an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a Methodist minister as well as wikitree friends, I forgive.

But

So that this doesn't happen again, I will NEVER AGAIN work on any profiles other than my own. I am content to help crack brick walls for those who ask. Just send me a note.

I love Wikitree and I'm grateful for the friends and support I've found here.

Too bad this happened.

Comments

I added tags to your post, and I included wikitree_love because you are reminding the rest of us to show a little more of that...

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For my people standing staring trying to fashion a better way

    from confusion, from hypocrisy and misunderstanding,

    trying to fashion a world that will hold all the people,

    all the faces, all the adams and eves and their countless generations;

(Poet Margaret Walker)

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Mr. X's foundation for complaint was that I edited dates on profiles I proposed for merging. 

I thought reconciling differences was what we were supposed to do

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/433215/please-seriously-please-consider-before-merging-unmatching?show=433215#q433215

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Hi, Eddie. It looks like you may have been operating under a misconception about the ground rules here. When we propose merges of profiles that other people created and have been maintaining, we need to give those people the opportunity to review the match and decide whether it's valid. As a general rule, we shouldn't change profile data to influence their decisions. This can be important -- you and I might think that Lucas Brown born in 1881 is the same person as Lucas Brown who has the same parents and has no birth date but a death in 1953, but the profile manager might have sourced data they failed to include in the profile that indicates these are brothers, with the one born in 1881 having died young. In an instance like that, your merge proposal could induce them to improve both profiles with sources, rather than merging two profiles that actually represent different people.

There are exceptions to that general rule, and you may have understood the latitude provided by those exceptions to be more expansive than it really is. For example, if the biography section of one of the profiles contains a sourced birth date of 3 March 1897, but the profile data gives 3 March 1879, and 3 March 1897 is the date that appears on the other profile, you might be justified in correcting the date (but it still would be better to give the profile manager a chance to evaluate the situation).

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These were George Washington's great grammy/grampas. Multiple Unsourced gedcom dupes.

I only work on Presidents Project profiles unless somebody yells for help with stuff.

Besides, I SOURCE. Not easy maybe/maybe not sources. I dig sometimes for days on a single name until I'm sure.

When I created Reuben James, I read, in their entirety, 261 land records and wills , to prove his lines.  I found not only his parents and grandfather, I found his brother, his uncles and cousins. These will be added through the next month or so.

To continue on Majel "Star Trek" Roddenberry, whose lines are Czech, I asked a faculty member of YSU for help translating Czech and helping with naming conventions.

When I created Brad Johnson, whose lines are FINNISH, I did the same.

And I posted a notice on the profiles, I would be editing and waited almost a month,  and the MIR writer, active every day, never said anything and then suddenly Saturday, WHAMMO !  MIR  !! Which is why I'm sticking to my own soldiers from this day forward

Answer 1

Eddie remember, EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY, AND EVERY MEAL IS A FEAST, keep moving onward my friend

Answer 2

I'm sorry that happened to you.  I don't mind people working on my lines, just as long as they cite sources.  Even when they make a mistake, I try to be gracious about it

Just recently, I had a person attach a wife to one of my profiles.   But in this case I was convinced they were incorrect and they got my ancestor confused with a person with the same name, who lived in the same general area at the same time.

So I did a bit of research and sent them a message saying,  I think this person is the person you want, and cited my sources and reasons.  That person, though they never responded, they removed the incorrect wife.

But my experience is usually the opposite, I work on other peoples lines and they don't say anything, either good or bad.

Again, I'm sorry you got dumped on like that.

Answer 3

Hey Eddie ... I'd chalk this up to one spoiled apple in a very large orchard!  Notice how I made the vision a tree ... lol

Hope you continue your good work here at Wikitree ... you're much appreciated by all us other apples!!

Comments

Since only one side of this story has been told here, maybe we shouldn't assume the other person is a spoiled apple.  Just a thought.

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To clarify, not saying Eddie is right or wrong, just saying making assumptions about the other party isn't really in line with the Honor Code either.

Answer 4

It would be a shame to let one person spoil things. Profiles are open for a reason.

I figure if I add things nobody will mind, especially sources. I stay away from changing things unless it is to give a more complete date.

It is very helpful to have notes about people that are confused with each other. I wish there were some sort of category for mixed up people. I recently resolved a death date problem with Find a Grave info by finding out there were two people about the same time and place with the same name that had the same married surname. I realized just because I thought the name unusual and probably unique, families reuse even unusual names.

Comments

I think there's something about "Conflated Profiles"...

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Conflated

Answer 5

Yeah no fun when something like that happens. I know you do good work so if you come across any of mine feel free to edit/add as needed. :-)

Answer 6

As Eddie knows and demonstrates, communication is the key to success on Wikitree.   As a leader and mentor on Wikitree, I just want to say that I appreciate the work that Eddie does for my project and I appreciate that he understands what it means in the guideline https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Communication_Before_Editing#Be_Bold_or_Be_Polite.3F

Comments

I think we all appreciate his work, Robin. =D

Answer 7

Shake it off, if you can. I've run into uptight people here on WikiTree too. Luckily they are few and far between.

You're welcome to help out on any of my stuff.

Answer 8

Eddie,

Like I said in the e-mail to you. Forget the jerks. You just keep doing what you do. You're awesome at finding facts and info I couldn't have found. You found info on a guy connected to me who served in the Civil War. That was impressive. You're like the ultimate detective. All you need is a fedora, trench coat and an inner monologue. =)

Forget the jerk who reported you. He's not worth your time. But, if this is what you want. I will support you because you're a friend. That's what friends do.  Sorry about the jerk, man. You didn't deserve it. No one does.

Keep it cool. I'd like to think that we're all adults on this site. So, we just need to relax. That goes for everyone. We're here to learn. Not cause problems.

Answer 9

Hey Eddie - I'm sorry to hear about this as well and hope that you'll consider this a temporary situation rather than a permanent one. There's always going to be someone out there who is overly sensitive or feels that someone has stepped on their toes and I understand. The first few times I had someone come along and have the audacity to touch one of "MY" profiles was a bit of a moment for me... until I went back and thought... hmm... that was a good addition. Or when someone started marking up my profiles as unsourced... and I had to admit they were. More often than not, those who are out there trying to update profiles are really trying hard to make the world a better place.

You're one of the good ones, Eddie, and I truly hope you think of this as more of a brief vacation rather than a permanent vacation. Thanks for all you do.

Comments

Scott, you bring up a good point. =D Luckily no one has complained about me. And no that isn't an invitation.....

Answer 10

I was horrified the first time someone complained!  At least they complained to me personally - they did not report me!  But I like to work on the orphans.

Comments

And you do good work. Why would someone complain about you? Weird.

Answer 11

You are one of the most awesome people WikiTree has to offer and anyone who doesn't see that is missing out big time!!  I for one am grateful for all of the amazing research you have done and are doing (especially on my brick wall ;-) ) Big Hugs and Smooches with a side of Twinkies.  

Did you know they have fried Twinkies??

Comments

Annd there goes your arteries. =P

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Not my arteries--Eddie's ;-)  I don't eat processed foods. The thought of eating a twinkie turns my stomach. They even have fried chocolate twinkies. Double gag.  I was looking this up for Eddie in case I ever needed to send him a bribe.

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He was telling me about jumbalaya down in Louisiana. That could entice him into staying. It has gator meat. Never had that.

Never really been fond of a twinkie. But, I hear those things never go bad. I try to stay away from processed food, too. Stuff is kinda gross.

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Oh, wow. Emma, we are 8th cousins once removed!

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Kinda gross?  I would say it's all gross.  Except good dark chocolate which is actually a processed food. And Espresso. My two guilty pleasures.

But gator meat? Uh un. I have had jambalaya in Louisiana and it most certainly didn't have gator meat in it. At least I don't think so....

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I had no idea we were related through one of the Quebecois lines! That explains our awesome senses of humor :-)  I will add you to my WikiCousins page right now!

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Awesome. I have added you to my list of wikicousins on my profile. I haven't made a dedicated page, yet. I got plenty of Quebecois cousins and a few American ones on here. One Italian. That's okay. The rest of them are on Ancestry. =D

I've had jumbalaya with sausage, chicken, shrimp etc. That was good. Spicy, though.

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Now added:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Emma_%28McBeth%29_MacBeath--Wiki_Cousins

One of these days, you will have to give me a lesson on how to say your last name.  I am supposedly 25% Italian, but I think a whole lot of that is my French ancestors mixed in.

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I'm hosting the Weekend chat this weekend. I plan on giving everyone a crash course. =) Though, there is a video for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzXFq_m9hQ0

We always say it "Ferry-o-low", I've always had fun in school with substitute teachers trying to say my name. =D

I have about half Italian. =D

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I'm going to have to work on rolling my Rs a little more. It's not quite the same as the French back of the throat R. :-D

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I have trouble rolling my Rs, too and I took Spanish!

Answer 12

Eddie,

Sorry to hear that. You do fantastic work.

Everyone else has pretty much summed it up...

Strange that if they filed a MIR without first contacting you, they didn’t follow the process. Just saying....