Request email notification when a managed profile is changed

Question

Would it be possible to enable e-mail notification when a profile I manage is changed? Currently there is a setting that I get e-mail if someone leaves a comment on a profile I manage. The only other way to monitor changes is to go through every single news email, and then it is hit or miss.

While the majority of the data doctors do a good job (I am one myself, though I've been too overwhelmed with life for a while), there are a few prolific bulls in the proverbial china shop and it's hard to catch. The profile I've listed is one example. I've caught others, but it's hit or miss noticing them.

Comments

This would be a welcome feature for me too.   Just last week someone removed the parents to 1700's era profile I  manage.  She then assigned new parents.....    All based on a  "chart" given her by her grandmother.  (Despite strong sources supporting the original parents.)   The profile manager for the  "new parents"  informed her they were the wrong parents but I'm not sure when I would have noticed it.

Answer 1

Your Family Activity Feed on your Navigation Home page has all the changes made to profiles you manage.  Honestly, when I work on data doctoring on profiles I might make 10-20 changes per profile.  I note the change and save each change separately (i.e., added 1850 census and notes -- Save -- Added 1860 census and notes -- Save, etc.) because if I don't I'll forget to save and get distracted by another profile.  I can't imagine anyone wanting to receive emails for each change.  

Your weekly summary email will have some changes, but I agree it is usually not complete.  In general, I get a daily email that has G2G topics that I follow and includes any family activity as well as Wiki Genealogy feed.  

I'm definitely in the camp with Steve, Joe and Natalie, but if you don't manage a bunch of profiles then this might be a useful option (especially if you keep your suggestion list clean so none of us Data Doctors run across your profiles. )

Comments

The Family Activity Feed is the absolutely best for this!

Just make a habit of checking it as one of the first things you do when you log in (or with whichever frequency suits your WikiTree habits).

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I don't think Julie realizes the thousands of emails this would generate per day for every single change made to any profile. It just staggers the mind if you actually think on it.

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I think you overestimate how many changes are being made to the 500ish profiles I manage. I monitor the suggestions list and correct as new suggestions are added, but it's pretty clean (two suggestions remaining, one is going to require a trip to an actual library a couple hours away to find an actual source hopefully, the other is a placeholder father for two sisters). The last issue wasn't suggestion related, just someone overzealously changing birthplaces willy nilly. Likely an honor code violation since it was done without adding sources. I don't think it was a data doctor.

The activity will do pretty well, though I have parts on my tree I haven't bothered asking to be added to the Trusted List as I don't have the need to "own" these and they are open. FamilySearch has a checkbox to add a profile to your watchlist, that would be nice if not the email. The trusted list is really overkill, particularly given that the few I have requested took weeks for a response.

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Actually I was referring to the WikiTree system itself that would have to mass email each person about each change and each correction made to each profile and then send an email to each person that has that profile in their watchlist.

This means if you go to add something to your own profile, it doesn't come out right so you redo it, then you notice a spelling mistake, you will get 3 emails. Now think hundreds of changes per each of hundreds of people.

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Has the name of "Family Activity Feed" changed? I don't see that option.

I do see ""WikiTree Family News" and "Wiki Genealogy Feed".

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upper right corner. "My WikiTree" dropdown menu "Family Activity Feed".

Answer 2

Actually if you check your e-mail for wikitree news it has an "additions and changes" section.

You can also go to My WikiTree in the upper right, go to the main page and scroll down to "Family Activity Feed" and Wiki Genealogy Feed" on the lower right side. I think this is what you are looking for.

Comments

Actually, that list is never complete and the names in my tree are used over and over. The list is mostly persons I do NOT manage. It requires a good bit of time to sort through.

The Family Activity Feed might do, but as it is, I have to check it rather than get a nice little email. Hence, my request.

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Personally I'm glad it doesn't. If I adopted a bunch of profiles and then the data doctors swept through and fixed them I would hate getting 20-30-40+ emails. LOL

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I don't adopt unrelated profiles any more. I tried it for a while, but it was unwieldly when I didn't have a special interest. I will adopt if I find an orphan in my tree, or temporarily if required for the type of change needed.

Regardless, I was asking for the checkbox type opt-in that message left on profile has. It could be off by default.

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well, if you go under My Wikitree and settings you can pick anywhere from OFF up to 14 days for family watchlist changes but it doesn't email it.

There IS a checkmark to recieve it weekly in email. But there is nothing for EACH change made to email you.

Answer 3

I already receive several hundred emails a month from wikitree as part of the PGM and MCS projects.  I really wouldn't want several hundred more.  I suppose it could be a feature that could be turned on and off.

I personally don't see the need as I frequently check my Navigation Home Page which has a notification of every edit to every profile I manage or am on the trusted list for.  It is the primary wikitree page I live on.

Comments

Same here. Some days there is very little in that feed and other days it simply goes nuts.

Answer 4

A trick I use is to sort my watchlist by Edit Date descending and check for profiles I did not edit.

Answer 5

For myself, with over 1700 profiles in my watchlist, and the number growing, I would not want this. I prefer the present system where I can see what is happening by monitoring my watchlist, using the edit date sort order, and my regular Wikitree emails.

There are one or two profiles where I have added cautionary notes before the main bio section, because of the likelihood of people making major mistakes, usually where there is frequent confusion between families or individuals in family trees on the web, or there are mistakes in works like early editions of Burke’s Peerage.