Have you checked the Louisiana Families watchlist lately?

Question

Check this out: On Monday this week, there were about 385 profiles that had the {{Louisiana Families}} project box. Today there are 6,776 profiles! These are people who were in Louisiana from around 1600-1812. [Edited to reflect the new, more manageable cut-off date of Louisiana statehood.] Everyone else gets a {{Louisiana Sticker}} and will not be managed by this project.

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:WatchedList&p=11758424

What happened?

I have been working with Aleš Trtnik to do some automatic maintenance for our Louisiana Profiles. (Please thank him for his creativity, his willingness to help and his patience!) Aleš creates a table for all of the projects so leaders can analyze how their projects stand. For a few weeks, I've been editing profiles here and there and deciding how to use the help of a computer program (edit bot) to do some of the work.  here is the latest one https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:DBE_Project_Status#WikiTree-26_Louisiana_Families_Project.

The edit bot didn't remove any of the managers that were already on there. However, I will remove people who don't seem to be taking care of merges, clean up, error correction, profile improvements--things a profile manager is expected to do. If I did and you really want to help take care of the profile, please contact me (not the project please, me personally through the WikiTree email system (jackiegir@gmail.com). If you have a lot of unsourced profiles or your watch list is in the thousands, consider removing yourself so others can adopt the profile.

The edit bot program was run Tuesday. For once, we have all the profiles that we could find in the project, with the project box and being managed by the project along with any managers who were also on the profile. Any others were given the Louisiana Sticker. If you find a profile that doesn't seem to fit, or that should be in the project but isn't, please call it to my attention. Note for Louisiana profiles with Acadian Roots but not born in Acadia, you can put the {{Acadian Sticker}}.

If you can help improve profiles, please select a surname from the watch list. Sort the list by date or name and look for duplicates. If the names vary in spelling but are still duplicates, make a note about how the merge should go. It would be great if you would also let me know of these alternate spellings so I can keep track and possibly lock the status to assure the merge goes correctly.

If a profile doesn't have good sources, please put {{Unsourced|Louisiana}} above the Biography section. If you want to organize a Louisiana team for the source-a-thon, please do it. We've never had a team and I would love for us to participate but I have way too much to do right now to organize a team. Otherwise, you may join Team Acadia or one of the other teams. https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/676444/team-acadia-2018-source-a-thon-team-chat

Hundreds of people have the Louisiana Families Project Member badge, but when I ask for help, only a small number respond. If someone wants to volunteer to contact our project members to see how they are doing, what they are working on, etc. it would be most helpful. We are looking for a few Project Coordinators as well--this is a stepping stone to leadership so please consider taking that next step. The duties shouldn't be onerous--we are flexible.

Lastly, if you no longer feel you can help with the Project, please let me know so I can remove the Louisiana Families Project badge. Conversely, I would love to know if you received this email. Please respond to this post or email me.

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom. You rock!

Jacqueline or Jackie Girouard

Comments

Jackie, what kind of profiles should have the {{Louisiana Families}} template vs the {{Louisiana Sticker}}? And is there a similar {{Acadian}} vs {{Acadian Roots Sticker}}?

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Hi Stephanie and thanks for asking.

People born in Louisiana or who were living in Louisiana until 1812 will have the {{Louisiana Family}} template. After 1812, they may have the {{Louisiana Sticker}}. [Edited to reflect new, more manageable cut-off date.]

For {{Acadian}} template, the time period is about 1600 to 1755, though the edit bot had to use 1500 - 1800 because of how the list is generated. After 1755 it would be {{Acadian Sticker}}.

 Stickers are not required, whereas the templates are. There can always be exceptions to these guidelines of course, so humans can make reasoned judgements on a case-by-case basis.

Thanks for all you do for these projects Stephanie!

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And just to clarify, {{Acadian}} means born there or lived there up until the deportation, whereas {{Acadian Sticker}} means descendant of Acadians, wherever born? For instance, one of my ancestors, Jean Baptiste Duon-6, born in Lyon, France (1684) died in Port-Royal (1746)-- clearly qualifies as Acadian. But my Simon ancestors descend from a guy who was a stowaway on one of the 7 ships, Simon-1005, whose people were from Bretagne. Not clear if he's from Acadians, but his wife was a daughter of Acadians, born in Belle Isle en Mer. Seems clear their children can therefore have the {{Acadian Sticker}}. But how far can we go with that line? I feel like my mother should qualify, as her mother tongue was French and she was born in Crowley. But me? I only get it from her side, and the closest I ever got to living in Cajun Country was Beaumont.

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Stickers are voluntary--the Acadian Project will probably not monitor that at all. I agree with what you wrote about the {{Acadian}} template. My mother spoke French and never lost her Acadian outlook. I speak a bit of French and am well aware of my Acadian heritage but most people wouldn't know since I lived away from Louisiana most of my life.

So, the Template is required but a Sticker is up to the profile manager. There may be other stickers that suit profiles better. The Team would like to limit how many stickers are on a profile.

Answer 1

I received your very fine and informative email. Thanks.

Answer 2

Thanks Aleš, your work here is non-stop!  The community is indebted to you.