Others' Sourcing on my Managed Files

Question

I understand this tree belongs to all of us here, and the rest of the world. But, I don't understand why someone would come onto one of my managed profiles, tell me I'm not doing it "right" that my sources need to be inline. Now I know we all have out own ways of working. I tend to dump in sources in order of their happening, then going back to write the bio. This person wrote ome bio information, but erased the actual sources. They were posted like this:

<ref>

(AGBI)

</ref>

We find him living there in

<ref>

1790 Census                             

</ref>

and he is still there in

<ref>

1800 Census

</ref>

Do I change the privacy levels, or can I go back to reinstate my sources? I can always get them from FS or Ancestry and add them back, but I'm a little confused at why someone would make changes like this?

Comments

I would have thought that if the profile already has a style, that’s what you should follow.

Old family saying “if in doubt - shout” in other words ASK first, act second.

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Yup. I wish there was a "like" button on G2G! 

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The person that made the edits does great work and creates very nice profiles.  You might just treat it a lesson in how to make nice profiles.  The difference is less emphasis on the appearance of the source as in making the sources bold and such and rather just to attach them to the facts.  I find the edit helpful.

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Vincent, even people who do great work can still be wrong. There was presumably no communication before this. I’ve personally also worked with the person and she’s very nice but that does not excuse it. Don’t be mean to someone who doesn’t deserve it. “You might just treat it as a lesson in how to make nice profiles” is just flat mean. The source was fine either way but the profile was so new (less than a week later, it looks like) that there should have been a bit of communication.

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Mm... I don't see any evidence of meanness on anyone's part. K.S. improved the display and detail of the sources. If someone had done that on a profile I managed, I would have been grateful.

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Inline citations are always better.

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Thanks Vincent, I made those citations with the bold titles for the express purpose of helping myself with dates when I write the bio! All they did was remove other information that was there but add <ref> </ref> up top! 

Answer 1

Noone has any right to demand that you use the inline way of writing sources. While that is the preferred method for wikitree, not everyone likes using that method, including me.

I would suggest that you leave the inline layout in place, and then ADD IN YOUR SOURCES at the bottom with what you had before. If you had Ancestry sources that is fine, but please do and try have some sources from FS because not all of us have a paid subscription to Ancestry.

In fact if you can transcribe the Ancestry source and post that as well as leaving a link, that would be good.

Very few of the profiles that I create and manage, are inline and those do have the inline layout, are usually profiles that I have adopted.

The lay out I see on the FELPS profile looks good except that there are dates missing.

Notes numbers 4 and 5 in the main text have no dates. They need to be added in.

And please talk to the person who changed it and ask WHY they changed it and tell themn that they should talk to you first if they want to change any thing else. This is supposed to be a collaborative place.

They should NOT have removed your original sources.

Comments

Thanks Robynn, I'll go back and add the dates asap.

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The editor in question made one edit; she did not remove a source; she moved the details of the source into the citation itself so it was all in one place.

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I just realized what you meant about those dates.  (I was jet lagged last night) I think that was part of what bothered me; I don't write like that, in fact I'm very picky about my writing. Again, probably why it bothered me. Here's a profile I wrote a week or so ago: Hutson-467. She was my grandmother, although I never met her. Also, Once the citation is in the body of the text, it shouldn't be left intact with a bullet at the bottom!

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Robynne, I understand what you mean about the Ancestry sourcing, and I always go to FS first, but given the DoB is 1760, they tend not to have much of anything.

Answer 2

Given the age of the profile the open privacy level is appropriate so you should not change it. If you prefer your previous work to the changes you can revert to your previous version from the changes tab. It might also be a good idea to talk to the person who made the changes and explain your preferred method of working and why you are adding your sources back in.

Comments

Thank you Lynda. I will do that.

Answer 3

If you feel information was lost, rather than look it up all over again, you could click on the CHANGES tab on the profile and go to the page where your information last was there- prior to removing.  You can use copy and paste  - copy the data, and then place it back on the profile - to save you time from researching all over.

The copy/paste may result in some odd spacing and some extra + signs, that you'll then likely want to delete.