Is this the friendly, colloborative WikiTree way? [closed]

Question

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive.  I was notified this morning that this, This is a MINGUS, Inc. protected profile, please do not change it without collaborating with me. , was added to some surnames that I follow.  This really doesn't seem very colloborative or friendly.  It wasn't even added by the profile creator.

Comments

Kathy, can you send a few examples of the involved profiles and a copy of the notification that you received to: wikimentors@googlegroups.com. If you've ascertained the member involved please include that as well. Thanks.  T Stanton, WikiTree Mentors

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Done.  Thanks for looking into this.

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Hello Kathy.

"It's easy to misinterpret a person's tone or intentions when you're not talking face-to-face."

I found this phrase here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Courtesy#Courtesy_is_Required_on_WikiTree

There is also a very wise advise:

• When someone sounds rude, assume that they don't intend to be.

( I hope this helps you to feel better  ! )

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T, you might also want to check out the Clan Menzies category at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Clan_Menzies as someone has also been plastering adverts for the same organisation all over that.

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As Ruben points out, I'm not sure of the intentions but have escalated this to Mentor Leaders as it seems irregular and likely not in keeping with any number of WikiTree guidelines. The page Sheena points out appears problematic (to be kind) and certainly not before seen by this member of Scottish Clans Protocol Team.

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Sheena, that was definitely a good find.  They have updated it quite a bit on the Clan page and it does seem like advertising, also, with the last section!!

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Ruben, I agree that I don't know the intentions.  That is one of the reasons I didn't make the profile names public.  I appreciate you finding the courtesy advice.  And, thanks, I definitely don't take something like this to heart, life is too short (as evidenced by all the millions of profiles here!)

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Very good point, Kathy!    

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I looked at the clan page, took a deep breath and clicked on the edit link, counted to 10, then repeated the whole process. By my third count I had managed to persuade myself not to upset anyone by removing some of the external links. Do I get a badge?

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No badges, just extra thanks for not making the situation messier.  The Scotland project and mentors are handling this.

Good breathing technique.  I'm going to use it the next time I'm cleaning up a profile that was dumped in 2011 by gedcom and hasn't been touched since.

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I tend to avoid the clan pages (even though I'm a member of both the Scotland and Scottish Clans projects) - they're not good for my blood pressure 

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I did the same thing when i saw the clan page and then some profiles. Also agree about the old gedcom, untouched profiles.

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Thanks to everyone for handling this calmly and bumping it up to leaders of the involved teams.

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Hi Todd

Just on this matter, earlier today I was approached by a member who is concerned that the individual responsible for these notices is also claiming 'MINGUS Inc' copyright on images on profiles that she believes she is not entitled to claim.  

I have asked her for details of specific profiles.  Is this something that should also be examined?

Cheers

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Peter, I sent a pm to Amy Gilpin (below) and also Mentor group Leaders. Thanks for bringing the copyright notices to everyone's attention.

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Hi Peter,

Those statements are now being removed from WikiTree pages. It may take a little time to get them all but the member is working hard on them. Thank you for your concern!

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Thanks Peter and Thanks Mindy.  I had already let Amy know that I couldn't find substantiating information on Mingus Inc being an Inc nor being a 501c3 as they claimed back on November 17th.  

Thank you all for being so attentive and patient as this gets resolved.

Answer 1

Just to confirm for everyone, the Scotland Project, Scottish Clans Project and Mentor leaders are aware of this and are looking into it.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention Kathy, and thank you all for supporting Kathy in her decision.  It's not easy to know what to do when faced with something like this.