WikiTree Live (14 March 2020): Weekly recap + Special guest Aleš Trtnik (WikiTree+)

Question

Hi WikiTreers!

Join us this Saturday at 10 AM (ET, GMT -4) for our WikiTree Live chat where we talk about what's been happening around the site this week. You can ask questions, join the conversation, or just watch.

In the second half we'll be chatting with Aleš Trtnik about WikiTree+, the engine that powers the Data Doctor challenges. Tune in to learn more about how WikiTree+ works.

You can watch via YouTube or our Facebook page. See you there!

Comments

Whoa, partner! I've just gotten back on after burying my 90 year old father and I see this as a topic "Join us Saturday at 10am ET (GMT -4) for a live chat via YouTube or Facebook. We'll ask Data Doctor chief Aleš Trtnik about how the suggestions in profiles managed by English-1710 are produced." Are you inferring that I'm stupid? I am dumbstruck by seeing this. Out of the milions of Wikiteers, you pulled my name?

WTH?

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I am somewhat better after reading your comment about the "Data Doctors challenges" program concerning my created and orphaned adopted profiles.  At least I'm not the only one!

I immediately resolved to stop adopting profiles that looked like possible "family."   They're often poorly sourced with questionable data.

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I just got back in town from a family death also. I try very hard to give as many sources and as much information backed by documents as I can locate. I am still learning how to use the codes on wikitree. Some of the information that the data doc pulls out (example) if I find a source that shows a birth date, I will use that source for the date, not the FAG birth date. Alot of times the FAG is wrong, but if FAG is the only source I have then I will use it.

I am not stupid , I am just trying to understand so I can do better. I am leaning as best I can.

You also want to talk about how the suggestions in profiles managed by Overcast-7 are produced on Saturday at 10am ET (GMT-4)...... Overcast-7 is me.

I don't understand what this means. I try to correct all my suggestions or show proof why I can not. Most of my profile I adopted and had no sources. I try my best, help me understand.

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Victoria, those emails are customized for the receiver so you are the only person who got the one with your suggestions. Everyone else got their own suggestions.  :)

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That should have been made a little clearer to begin with. The biggest problem I've seen is someone else wiping out the information I've entered including sources and citations and putting in unreliable, secondary sources. Honestly, I'm one step away from leaving Wikitree. And unless I see the picture of a headstone on Find A Grave, it's not a source.

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Or maybe just assume the best and that we wouldn't single out just one member in the newsletter that goes out to everyone :)

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Victoria --

Are you aware of the Problems with Members process on the Help menu? If someone is removing valid information, that would be the best place for you to start to solve that problem.

re: headstones ... I've had occasions where those weren't even right. I found one the other day where the surname was spelled wrong according to every other document I found for the family. 

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I noticed it both ways.  There were several genealogists who suggested corrections that relied upon information on findagrave that had no image or other valid source.  Other well meaning WikiTree members discount everything on findagrave.  I've only noticed a few cases where the data on memorial stones was in error, but several that made a mistake in transcription.  I always look at the memorial for verification.

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Amen to that!

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Okay. I'll get off my high horse. Y'all are right but I felt mortified when I saw the message. Didn't realize it had been personalized rather than "Hey everybody, look at this dork's errors!"

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I am looking forward to the live chat.

I quickly figured out the system generated and edited each person's email, tailored to match whatever our profile numbers are.

We were not singled out, just given a personal look at suggestions for profiles (managed by us and/or others) in our trees.

I already made a couple of corrections or comments where I could, on profiles managed by me, and a couple of profiles managed by someone else ( I fixed incorrect findagrave formatting on theirs).

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Be-spectacled.  The object is spectacles, not speckles.  Be-speckled would be covered in spots!

Ben Franklin is generally credited with inventing bifocals, although newer evidence may point to someone 50 years earlier.  Franklin was one of the earliest to wear them, and his prominence in society may be why the invention has been tied to his name.  (My Mum wore bifocals — she had special ones made for playing the piano — and was the one who told ne about Franklin.)

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Part of what the "giggly hosts" dealt with were the several topics found on https://www.wikitree.com/

If you don't like or appreciate real people instead of painted dolls stuffed into expensive clothing most of them don't pay for, non-professionals who do this as volunteers because of the love they hold for Wikitree and the mission, I suggest you go hole up somewhere and watch nothing but NBC, CNN, or the like.

I've only managed to listen to a couple of these, and neither in real time, but I think the "giggly host" do a terrific job for those untrained in such things.

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And the post to which I was responding is now gone, gone, gone, gone. . . . . . .

.

(Makes me look kinda stooped.)

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I spent a totally unproductive hour on the YouTube presentation yesterday (3/14/20).  At best it can be described as sophomoric and almost teenager like.  First the giggly narrators spent the first half-hour showing photographs of complete strangers and commenting on their dress.  Worthless.  This was a "look what I've found force majeure".  The gentleman expert on the + initiative was an absolute whiz and very professional.  Unfortunately, so much time had been eaten up showing pictures that he had to demo his work at Mach 6.  Therefore, the observers were cheated out of a helpful learning experience.  In the future, the hosts need to carefully prepare to ensure these hours are filled with truly helpful subjects with a tight focus on good information sharing and the right amount of time for each worthy subject.

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Mick --

I notice that you've been here for less than a month, and it's clear that you aren't familiar with our community. We're family. 

Most of us know Sarah and Aleš. We appreciate the positive attitude and gentle nature that Sarah adds to WikiTree. We appreciate the value Aleš has added by scrubbing the data and helping us find inconsistencies.

I think every one of us would tell you that we appreciate constructive feedback, but the tone of your comment is insulting and mean. It's representative of what we would expect to find on YouTube or other "anonymous" platforms.

Our community members interact on a personal level every day. You won't find anything like the WikiTree community anywhere else on the Internet. We may not agree with each other all the time, but we find ways to say so without being hurtful. It's part of our Honor Code.

I hope you can find your way forward in our community. You may have valuable insight to add. Perhaps if you imagine yourself sitting in the same room as the people you're criticizing, you'll find a way to offer feedback that people can hear without feeling humiliated.

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Let's see, all last week the site has been alive discussing old pictures, women's dresses from the past, and then closed the week discussing the birth and maturation of eye wear.  Hmm, We sure can all use this is our mining efforts.  More importantly, Mr Trtnik was given sufficient time to really clarify how the WT+ engine works and the types of valuable help it will provide us in our labors.  There was a lesson learned tho - decline future invitations to these gaggles.  PS, I can only think of maybe one or two questions that were posed and answered.   Before, you put the "we are family" scarlet letter on me please note that only Mr Trtnik's name was mentioned and it was in a positive vein.  I'm sorry that my assessment of the tone, timbre, and learning value was overlooked in your scolding. Yes, I am a Rookie on the site but that brings with it a fresh set of eyes.  Case closed unless you want to continue this thread.

Answer 1

Hey--I think maybe I should try to make it live Schindler-204.
First off I'd like to say I love the report you linked to the email announcement--I can't wait to see how it is produced and more important how one can pull up the same report at will on his or her own.
In my case I have never gone back to fix the GED imported information.  The one time I tried it was easiest to just delete most of it and re-enter, so I am anxious to hear what you have to say.
Mike Schindler

Comments

Thank you for that Michael. The GED imports are an absolute bain to a biography.

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Hey, Michael!

You can always find your list of suggestions on your My WikiTree menu. Hope that helps. :-)

Answer 2

Is there a way to see the live chats afterwards? I often see the topics and, like this week, would love to learn more about it, but 10pm my time is stretching the friendship (not to mention my husband's tolerance of my hobby) just a little too much.

Comments

If you go to the You Tube website, and type in WikiTree in the search block, there are a whole host of WikiTree topics to choose from, including the live chats.

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Thank you Rodney.

Answer 3

Wish I'd been there (daylight savings rubbished up my maths).

Just a reminder that just above the list of books on Douglas Adams's profile is a link to a freespace page, where you can see that he wrote TONS - so much, they wouldn't fit on the front page!