Help:Unresponsive Profile Managers

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Collaboration is what WikiTree is all about. Collaboration requires communication.

If a Profile Manager refuses to collaborate, start at Help:Problems with Members.

If a Profile Manager isn't communicating, follow these steps.

Contents

If You Need a Response

For merging

If a manager won't reply to a merge request, you don't need to do anything if the profiles are Open.

After one month, merge proposals are approved by default. Check your Pending Merges to see if the merge is ready to be completed.

For editing

First, try all forms of contact

Please do all of the following for the profile in question:

  1. Send a polite Trusted List request explaining your interest.
  2. Send the manager a direct email message if you have their email address. Send them a Private Message if you do not.
  3. Post a friendly comment on the manager's profile.

Please assume that they are not intentionally ignoring you. Some Wonderful WikiTreers have passed away. Sometimes, email just can't get through. Or maybe they don't know how to respond. If you can't assume good intentions start at Help:Problems with Members instead of contacting them yourself.

Second, wait a week and then check their contributions

If you have not heard back on any of the above for seven days, check their Contributions list to see how recently they have been active. Then proceed to step three.

Third, submit form

Click the "PROBLEMS/QUESTIONS" button on the profile you want to edit. It appears above the biography section, next to the Profile Manager's name.

Then scroll down and click the Unresponsive Profile Manager Request Form link. This will only appear if you are not on the Trusted List.

Please only submit one request per Profile Manager. If you need access to more than one profile that they manage, note the other WikiTree IDs in the private comments section of the form.

What we will do

After you submit the form it will be reviewed by a WikiTree Team Member ASAP.

If the Profile Manager has not made any contributions for over 60 days[1] we will send them a personal email message and then wait another seven days. If after a week they have not replied to us, we will orphan the requested Open and Public profile or profiles.

If they've made recent contributions but are not collaborating we will follow the steps in Help:Problems with Members.

In rare cases we may put a temporary block on their account until they contact us. This is sometimes necessary when email messages are not getting through to them.

Private and Unlisted profiles of modern people present a different problem. We cannot allow them to be adopted by anyone who is not already on the Trusted List. We will delete these after six months unless there is someone else on the Trusted List or extenuating circumstances.

If You Cannot Respond

If you want to reduce communication

You may not have enough time or interest to respond to all the merge proposals, Trusted List requests, and Private Messages you receive. These can be overwhelming if you manage hundreds or even thousands of ancestor profiles.

It's easy to lighten your load. Use the bulk Profile Manager changes tool to remove yourself as the manager of some or all Open profiles. Even though we call this "orphaning" it's not a bad thing. It enables others to step up and take responsibility by adopting them.

Removing yourself as the manager will keep you on the Trusted List — you will still hear about changes, have full editing rights, etc. — but you won't be getting the emailed requests. If you want to remove yourself entirely, use the bulk Trusted List changes tool instead. This removes you as the manager and removes you from Trusted Lists at the same time.

See Help:Reducing the Size of Your Watchlist for more information or Help:Closing an Account if you want to end your participation entirely.

If you will be away temporarily

If you will be away from WikiTree for an extended period of time (e.g. for medical reasons, travel, or other special circumstances) please post a message at the top of your profile.

We recommend a section like this before your Biography:

== Notice ==
I will be traveling for an extended period of time, returning about XX. I may not be responsive to messages and requests but I do plan to return to WikiTree as soon as possible. Please be patient. Thanks!

or you can use:

{{Template:Absent|Start Date|Comment}}
Example: {{Template:Absent|1 Sep 2014|On sabbatical for about 2 months}}

Make sure that your profile has a public biography so that others can see this message. If you don't want your biography to be public, put the message in a comment on your profile instead.

You might also want to remove yourself as Profile Manager on some profiles.

If you have comments or questions please post in G2G.



  1. Arborists and Project Leaders can request intervention after 30 days.


This page was last modified 13:03, 17 April 2023. This page has been accessed 39,326 times.