England Project Membership PC Guidance

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Registration of Trailer

Membership PC

• Potential Trailer answers G2G post.

• Membership PC asks member to send a private message to the Membership PC.

• Membership PC responds via email with the following message ("Welcome message"):

Hello XXXX,

We are delighted that you have chosen to join the England Project. The England Project is all about team working and collaboration, and the first team which everyone joins is the Orphan Trail. You can read more about it here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:England_Orphaned_Profiles_Team

An Index of these pages is also available here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:England%2C_Orphan_Trail_Trailers_Index

In the Orphan Trail, you will be sourcing and improving a number of unsourced profiles as a way of learning new skills. You will be searching English recordsets back to 1700 and using these sources to build a biography for the profile. You will be buddied with a Trailblazer, an England Project member who is there to help you learn and make the best of these practice profiles.

So, to start things off we need you to choose your first orphaned profile from a list we have selected here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:England%2C_Orphan_Trail_1_%281838-1957%29_Pending_Profiles

There is nothing special about these profiles - they have been chosen because they are of English people, they have no or little sourced information about them in their profiles, and they were orphans (one without a Profile Manager) when we found them. A member of the Orphan Trail team may have been added as manager temporarily. You and your Trailblazer can work on the profile without needing to liaise with an existing Profile Manager. You are welcome to adopt any profiles once you have finished them.

To get the best value from the Orphan Trail we recommend that you don’t use a cell phone because it can be difficult to notice important details on the small screens and it makes it difficult to edit Profiles.

If this is not the right time for you to commit to working on the Orphan Trail profiles (the OT may take several weeks to complete), then please let me know now, and send me another email when you feel ready to start.

Please email me back with answers to these three items and then I can get you badged up as an England Project member. 1. The name and Wikitree ID of your first chosen profile from the list. 2. The England Project uses Google Groups for its official communications, so please let me know what your preferred email address is for setting this up for you. A Gmail address is preferable. 3. We also use Discord - a lively online chat room that is very informal and where you can meet and get to know your fellow England Project members and discuss Wikitree stuff. Let me know if you would like me to send you an invitation.

Lastly, it would be great if you would tell us a little about yourself - where you are in the world, your level of experience with family history research in general and with Wikitree in particular - and what prompted you to join the England Project.

Looking forward to hearing from you

End

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• Trailer's name gets put under the "Join Status" tab on the England Project's Members spreadsheet.

• When they respond, membership PC sends the follow-up message ("Second message"):

Hello XXXX,

Thank you for sending me the details of your first profile. I will pass this on to the Orphan Trail team and your Trailblazer or OT1 Team Leader will contact you. I have added you to the Google Group and will find a leader to give you your badge :)

In the meantime, the Orphan Trail page has links to our England 1838-1957 resources page. Please read through the resources (especially the example profiles) and make a start on improving your first profile. Don't be alarmed at the large banner saying "Hold Request: Please communicate with the England Project or wait until after..." - that doesn't mean you, it means other kind souls who might wander by and helpfully edit the profile you have chosen!

Starting your first Profile is exciting and you will be eager to receive feedback on your work as soon as possible. We do ask that you wait for your Trailblazer to be assigned before seeking feedback.

If you reach a point where you can’t do any more with your Profile until your Trailblazer is assigned there are a couple of tips for finding things to do.

1. Suggestions: You may have Suggestions (things to fix) on your relatives and managed profiles. To find these go to your Suggestions which is listed under your My WikiTree menu item. I have included a link here for you to check out: https://wikitree.sdms.si/default.htm?report=err2&WikiTreeID=insertWikiTreeID. More help is available here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Suggestions

1. Unsourced Profiles: You may have Profiles that are Unsourced which you manage. To find these go to your Watchlist which is listed under your My WikiTree menu item. At the top of your Watchlist for Person Profiles are multiple headings including Unsourced - click the Unsourced button and it will produce a list of profiles you can work on to source.

We expect most people to finish the mandatory part of the Orphan Trail within a month of being assigned a Trailblazer. If you have a disability or any other constraints which may slow your progress, please let us know so we can make allowances for this and do our best to support you. When you do get started it can be easy to get distracted by all the fun activities on WikiTree, but we ask our Trailers to give priority to finishing their OT Profiles first. This helps us to keep the Trail running smoothly and make it available to as many members as possible.

If you have any questions, please ask and I'll do my best to answer them or pass them on to the Orphan Trail team.

There will be a wait time before you get a Trailblazer. When we are busy this may be weeks rather than days. As mentioned above please take this time to read through the pages and make a start on your profile.

Please remember that everyone is a volunteer and has other commitments on their time.

Should you be unable to continue please contact me or another member of the team.

insert name, Membership Coordinator England Project

Add an additional message if required, currently, we are using;

• Here is your invitation to Discord include link.

• Here is a link to your chosen profile insert url which you can now work on updating.

• Finally, could you please update your name and add your WikiTree ID as instructed in the Google group and when you join the Discord server.

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• Update the Category on the chosen profile by changing to Current rather than Pending checking it is still suitable for use and add the Hold template and Research Notes section see Trailblazer section below
• Their name is moved from the "Request to join" tab to the "Member's" tab on the Membership spreadsheet.
• Add their name to the OT Spreadsheet (which is used for management purposes only, Trailblazers do not require access to it)
• Add a new card to Trello which includes their response, email and chosen profile
• Add them to the Google Group
• Create Discord invite if they have agreed to join
• Reply to trailer including additional messages as needed
• Have a leader give them their badge
• Trailer is quickly "vetted" by Membership PC to see what they might need help with
• The Trailer is then handed over to the OT1 team leader