Public Summary Hess-5083

Date: 24 Feb 2024 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: conflict_escalation mediators

The account for Louise (Hess-5083) Haggis was recently closed, and Louise has asked for a public review, as described on the Conflict Escalation help page. She understands that this will not result in her account being reopened. This is an opportunity for the community to consider whether the conflict escalation process could be improved.

If you would like to provide feedback on the conflict escalation process, please start a new proposal in G2G.

Here is a timeline and summary of the conflict escalation for Louise:

17 Oct 2023 A Mentor Intervention Request (MIR) was initiated by Member A following a request for assistance from Member B regarding potential issues with a merge request. Member B had encountered difficulties in a previous merge where her data did not transfer to the merged profile. Despite facing this issue, Member B chose not to escalate the matter to avoid conflict. However, she sought help for the current merge request to prevent a recurrence of losing her work or access to the profile.

Member B was advised to safeguard her Biography by saving it in a separate document. Unfortunately, after Louise completed the second merge, all of Member B's contributions were lost.

Subsequently, Member A revised the merged profile to include contributions from both Member B and Louise. Additionally, Member A left a comment on the merged profile that addresses Louise regarding the deletion of information from a profile. It reminded her of the rules prohibiting the removal of content added by other members.

Louise replied with the following:

[Member A], the last time I checked, the number 19755 preceded the number 33385 by 13 630. Kindly inform Member B that she was contravening Wiki rules by creating duplicates - a carnal sin. I created the original profile, and I kept the text written by me (Wiki gives me that option, not against the rules) which I am also able to verify. I did not delete anything - but I'm going to now. Louise Haggis

PS. I can't believe what bullies my fellow South Africans can be on this forum.

Louise then removed Member B as co-manager of the merged profile.

25 Oct 2023 After Mentor 1 contacted her, Louise responded via email and copied a member she thought had submitted the MIR mentioned above. Mentor 1 then asked Louise if she had additional profiles to merge so they could collaborate on them. Additionally, Mentor 1 requested that Louise inform them before reaching out to other WikiTree members.

Mentor 1 commented, "Louise seems to feel that everyone is bullying her, yet her email including the other member was actually kind of cruel and disrespectful despite that being the theme of her response."

12 Dec 2023 Mentor 1 had to take a break from mentoring, leading to Mentor 2 being assigned to assist Louise. This decision was made upon the realization that Louise was generating duplicate profiles, neglecting to include locations or credible sources in many of her created profiles, and removing managers from certain profiles.

Mentor 2 reached out to Louise, prompting a rapid succession of three emails from her. In the initial email, Louise requested Mentor 2 to "identify a list of problematic citations." Subsequently, Mentor 2 shared a partial list of unsourced profiles created by Louise.

In the second email, Louise expressed her belief that the members who submitted the MIR were likely the same individuals who she felt had "hijacked" some of her profiles. She described them as "very disrespectful" and perceived herself as "a threat to their agenda." Louise inquired about how to report this situation. Mentor 2 guided her to refer to Help:Problems with Members for further assistance.

In the third email, Louise detailed her concerns regarding the denied merge request of two profiles by Member B as mentioned earlier. Mentor 2 requested Louise to grant some time for a thorough review of both profiles.

23 Dec 2023 After receiving the aforementioned emails, Mentor 2 escalated the matter to Formal Mediation due to concerns about Louise's perception of a conspiracy at WikiTree aimed at removing her, which was deemed beyond Mentor 2's ability to address. Mentor 2 wrote: "While I am able to assist Hess-5083 with her sourcing issues, and have been doing, she is convinced of a conspiracy at WikiTree to have rid of her. Which is beyond my help. Following is an extract from a private message I received from Hess-5083 (Louise) on 20th December, please contact me so I can forward on other relevant messages:

The members who made the observation are probably the same members who 'hijacked' some of my profiles without so much as a request (very disrespectful and not in wiki's mandate, the one you've mentioned to me), and redid them, and now are reporting me to you in order to legitimise their claim. They did that because they are acting as gate-keepers and are determined to force me to 'kneel' or leave wiki - I seem to be a threat to their agenda.

24 Dec 2023 Louise's account was blocked as per protocol when a case is escalated to Formal Mediation. However, due to the holiday season and limited Mediator availability, Louise was not immediately assigned a Mediator.

12 Jan 2024 Louise reached out to the WikiTree Team via email, expressing her concern about not receiving communication from a Mediator. The Team assured her they would investigate the delay and provide an update. Subsequently, it was discovered that a Mediator had been actively assessing the situation involving Louise and Member B. On January 13, 2024, the Mediator shared their recommendations with Louise.

The Mediator clarified a misunderstanding regarding the collaborative aspect of WikiTree and the Duplicate Profile/Merging process, offering the following recommendations:

1. Louise should collaborate with a Mentor knowledgeable about South African research to review and rectify any issues with the profiles she manages.
2. Louise should partner with her designated mentor to adopt less emotional communication methods and refrain from interacting with other members or commenting on profiles managed by others until her Mentor deems she can do so calmly.

Louise accepted the formal mediation recommendations on the same day.

23 Jan 2024 Mentor 3 reached out to Louise to commence implementing the recommendations from the Mediation process.

24 Jan 2024 In response to her third mentor, Louise expressed uncertainty about the next steps and acknowledged that her frustration had influenced her. She conveyed a desire to move forward without revisiting past issues and focus on researching individuals that intrigued her.

Shortly after, Louise sent another email saying: "Member B is the one who had a problem, with me in fact - over the course of a couple of months Member B had created duplicates of at least 3 x [surname] profiles that I had originally created (that I know of), instead of collaborating with me, reporting me to mentors instead. And then she did this last week: I really don't have a saak with anyone :-)"

She sent a third email the same day saying, "Member B has removed all the connections I made to [the original profile], which were correct btw, and restored the incorrect parents, which I had previously removed before requesting the merge, not sure if it's still necessary to do a merge?

Ironically, it was not acceptable for me to remove the INCORRECT parents from a profile under my management, yet, it is completely acceptable for some-one else to remove the CORRECT spouse and children from a profile that was not under their management. I'm over it Mentor 3, it just is what is.

...perhaps you can find another problem to help me with. Thanks."

30 Jan 2024 The initial profile involved in the dispute was corrected, with Member B eliminating the inaccurate information and connections. Despite the corrections, Louise disagreed with the alterations and disregarded the Mediation recommendations by sending an email to Member B.

Thank You Member B,

I see that this [profile] has been completely re-edited, my original work in other words, after all the legitimate relationships were removed, my work in other words, to suit your narrative because you stubbornly, I might add, refuse to acknowledge that a duplicate profile was created with the full intent of the hijacking of all the other legitimate profiles, my work in other words. This is not a collaboration.

Yet, when I did the very same thing initally ie. editing/rewriting to fix my mistake, and then requesting the merge, it was weaponised with the enlistment of mentors, fellow South Africans mind you, to harass me with false claims into your way of doing things, very unkind in my view, and the opposite of generous. It also makes me realise that WT has different rules depending on who one is in the South African camp...I've learnt a valuable lesson.

It's definitely not the spirit of WIKI and I have never experienced anything like this with anyone on WT which makes me realise that I have a lot to rethink about this forum.

Well done, Member B, well done! You're the very best at what you do.

Upon discovering Louise's email to Member B, Mentor 3 submitted a fresh Mentor Intervention Request. After discussion among the Mediators it was decided to the escalate the situation to the Mediator Council.

11 Feb 2024 The Mediator Council reached out to Louise, informing her of their review of her case and the decision to block her account once more. Subsequently, Louise sent three emails to the Mediators Group:

• First email: "Hi, the only person I communicated the problem with was the Mentor, Mentor 3, which I was told to do by another mentor, Mediator 1. What proof has been furnished to show that I have been discourteous to anyone? Owe the respect of advising who I have been discourteous to? I have not even been active on WT much in January at all. Who is laying complaints against me, and why? Does it not smell foul to you?"
• Second email: "Please contact Mentor 3...I caught one of the South Africans 'recycling' profiles which only happened after the 13th January and I reported it to Mentor 3 who had sorted out the previous problem. I'm being targeted, and WT, is being manipulated in that regard because issues are being conflated. Besides, since when is communicating the truth to anyone a discourteousy? Only when they've been caught? Is this then a valid reason for my account suspension, again."
• Third email: Louise shared a series of emails dated January 24, 2024, where Mentor 3 had initially reached out to her and encouraged her to move forward. In Louise's responses to Mentor 3, she expressed her dissatisfaction with the adjustments made by Member B and her perception of being treated unjustly.

11-12 Feb 2024 Following a thorough review of the escalation along with uncovering Louise's denial to the Mediator Council about communicating with anyone besides Mentor 3, the Mediator Council collectively concluded that all volunteer resources allocated for handling escalations had been utilized. Consequently, a unanimous decision was reached to deactivate Louise's account.

16 Feb 2024 Upon the request of the Mediator Council, the WikiTree Team closed Louise's account.