Changing Biography Styles [closed]

Question

May I ask what is the accepted protocol concerning the reformatting of a perfectly acceptable layout and style of a profile biography by anyone other than the profile manager?
Seems to me I have a fan, who is happy to change the layout of a few of my biographies and does not answer my queries, when challenged on this.  Also, personal work in progress categories have been removed.  So now, I have to go and change it back again... this is not collaboration, but annoyance.

Comments

If this person keeps doing this and won't reply to you, it's probably best to go to 'Problems with Members'.  Might even end up in an MIR.

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I have had this happen a few times as well.

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I should like to close the thread now...  Thanks all for your contributions.

Answer 1

Nobody should mess with your personal categories.  Big no-no.

Comments

The question does not say 'personal' categories.

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'personal work in progress categories' - does that not count?

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I don't know what is meant by a progress category.  Is it a maintenance category?

If a Needs Profiles Created Category is added by one person, as an example. then another member adds profiles to that profile using the sources that were in that profile, shouldn't that Needs Profiles Created category be removed by the person that added the profiles? If the original person should only remove it, they don't know what profiles they put it on, unless it is a Personal Category.

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My personal categories were deleted!  That is unforgiveable, in so far as the personal category is an aide memoire to me!

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I use personal categories to list profiles which are 'work in progress'.  Perfectly acceptable to the system, as far as I am aware.

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See:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Personal_Categories

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Thanks for that... as far as I know, I am compliant there too, although interesting that there are impending changes, and indeed I have learned something too... Do not use personal categories on Pre-1700 Profiles or Project-Protected Profiles!  

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Linda, the Needs Profiles Created categories are not personal categories, they are official maintenance categories.  Anyone should remove them after the necessary profiles are created.

Andrew is talking about personal categories, which are also allowed on WikiTree, but they are personal to you.  I can see why Andrew would be miffed about losing those as I would think they are very helpful for work priorities and other things you want to find easily.

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Many of us have set up personal categories with needs profiles created to help during thon preparation, as well as for sources needed.

It was not clear to me that when he said  'progress' categories that they were some of his personal categories. That is why I asked for his explanation of 'progress' categories.

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Perhaps this will help... instead of saying personal work in progress categories, perhaps it should read work-in-progress personal categories...  Hope that clarifies.

Answer 2

In my not so humble personal opinion this type of activity is unacceptable.

Answer 3

What do you mean by 'progress categories'? Personal categories have your wikitree ID on them.

Comments

Thanks for raising the question.  I use personal categories to list profiles that need my attention as a manager of that profile... thus

[[Category:Field-4274,Categorization_Work_in_Progress]]

is limited to my personal usage and allows me to list profiles which need to be categorised.  Its a simple workflow methodology.  I have personal categories for Sourcing, parent/maiden name discovery, and biography improvement.

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Thanks for that explanation. That would seem to be a personal category that should not be removed, especially if you are PM of a profile with it.

Answer 4

Profile managers don't "own" profiles and do not have any particular authority over either the content or format of profile. Format is supposed to be decided by reference to the Style Guide. See Style FAQ. For profiles that fall within the Style Guide, deference should be given to the styles preferred by the person(s) who have made the most substantial contributions to the profile. See, for example, the Rule on Adding and Removing Stickers. Assuming that the formatting on the profiles you are referring was within the rules of the Style Guide and that you were the most substantial contributor to the profiles, the interloper should not have changed the formatting without your consent.

Re categories - Categories are neither substance nor formatting. They are invisible functional elements which should not be removed unless they are incorrect.

Comments

You are absolutely correct in what you relate here; with this there is no argument.  Fundamentally, in my opinion, I am working the profiles I have volunteered to manage entirely within the scope of style recommendations.  Style is a subjective matter, so my managed, condensed biography profiles may not appeal, for example, with those who would like to see say greater 'white space' in a profile.

I have worked those profile biographies I have volunteered to manage to ensure full profile biography, as best I can, on one screen without a scroll down (although difficult to achieve when the biography is long and extended).  Never the less, I am within the style rules.

Having said that, surely, if a person who is not the manager of a profile detects that the biography or any other part of the profile style is NOT within the scope of the rules, surely then, that person should liaise with the profile manager and discuss the 'breach', enabling the profile manager to become compliant.   

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Since they don't communicate about this to begin with, and don't answer your messages, you could follow the Problems with Members process to have help.  See 6.a.1

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Problems_with_Members

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Thanks... If the member pesists with this activity I shall certainly follow that course of action.  To be frank, I really don't want to cause the nausia associated with these measures.

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Actually once an MIR is filed, it's out of your hands.  The person assigned to look into it evaluates the problem and decides on the course of action, and does all the communication to you and the other person.