January 2023 Connect-a-Thon Highlights

Question

Hello WikiTreers!

Our January Connect-a-Thon has come to an end. Our goal was to bring the world closer together by adding missing relatives. The weekend was a great success, and a lot of fun!

Thank you all for participating and helping grow our global tree. These grand shows of community effort are just amazing.

We added 95,624 profiles over the weekend! This was higher than any of the 2022 Connect-a-Thons. Congratulations to Margaret Meredith for having the closest guess for the total (only 41 points off!). Here are some highlights from the event:

Top 5 Members: 

1. Patty LaPlante - 1,919
2. Jim Loden - 1,675
3. Danita Zanrè - 1,580
4. Jay Menchaca - 1,456
5. Sandy Patak - 1,429

Top 5 Teams: 

1. Virginia Connectors - 10,237
2. Mighty Oak Branches - 7,565
3. Germany Genies - 5,596
4. Mighty Oak Roots - 5,340
5. Southern Super Sweepers - 4,889

Top 5 Teams by Contributions per Member:

1. Team Austria - 833
2. Germany Genies - 295
3. Team Italy - 272
4. Mighty Oak Branches - 236
5. Virginia Connectors - 233

There were 35 teams, which included the new teams: Super Aussie Genies and L'Chaim. 13 people added more than 1,000 profiles! 

See all the stats here.

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Tip: You can easily remove yourself from profiles you created but don't want to manage. Just go to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:WatchedList and click on the "Watchlist Changes" button in the row, then select the link where it says "If you'd like to remove yourself from Trusted Lists that you've been added to just recently...click here" under "Remove yourself from Trusted Lists.

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Thanks to each and every one of you that joined in and contributed, helping make this a successful and fun marathon! See you in April for the next Connect-a-Thon! 

Answer 1

Thank You Mindy Silva ! for your Fantastic WikiTree Persona and Super Supporting Work !! C'est Bon Magnifique !!! 

Comments

Thanks Stanley! I had a lot of fun!!

Answer 2

Thank you, Mindy, for all your hard work on these challenges and for cheering everyone on!

Awesome job to all you 'thoners! As always had a blast with you all!

az :)

Comments

Thanks Azure! It was a lot of fun!! Thanks for helping host.

Answer 3

Thank you, Mindy, for all your hard work that produced a wonderfully successful Connect-A-Thon!! We appreciate your constant presence to cheer everyone on during the weekend.

Comments

Thanks Ginny!! I really had a lot of fun!

Answer 4

Thank you to all that made this Thon such a success, especially Mindy for all your organizing and cheering us on.

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Thanks Patricia. It was exciting to see so many participate!

Answer 5

This was my first WikiTree event. I worked about 6-8 hours for each of the three days and logged 105 new connections.  It was a great learning experience, but I'm amazed that some members could add almost that many connections in an hour or two.

I found I spent a lot of time adding information and sources to FamilySearch, my Ancestry tree, and submitting new info to FindAGrave.  That's clearly no way to become a contest leader, but I felt I accomplished a lot.

Today, I went back and looked at some of the profiles created by the top connectors.  That gave me ideas on how to focus more on the next contest.  I'd love to see an article/video on just how some of these top folks spent their time so efficiently.  Maybe there's one out there already from previous events.

Thanks to everyone who organized the event and participated!

Comments

There are indeed approaches to 'win' a contest, but your approach is much better in the end. Thanks for being thorough!

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Thanks Kevin. Yes, it is crazy how fast some people are. Others of us took it slower lol, and just added what we could. Every single profile added counted!

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I did the same thing for most of the weekend...attaching sources and making corrections on FamilySearch, clipping obits and adding people to my Ancestry tree, etc.  At the very end, I did add a bunch from census records to meet my personal goal.  Now it is taking twice as long to go back to tidy up all of my last additions  

Answer 6

95,624 profiles added to the big tree in just a few days is a great achievement by all who participated. And a big thank you to Mindy Silva for her time and dedication to keep things running smoothly from day one. I'm looking forward to the next Connect-a-Thon.   

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Thanks Roy! It was a lot of fun. It was exciting to see that we almost reached 100,000!! Maybe in April...

Answer 7

Thank you Mindy! What would we do without you?

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Aww, thanks Dee! It was a lot of fun, and I had great company!

Answer 8

Thanks to you and all the Thon-staff, Mindy!

Comments

Thanks Cristina! These events are certainly a lot of fun.

Answer 9

Thank you Mindy for all your great  work and support for the weekend Connect-a-thon.

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Thanks Georgia! I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Answer 10

Congratulations and Thanks to everyone who participated during the Connect a Thon.

We all benefit from adding missing profiles as we are getting more connected.

I went to add someone during the Thon and they were already in the tree so now they're connected.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Comments

I second that congratulations! This was another amazing show of community collaboration! The teams certainly had fun chatting and sharing resources during the weekend.

Answer 11

Thanks to all Thoners for a great weekend. And Mindy, you really deserved your day off.

Comments

Thanks Jelena! I had a fantastic day of rest yesterday.

Answer 12

This was my first Connect a Thon....I tried to add several sources where I could and updated my Ancestry tree along the way. If I do another, I will lock myself away somewhere so I can get more done. I'm still proud that I contributed.

Comments

I hope you had fun Sue! Remember, every single profile added benefited our global tree! I hope to see you in April for the next Connect-a-Thon.

Answer 13

Thanks so much for this fun opportunity!

Comments

I'm really glad you enjoyed it Alicia! I hope to see you at the next one in April.

Answer 14

It was fun and I got a lot more of my new family created and connected to the big tree. Thank you, Mindy, and everyone involved, for all your hard work.

Comments

I'm really glad you enjoyed it Shonda! I have so much fun with the thons. I hope to see you at the next one in April.

Answer 15

Mindy, you are a wonderful cheerleader for this Thon and a Wondeful WikiTreer! Thank you for all of your hard work and contributions.

Comments

Thanks Carol! I love the thon events!!

Answer 16

I am probably at the wrong site; I didn't know how to get on the right one.

When someone gets around to tracking Galen Weston, please note that his list of ancestors DO NOT include a James Weston who married Elizabeth Ward Smith in 1812 in London.  Some trees include this couple.  Yes, Galen's ancestor, William, had parents James and Elizabeth, just not the above couple.

Comments

Hi Bev. It looks like you need to post this as your own question in the G2G forum. 

Answer 17

Sorry I missed this one because of just how much fun I have during thons. It was historic! But, I had already planned my trip without knowing the exact dates of the thon. 

I'll be ready for the next one! Thanks, Mindy!

Comments

We missed you Pip! I hope your trip was fun. See you at the next one in April!

Answer 18

Coming late to the party as usual. :) Thank you, Mindy, for all your hard work. I had a blast connecting profiles of Civil War soldiers and Georgia folks. And my T-shirt arrived today...from the Netherlands. Thank you - my favorite color!

Answer 19

My t-shirt has also arrived.  Thanks so much!

Mickey