Sourcerers Challenge (June 2023)

+21 votes
4.5k views

Hello, Sourcerers! It is time to start sourcing! Prior month Owl Stickers and Sourcerers Badges will be posted soon.

To participate:

  • Review the Rules
  • If you are new to the Sourcerers' Challenge, click the "Answer this post" button (not the comment link) and tell us you are participating

You only need to answer this month's post if you don't already have the Sourcerers' Badge. You are welcome to add an answer to ask questions or offer encouragement.

If you have a problem with the Tracker let us know by using the comment link to the question that opened this thread. 

USING THE TRACKER

The tracker should only be used when the profile meets the Monthly Challenge definition of Unsourced (see the Rules). Add a comment to the question if you are unsure if something counts as Unsourced. You can use either the Unsourced Profile Category or the DBE Report for Unsourced profiles to find profiles that will definitely qualify. The Orphaned profiles category is another great place to look for unsourced profiles. 

After you save an edit, a green banner appears at the top of the profile edit page with a dark “button” labeled Challenge Tracker is a link to the Tracker page. Click the link and, on the page that comes up, select Sourcerers challenge and click the appropriate hint in the right column (or fill in your own if none of the canned answers fit what you did). Click Add Action and you are finished. The Tracker records the number of profiles to which you have added sources. You can see the results for any monthly challenge using this link. The current month is at the bottom

http://wikitree.sdms.si/Challenges/SourcerersChallenge/default.htm

Remember, your sources need to be as full and specific as possible, so others find them useful. That means, if the source is online, you should link to it. If it is a page from a book, the page number should be included so others can easily see where you found the reference. Some books and magazines have free-space profiles to help with citation formats. Find them in the Sources Category. If the book does not have a free-space profile, consider adding the WorldCat permalink to help others find the book.

When you can, it is great to do a bit more while adding sources, like clean up the GEDCOM leftovers or help the formatting from older profiles. Sources are important, but if you cannot find them among all the other stuff, they are not helping as much as they could.

If you attempt to add sources to a profile and cannot find any, please add a note under a == Research Notes == section (click the link for examples and instructions on placement) giving where you tried to find records. Something like "Looked for John in the US Census records for 1900-1940 and could not find him on FamilySearch or Ancestry" would be fine. Or, "Searched google for an obituary and did not find one." That way the next researcher knows where to start. Do not remove the Unsourced Template and do not use the tracker to count in your tally.

The Monthly Challenge runs from the first of the month and ends on the last day of the month, GMT time. 

The Current Challenge Tracker Results Page has up-to-the-minute stats for those of you using the Challenge Tracker.

http://wikitree.sdms.si/Challenges/SourcerersChallenge/20230601/User.htm

Ask any questions here in the thread, otherwise, SOURCE!

in The Tree House by Wendy Taylor G2G6 Pilot (138k points)

34 Answers

+23 votes
 
Best answer

"It was the Dawn of the Third Age of Wikitree, Fifteen years after Wikitree Started. The Sourcerers Challenge was a dream given form. Its goal: to source as many profiles as possible each month that were without sources.
I answer the Challenge to Source profiles. 
by Darren Kellett G2G6 Pilot (444k points)
selected by Kathryn Wenzel

Thank you, Darren! Beautifully said smiley

Bit of a paraphrasing of a quote. Got to make the answers different each time otherwise it's reading the same thing every time.
Im in.
Thank you, Virginia! Happy sourcing!
+15 votes

June is a good month to add another Owl to my Aviary. cheeky

by Roy Tonkin G2G Astronaut (3.5m points)

Thank you, Roy! Remember to feed them sources cheeky

+13 votes
I am in.  I'm sourcing anyhow!
by Matthew Evans G2G6 Mach 7 (74.3k points)

Thank you, Matthew!  Might as well participate, if you are sourcing unsourced profiles anyway smiley

+13 votes
I think I have some time this month to join in.  

Carla
by Carla Tucker G2G6 (9.1k points)
Thank you, Carla! Every source helps!
+13 votes
Hi Wendy, I'll be doing some again this month. Thanks!
by Robin Shaules G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)

Thank you, Robin! Much appreciated smiley

+13 votes
I will be able to contribute again after having the bad luck of breaking a thigh bone and being laid up for six weeks.
by Beulah Cramer G2G6 Pilot (571k points)
Oh no, Beulah! So sorry to hear that!  Thank you for using your recovery time to source.
+13 votes
I would like to participate again :-)
by I. Caruso G2G6 Mach 9 (94.0k points)

Thank you, I! Have fun source hunting. smiley

+14 votes
Count me in
by Kandita Post G2G6 Mach 4 (48.1k points)

Thank you, Kandita! We are counting on you smiley

+12 votes
Another fun month! I'm in.

6,000 this month! Oh da do da day...
by Luther Brown G2G6 Pilot (564k points)
Going to source all night Going to source all day…

Thank you, Luther!
+14 votes
I'd like to participate in June's Challenge
by Samantha Robinson G2G2 (2.2k points)
Welcome, Samantha!  I don’t see you on the Tracker yet. I will check back in a few days.  Let me know if you have any questions by replying to my comment.
I think i got it down. I tend to be very thourough and spend about 3 hours on one person. I think i found [[Glover-1067| Howard Glover]] in jail.
Hi, Samantha! I see you on the Tracker now, though you need to focus on sourcing completely unsourced profiles. It isn’t that you haven’t improved the profile you tracked, but this challenge is about adding sources to completely unsourced older profiles.

I look forward to seeing your sources for Glover-1067 once you track them.

Hi Samantha! You should get your Sourcerer badge at the end of this month’s challenge.

Please see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Sources#Repeated_use_of_the_same_source_in_the_same_profile 

+13 votes

Once upon a time in a land far far away ........

Are we there yet ??- no we are not there yet, keep sourcing , O Ok I'll Keep sourcing then yes

by Graeme Olney G2G6 Pilot (144k points)

Do you know how this one end? It’s sourcing ever after smiley

Thank you, Graeme!

+12 votes
I'm up for finding more profiles to source.  Love the challenge, so please count me in again.
by Leigh Chester-Master G2G6 Mach 7 (74.0k points)
Welcome, Leigh!  I saw you tracked some profiles in May, though as you didn’t register they went to our Unregistered category.  I look forward to seeing your contributions this month, now that you have registered.

Hi Leigh! I see you on the Tracker now. You should get your Sourcerer badge at the end of this month’s challenge.

You might want to consider using the Sourcer app, which will help with Ancestry citations. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_Sourcer

Hi Wendy,

Glad you can see me on Tracker now! smiley

And thanks for the t ip about the app - I will have a look.

Happy Source-ing

+13 votes
Count me in for June! Thanks!
by Carol Baldwin G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Thank you, Carol! Happy sourcing!
+13 votes
In for a few ; )
by Jesse Beamon G2G6 Mach 4 (45.1k points)

Thank you, Jesse, for a few sources more smiley

+11 votes
Great Babylon 5 Turn of a Quote!

I'm totally in for this month...

St
by Staci Golladay G2G6 Mach 6 (64.3k points)

Thank you, Staci! There is no greater power in the universe than the need for sources. smiley

+11 votes
Be June. Be Sourcin'.
by RL McAdoo G2G6 Mach 4 (41.7k points)

Thank you, RL! Summertime and the sourcin’ be easy smiley

+10 votes
Add me in for this month, I'll try to get some done...
by Dean Anderson G2G6 Pilot (789k points)
Thank you, Dean!  Always appreciated!
+11 votes
I had fun last month. I'd love to participate again!
by Rhyan Romaine G2G6 (9.3k points)
Thank you, Rhyan!  Sourcing is addictive!
+11 votes
I'm excited to see how many I can source in June! Count me in! :)
by KL Dill G2G3 (3.4k points)
Thank you, KL!  Have fun!
+10 votes
I should like to become a Sourcerer please. I have one entry up my sleeve already!
by Alan Fyfe G2G Crew (590 points)
Welcome, Alan!  I don’t see you on the Tracker yet.  I will check back in a day or two.  Let me know if you have any questions by replying here.
Hi Alan! I see you on the Tracker now. You should get your Sourcerer badge at the end of this month’s challenge.
Hello Wendy

Thanks for contacting me. I was waiting for more of a go-ahead, but once I had read the instructions, I saw what I had to do. I had noticed that there was a Coutts in the Edinburgh unsourced profiles and as I have a book about the families of Colt and Coutts, I thought I’d have a look and there he was. In fact, it led to four further unsourced Couttses and related families. By the time I’d finished that, I more or less knew what I was about.

It has also led to the need to merge three pairs of duplicate profiles, which I have initiated (one had no manager, so I took it under my wing first!). One of the profiles was a bit of a mess, which had conflated several brothers and confused the surname! But I found the {Conflated Profiles} category and added it.

On to my next Sourcing challenge!

Yours aye… Alan
Excellent, Alan! Thank you!
Hello Wendy
One further question! I've found two profiles that I believe should be merged (Irving-1296 Irving-1580) and I initiated that merge. The latter also had a request for sources, so I added a 'traditional' source (which confirms the match). I understand from your Rules that I can count this towards the Sourcerers Challenge even though I am initiating a merge. I've done this but am just looking for confirmation that I'm right!  Alan

Hi Alan! Yes, that is fine, both the merge and the source. There is an online copy of the Edinburgh Academy Register at archive.org, which you might add.  See https://archive.org/details/edinburghacademy00edinuoft/page/6/mode/2up

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