Celebrating Paul Bech's 10 Years of Service

Question

WikiTreers,

I recently mentioned that Eowyn has been our "Forest Elf" for 10 years. There's another WikiTree team member who has been serving our community for just as long: Mr. Paul Bech.

Paul is quiet and modest. Some of you may not know him. But if you have been around here for long, you have been touched by his contributions. Our entire community has.

Take a look at the headline stats on his profile today:

354,897 contributions
12,235 thank-yous
7,289 connections

(!!!)

Paul joined WikiTree way back in 2010. (I happened to notice just now that he is one of the first people to earn a badge. He is one of only eight to have the November 2010 Club 1,000.)

He is one of the first people who became really active and generous in his contributions. Most members were just growing their own family trees back then. To be honest, that is how I imagined WikiTree working. I didn't imagine many people wanting to help strangers connect with their cousins and ancestors.

Today, this genealogical generosity is an integral part of our community culture. But it wasn't back then. We had no community. We had no culture. We had members growing their own trees. It was Paul and a few others who changed that. They led the way to create the community that we know now.

Paul organized and led some of the very first projects: the Australian Convicts and First Settlers Project, and the Global Cemeteries Project. (Just a few weeks ago his incredible work on Australian cemeteries was featured in an ABC radio interview.)

He also led the first group of language translation volunteers on WikiTree. He pioneered the use of free-space profiles. He was one of the first to use categories. Categories might not even exist on WikiTree if it weren't for Paul and one or two others.

He was one of the first WikiTree evangelists. He gave speeches and presentations, and personally invited many others to join him here. He created one of the first YouTube videos about WikiTree.

All this was before he became a team member. In 2013, WikiTree's need for sysops was growing because of the broad-based collaboration that Paul and others were leading. Here's how I explained what Paul would be doing in a May 2013 email: "He'll be starting with opening up project-related profiles that shouldn't be private." Someone then asked, "Will Paul also be handling unresponsive profile manager requests, along with the open profile requests?"

Yes, as it turned out, he would. Paul took responsibility for handling all Unresponsive Profile Manager and Open Profile Requests. In 10 years, virtually no other team member has even had to think about them. Paul has done every one, carefully, with respect for people's privacy and an immaculately polite manner. Day after day, month after month, year after year.

Personally, I am so thankful to Paul Bech. His dedication and hard work for our community is unmatched.

Sincerely,

Chris

Comments

Thanks, Chris, for the wonderful summary of my time on WikiTree, both before joining the Team and after. I can say it has been a wonderful time. Meeting or helping so many interesting people who share the WikiTree dream.

Eowyn, yes, I do look forward to the next ten years with the working with the Team and helping to spread the word about WIkiTree.

To all the WikiTreers out there that I have had contact with (and those that I yet to hear from) I can say it has been a pleasure.

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Paul was soooo very helpful to me when I first started working on Unknowns and was so overzealous and didn't know what I was doing or what the rules were!!! Thank you, Paul, for your patience with me and the tremendous amount of work you did at my request!!

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Such a wonderful WikiTreer and person.  He has helped me a lot and especially while I was going thru chemo/radiation!

He is a blessing to WT!!!!!!

Sheila

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You wrote the words I was thinking ... a true blessing.

We are all indebted to you, Paul!--GeneJ

Answer 1

Yay, Paul! It's been a pleasure to be on the WikiTree team with you. I am always appreciative of everything you quietly do behind the scenes. You are a wonderful human and invaluable asset to WikiTree. Looking forward to 10 more years with you!

Answer 2

Wow! Thank you, Paul, for all of your behind-the-scenes work here on WikiTree. You are appreciated ​​​​​​!!!

Answer 3

Paul is amazing. He does so much, a lot of it probably invisible to most of us. Thank you, Paul, for your dedication!

Answer 4

Congratulations Paul   thank you for all you do to make WikiTree such an amazing community 

Answer 5

Paul, I am sure you've helped me specifically through the profile requests.  Even better, I am grateful for the many broad contributions you've make to WikiTree that have made my life and managing my project here more interesting and fun.  THANK YOU!!

Answer 6

Wow! Ten years of service and what a difference your contributions have and do make, Paul!  I want to be like you when I grow up!

Answer 7

I remember when Paul became a Team member! I was one of those supervisors (Leaders) who pestered him to open things. You've been such a great help in your role, Paul. As someone who sees just how many requests you handle each week, I can genuinely say I appreciate so much all you've done and continue to do. Congratulations on ten years!

Answer 8

Always a pleasure to work with you Paul!

Answer 9

Thank You, Paul for all you do!  I had no clue who you are/were or what your labor of love entailed that you have shared with us and for us!

Thank you Cousin Chris for sharing these WikiTree Notables stories with us!  There is so much learn and understand about the inter-workings of WikiTree and how things evolved with the help of the amazing members!

Maybe someday a WikiTree Legends page will appear on the site to honor those few who have done so much for all of us!  

Answer 10

Paul is my "silent" hero....he has helped me in the background with so many Unresponsive Profile Managers over the years!

Answer 11

Thank you Paul for all the work on WikiTree, and the help you have provided to WikiTreers, over the many years you have been involved!

Answer 12

Thank you so much Paul for your many contributions. You helped me yesterday to be able to work on some of my family profiles and off I went!

Answer 13

Congratulations, Paul! Your assistance has not gone unnoticed by me. Your timely responses to my many unresponsive manager requests is very much appreciated. Thank you for your dedication to Wikitree.

Answer 14

Congratulations Paul on your ten years on the team. And thank you for all your help over the years.

Answer 15

Thank you Paul for all the amazing support and effort you freely give.

Answer 16

Congratulations Paul, on 10 years helping make WikiTree a wonderful place for us all to share our family history. We really appreciate you!

Comments

I should just add... the Australia Project has Paul to thank for getting us to where we are today. He put in a huge effort to get the project up and running... along with the various sub-projects. He has also created an enormous number of Australia profiles over the years. Thank you so much Paul. You are just incredible.

Answer 17

Thank you, Paul, for all you have done!  I am so glad you are being honored!!  Thank you!

Answer 18

Thank you, Paul, for all you have done for WikiTree over the years. You are appreciated by us all!

Answer 19

Thank you Paul, I can only agree with everything that others have said.  You have opened so many profiles for me from Open Profile Requests and Unresponsive PM requests. Always quickly, but silently done.

Answer 20

Paul; the enormous corpus of your work on WikiTree stands as a testament to your unwavering energy and commitment to the big tree. The term trailblazer seems somewhat inadequate to describe how significant your impact has been to WikiTree. Long may it contiinue. Kudos to the great man !!