The Honor Code is Not Enough! [closed]

Question

I have had some changes made, by several different people over the last couple of months, to a few of the profiles I manage. Things like adding unsupported information in the bio and information boxes, or information with only an Ancestry link and no transcription as a source. Family members added with no proof, Citations added that are not (or barely) meeting acceptable Wikitree standards. 

I know I could contact them and try to help them understand, but life is busy enough and I can't commit the time to that. Nor should I have to when we have the Profile Improvement Projects, and various different versions of that project by different Countries, that help people learn to create a profile and properly source it. 

In my opinion that is what a new member should be required to complete before they are allowed to edit any one else's profile! They can add their own profiles but leave mine off limits until they know how please! 

This has been discussed on G2G ad nauseum, and yet here we are Still. 

It is heartbreaking to have to clean up after someone makes "improvements" to a profile!! One of these helpful people even had a badge from the Sourcerer's Project and left incorrect info in the bio supported by such badly formatted, unreliable sources I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! 

I don't suppose anything will change because of my rant (thanks for listening!). I shudder to think what will happen to the family I have added here when I or family are no longer able to keep watch over them....I hoped this was a safe place to keep the info but it seems the danger is from within and not the general public. 

Comments

The PIP Voyages are an underutilized gem. I'm a proud 2022 graduate, and I learned so much on the journey.

People don't intentionally mess up profiles - they're just ignorant. I've made mistakes and am grateful to the folks who've helped me through merges and Source-a-Thons.They were so polite as they taught me how to improve.the profiles and not leave messes.

Voyagers rule!

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Going along with what has been written, I do not know that the Honor Code needs to be redone, but maybe a better rule for new members, for mandatory profile editing (sourcing) training say similar to the Pre-1700 and Pre-1500, but maybe more training.

The training should be done before being allowed to editing any other profiles, besides your own.  And even maybe required before they can make more than a handful of their own profiles.  

I have been having more than the normal amount of changes made to profiles, without supporting sources, links put onto profiles for Ancestry and FamilySearch , which only go to yet other profiles on those sites.  

Ancestry and FamilySearch are great places to go to get sources, but please post the sources, NOT the link to the profile.  Another sites profile is NOT a source.  

Why create a WilkiTree profile, and just link it to someone else's profile, that is not what should be done.  

It is just my option, but if there are sources on a Wikitree profile and you so dearly need to put links to someone else's profile, like those mentioned, they should be placed into Research Notes, not placed as a source or just into the Bio Narrative.

I also have been so hopeful that WikiTree was/is the place to put all my genealogy, for it to be here later, as in long after I am gone.  But I have also been wondering, if what I put here is safe.  And will not be edited away by others at a later time.  

This is my two cents worth of rant - n - vent.

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I don't think there is any need to update the honor code either. It just has no teeth where this issue is concerned.

But making sure they complete a Trail or PIP before letting them edit other peoples profiles would go a long way I think. Like graduated driver training, you don't just give them a one ton piece of metal and say "go"!

I certainly appreciated those programs. PIP is top notch, even if you have done a Trail it is well worth taking.

Answer 1

And the answer has always been: you can always reverse the changes.

It's never going to perfect here. It's a collaboration and a community, and there will always be new people who don't know and are learning. It's not going to be a 4-walled garden place.

Patience is required with any crowd-sourced data project. It's always about continuous improvement. I always ask myself if someone else's change improved the profile in any way. Yes, I may have to go back and clean up trifling things here and there. But if there was an improvement of some sort then I am grateful for any help.

That's what I do to make it work.

Comments

The Voice of Reason.  Thank you, Eric.

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Thanks Eric, I am quite aware that reversing the changes is the way we handle it now. It misses what I am saying though, that we could improve our system (shocking idea I know) by having new members complete a Trail program or something similar before allowing them to edit other PM's profiles.

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But the overall point is, why do we have to go back and reverse the changes?  When they should not have been done to begin with.  The point is that we all get busy, and to go back and have to keep either doing reverse the changes and edit things back.  I have found a few times when more that one other person did an edit, making a reverse the changes not real workable.  And also, after your gone, our family genealogy which we have placed onto Wikitree can just get edited away after we are gone.

Answer 2

That is a valid point.  Though I have been doing genealogy for a long time, I have joined wiki only recently and I am still learning.  I believe some people have good intentions but have not learned yet that information should be backed up by reliable sources nor that all sources are not created equal (primary records vs oral stories).  I have seen on other sites and forums, the history of ancestors being modified to the point that one of my ancestors has even been erased from history and I am the one being perceived as the usurper, it is heartbreaking.  On the other hand, there are cases, like mine, where the person is telling the truth but is being stonewalled.  How to find a middle ground?

Comments

Also the way you format and add the sources to the profile is important as well.

There is a style requirement we all need to follow, but unless you study the help pages on citations you wont realize this.

So if you have edited someone else's profile as a beginner, chances are it won't meet our standards and will need to be cleaned up. Some poor PM is groaning over this as we speak! We would not need as many volunteers doing clean up if we just required the proper training before new people are allowed to make edits to other PM's profiles.

I have been doing genealogy for decades and I am a good self starter/learner, but even I learned a ton by signing up for my country of origin's Trail Project (for me it was the Trans Canada Trail). I highly recommend you go to your country's project page and sign up for their version of the Trail.

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Thank you for your advice.  I agree that it would be helpful, perhaps being assigned a form of mentor at the beginning?

Luckily, I had only written a comment on the profile of my ancestor's father at the time.  Hopefully, that did not do too much damage.  Subsequently, I added the branch of my ancestor as even her sources mention my ancestor but with the story attributed to an alleged brother (trying to get to the bottom of it), emailed her the rational prior to doing it, and emulated her style after joining and reading the help files.

As I continue to read more, I still would love feedback on what to improve to avoid giving someone else extra work and ensure I meet all the guidelines.

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The Trail that I mention and PIP would be the place where you are assigned a guide who steps you through the process of creating, editing and improving profiles. All the feedback you could ever ask for!