Team Australia 2017 Source-a-Thon Chat Thread

+10 votes
623 views

Welcome to the official Team Australia 2017 Source-a-Thon chat thread.

Here we can coordinate our efforts, ask questions, and/or have a general chinwag about anything!

The Source-a-Thon starts on Saturday, 30 September at 2pm on the East coast, 1.30pm in the Centre, and 12 noon out west.

Registration is now closed and the team numbers have been finalised.  If you don't see your name on our page, please let me know!

For those who participated in the Source-a-Thon last year, there have been a few important changes to the way that we track our efforts:

The "Challenge Tracker"
Step-by-step instructional video

If you want to work on a specific area, there are subcategories for each state and territory on the Australia Unsourced Profiles page.  Or, you can just work through the list of Unsourced Australia profiles as compiled by the "Challenge Tracker"

Stats:

Team Totals
User Totals 

More helpful links:

What profiles count as "unsourced" for the Source-a-Thon?
Jillaine's Dream Source Help Page


This year's prizes:

Source-a-Thon Hangouts
Are you a winner? Find out here.

 

Ready for another round of sourcing?  :-D

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!
Oi! Oi! Oi!

in The Tree House by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
edited by Vicky Majewski
By the way, here is the link to the actual Unsourced list as compiled by "The Challenge Tracker"  :-D

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/DBE_UnsourcedList_AUS

It appears to be all of the profiles in the Unsourced|Australia categories as well as all profiles with Australia locations in the regular Unsourced category.

We may need to coordinate our efforts a bit here, because (if it's anything like the Clean-a-Thon), the list won't be updated automatically when the "suggestion" is fixed (i.e. the profile is sourced by one of us).  I'll have to check on that one.

21 Answers

+5 votes

I wanted to post that Ancestry just sent me this.

THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG ‑ DON'T MISS OUT!

This weekend you can search Ancestry.com for your ancestors for free. Yes, absolutely free.

That’s because today marks the start of our big free access weekend. From now until 11:59pm (AEDT) on Monday night, you can search for your ancestors in all of our Australian and New Zealand Records, including all new releases, completely free.

by Ro Hull G2G6 Mach 1 (13.2k points)
And they pick just the WRONG Weekend to offer this free access. Drats!!!!
Well we do have from now until 2pm Saturday to do our own trees and from then it's the source-a-thon Australian profiles which will benefit
Are you going to use Ancestry sources for your profiles during the source-a-thon?

Keeping in mind that wikitree wants to keep everything free, not everyone has a subcription to Ancestry to be able to access the sources.
Absolutely Robynne, I do and will be using Ancestry.com supplied primary sources to source files.  

Just because Wikitree is free to use (thanks wikitree!!) does not mean that it's 'FREE' policy excludes the use of sources that cost (or may cost) money to access elsewhere.

I use primary sources from were ever they are available, including free websites, websites that offer free time, 'paid for' sources (whether found physically or online), and non-online sources found at libraries, museums, historical societies, state or council archives, cemeteries, or family collections.   Some of these physical places charge entrance fees, some charge a search fee. - I've even had a cemetery office charge me a fee to tell me where my relative was buried.

While respecting source provider's copyright, I always quote on wikitree as much of the source material as I can that is relevant and give as much detail as to where and when this information was sourced.

If someone wants to check my sources, the source provider may charge them, but nevertheless, on wikitree, it is free for everyone to see the results of my research.
I agree with R Hull. Better to have a paid source than none.

I work mainly with free sources but there are some documents which simply are not available free. I would rather know that someone else viewed a real source, even if I cannot see it, than have "facts" which appear to be unsourced from out of thin air. At least it means I can target what information to check when I do get access, like a library or a free weekend etc.

I am sure others would also prefer to know I had looked and verified something than made it up. I try to add comments so my research and thought processes are trackable. Then I can also figure out what I did wrong when I make an error.
Hi all,

I'm not aware of any formal WikiTree policy which insists on free sources, although it would be preferable to use those when possible.  The focus is mainly on documenting where the information comes from.  Much like writing an essay and adding a bibliography section.  Whether it be from the BDM, Ancestry.com, or the ramblings of my grandmother's first cousin twice removed, I try to put down as much detail as possible.
+4 votes
I will concentrate on South Australia - unable to do much until after the Crows win the final

Change the thought on footy - have got the tv over the eyeline of the computer but it might depend on how the Crows are doing on how much sourcing gets done. LOL
by Roger Davey G2G6 Mach 3 (37.0k points)
edited by Roger Davey
+4 votes
Hi Everyone, I'm going to start on Queensland Unsourced profiles starting from the end S and work towards the beginning A in case anyone else is going to work on Queensland. Happy sourcing.
by Diane Darcy G2G6 Mach 2 (29.8k points)
Hi everyone, I'm going to help with Queensland as well. I'll start from the As, & try not to get in Diane's way :-).
Hi Vivian, Just wanted to let you know I got side tracked into NSW following a family with no one sourced, but I'll be back in QLD tomorrow.  Off to spend the evening with my husband !
I'll be doing Qld profiles also.
Hi Diane & Rod

I probably won't be around much tomorrow. Need to do some cooking - going out to spend the afternoon/evening with the family & cheering for the NQ Cowboys in the NRL final on TV.  Have fun ;-)
+4 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 5.15pm in the Centre

If I'm reading the chart correctly, it looks like we've done a total of 72 profiles so far! 

In first place is Diane Darcy with 18 profiles, followed by Vivian Egan with 16 profiles. 

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon!  :-D 

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+3 votes
how does one find out what their own scores are?
by Ro Hull G2G6 Mach 1 (13.2k points)
See the "User Totals" link in the top post.
+3 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 11.30pm in the Centre

Well, the Challenge Tracker appears to be broken at the moment. (see this, this, this, and this thread, plus a whole bunch of comments in the official questions thread)  So it's hard to know exactly how many profiles we've done or who's ahead!  :-o   Hopefully it'll all be fixed soon.

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+3 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 2 am in the Centre

The Challenge Tracker is back online!

Looks like we've sourced a total of 234 profiles so far!  Vivian Egan leads the team with a score of 84, followed by Diane Darcy with 30.

WOW, good job everyone!  Let's keep the momentum going!  :D

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+5 votes
Sorry guys, haven't been able to start yet!  Will try and get going today!
by Veronica Williams G2G6 Pilot (217k points)
That's okay, Veronica!  A lot of us are busy this weekend.  I'm actively avoiding the mountain of dishes and washing piling up... :-D
+4 votes
I'm having some issues with the internet very slow adding the challenge tracker.  First one I entered showed me the profile I had edited.  Subsequent entries only seem to log my profile ID.  Not sure if I have entered a couple twice.  Any way to check?
by Veronica Williams G2G6 Pilot (217k points)
Hey Veronica,

to check what you've entered so far, go to this page: http://wikitree.sdms.si/function/WTChallengesScores/Scores.htm?code=SourceaThon2017&Type=0

Look for your name and click on 'tracking'.
+4 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 12 noon in the Centre

Slept in today. :-D  Sympathies to all who lost an hour with Daylight Savings.

Anyway, it looks like we're up to 283 overall, which includes 212 from the Australia Unsourced category.  Vivian Egan remains the leader with 84 profiles sources, followed closely by Diane Darcy with 71.

Good job, all!!

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+5 votes
By the way, I am working the 802/803 error list (aka empty profile or almost-empty profile - no sources, no categories, nothing).  It's frustrating to find loads of profiles basically abandoned under the Green lock setting; can't get credit for sourcing those.  OTOH, I was able to rebuild an entire family from its English roots to South Australia. :-D
by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
I tended to find a profile in the unsourced list then while I was doing it I would open all the close family and usually  I would find some or all having no source but not labelled unsourced.  So I would end up doing a number of profiles in the one family before moving on to the next one in the Qld unsourced list.
+5 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 4pm in the Centre

We're up to 467 sourced profiles, including 404 from the Unsourced Australia categories!

J Manners is now leading the pack with a score of 114, followed by Diane Darcy with 96.

GREAT job guys!!

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+5 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 9.40pm in the Centre

We're up to 609 profiles sourced!

J Manners is still leading the charge with 189, followed by Diane Darcy with 131.

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
I have come across a profile that is not your normal one. I have found the Birth Death & Marriage for the couple concerned however no other information on the page makes sense. Would like to try to fix it. Anyone got any ideas. It seems that the same names for husband and wife which I have sourced is years later than the one on the page with the exact same names. Profile Bradley-2289 and Rose-9866 It has too many errors to save it.

Hi Lyn, I've almost sorted this out, still working on John Duncan Rose profile, what a mess ! result of a bad merge. Catherine & John did marry and are buried together at Geelong cemetery. They had Catherine linked to parents born in the 1700's - the mind boggles, now trying to sort out sources for their children. Got up early to source but thought I'd sort this for you first.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bradley-2289

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rose-9866

Just found this - very sad - won't be adding it to John Duncan Rose's profile:

"MARINER'S SUICIDE." The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) 28 March 1906: 8. Web. 2 Oct 2017 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10007526>.

 

 

 

Thank you Darcy, I ended up trying to put it together early this morning about 3 o'clock but tiredness got the better of me. Now have all the births of their children and most of the deaths. So together we should be able to work it out. Much appreciated. First time sourcesor so it was a bit hard. All the best
Oh wow, that one looks like a doozy.  :/  Good on you all for trying to sort it out!
Just added to the children's profiles and sent a private message to the profile manager to Open the profile of Rachael Gipsy so it can be cleaned (looks like 3 merges) and sources added.  I found the death notice in the paper for Chatherine but the print is really bad, howeve what I managed to decipher just mentioned she was the widow of Capt. John Duncan Rose, didn't mention any kids.  I'll leave this now and have breakfast and get back to the sourcing later on - I hope !

PS: I wonder if Catherine might have been adopted by her mother's brother (haven't looked into that and not going to waste time on it at the moment) that might explain why the mother at birth & the parents at death are different.  Also her son, Leonard Ivan (born Bradley) died with last name Rose, might have been born when John Duncan Rose was at sea.  Can't work out why on the death record for Leonard & James it give the mother's name as Catherine (Breuhaut), but death records are only as good as the inforamtion supplied by the person at the time. Enough for this now !
+5 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 7.15am in the Centre

Happy Monday!

Looks like we're up to 685 profiles sourced, with J Manners and Diane Darcy leading the way (201 and 133 respectively).

Great work, everyone!

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+6 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 11.40 in the Centre

Total profiles sourced - 817

We have totally smashed our previous year's final count (680), and still another day to go, so this is a GREAT result for Team Oz!  I know a lot of us are at work or are watching kids on school holidays at the moment, too.  (or is it just me?  heh heh)

Keep up the momentum!

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
Sorry I haven't been around as much as I would have liked to be, no school children either!
+5 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 4.35(ish) in the NT

(I've just remembered that "the Centre" is no longer on the same time zone now that DST is in effect, so clarifying that the above is NT time...)

Anyway, we're up to 1,018 profiles sourced, with J Manners leading the charge at a score of 381 and Vivian Egan nudging out second place at 191.  

I wonder if we can crack 2K before the Source-a-Thon is over tomorrow?  :-D

 

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+5 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 9.35 in the NT

Apologies for the randomness of these updates.  I had originally meant to post roughly every 4 hours, but, offline life tends to get in the way...

Current score: 1,154 profiles sourced, with 915 coming from the Australia Unsourced categories.

Noticed the huuuge gap between Diane Darcy (3rd place with 181) and myself (4th place with 53).  I'm hoping to do a marathon tonight and crack 100 at least!  :D

Onward!

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+5 votes

TEAM UPDATE - nearly 9am in the NT

Getting close to the end!  We're currently on 1,271 profiles sourced, with exactly 1,000 of them being from the Unsourced categories.

The top three sourcerers are:  J Manners (427), Vivian Egan (241), and Diane Darcy (225).

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+5 votes

TEAM UPDATE - 12 noon in the NT

Just 1.5 hours left in the Source-a-Thon!

Currently, we're up to 1,481 profiles sourced!

Keeep going!!!

by Vicky Majewski G2G6 Mach 9 (92.8k points)
+5 votes
If I read the Total correctly, we sourced 1563 profiles. Amazing! Well done Team Australia!
by Eileen Strikwerda G2G6 Mach 1 (17.1k points)
Ack, you're right!  I read the wrong line on the stats.  :p

Will go and change the final score post now.

Related questions

+5 votes
4 answers
+6 votes
6 answers
+9 votes
8 answers
+12 votes
9 answers

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...