Why is every date format being rejected?

Question

Trying to add a father for a person whose surname is given as Unknown, which it will not let me correct.

So, since her father is now known, I'm trying to add her father's data.

Following wikitree date format, the web page has rejected at least six different formats I have tried, as defined in https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Date_Fields
What am I missing?

This is the daughter of the man I wish to add:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Unknown-435705

Comments

What's the date?  WikiTree won't accept, for example, 31 April, in any format.

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The most recent date I've tried is Nov 11 1680 and Aug 27 1754, but it has rejected these and several others specified in the date formats page.

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I'm guessing it's because it doesn't specify year?

"any of the following are acceptable:

• Month DD, YYYY (e.g. December 12, 2012)
• Mon DD YYYY (e.g. Dec 12 2012)
• Mon. DD, YYYY (e.g. Dec. 12, 2012)
• DD Month YYYY (e.g. 12 December 2012)
• DD Mon YYYY (e.g. 12 Dec 2012)
• YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2012-12-12)
• MM-DD-YYYY (e.g. 12-12-2012)
• Month YYYY (e.g. December 2012)
• YYYY (e.g. 2012)"

Answer 1

Have you been certified to create profiles for people born prior to 1700?  If not, the system will block you from adding her father.

https://www.wikitree.com/quiz/pre_1700

Also, only the Profile Manger can edit the Last Name at Birth.  You can contact him with your findings and request that he change the name.

Comments

Anyone on the Trusted List can change the Last Name At Birth.

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Thanks for your direction...  Just wish the ? contained that.  I'll try the quiz.

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Is trusted list specific to the individual profile?

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Yes, a Trusted List is only for one profile.  You can request addition to a profile's Trusted List by way of the "privacy" tab on the profile of interest.  Addition may take a while, depending on the activity level of the profile's manager.  It is rare for the request to be denied, but it can happen (mostly for very recent (dates-wise) profiles).

Answer 2

Is the date pre 1700? (I note daughter's birth year is 1720 and didn't spot a pre 1700 badge on your profile. To create pre 1700 profiles you need to self certify by completing a multiple choice quiz. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Pre-1700_Profiles

When you've done this you will be able to create the profile .When creating it, it's important to add a reliable source. 

Comments

Now pre-1700 certified.  The last step, to check projects, was a painful series of pages, finally verifying none for this person.

After being certified, the next step seems redundant, as it was part of the pre-1700 projects certification.

"The next step is to see if there is a project where members collaborate on profiles from the time period, location, or historical topic that interests you. See the list of Pre-1700 Projects or ask for project advice here. Thank you!

How long does it take for this to become effective?

Reloading the page wiped the date.  Start all over?

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Most Projects "cover" pre-1700, so if you have a particular interest in - for example - German profiles, join the Germany Project.  If Italians, then the Italy Project.  And so on.

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You are helping convince me I really don't belong here.

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Nah. Joining a Project has multiple advantages, and isn't difficult to do*.  I belong to several (although not Germany, nor Italy), and have no problems with any.   I think you'd likely find it more fun than you might think.

* Several even have "trails" or "paths" to help newbies learn how to create profiles, and source them well.

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Melanie,

I really do not need membership at yet one more site, or two.  A German-specific DNA project and a few others closer to my current haplogroup might help locate what I'd really like to know - the relationship of my clan relative to the hundreds of other later immigrants.

I expect _yet another_ project will not help reach that goal, or what I came here to do - to straighten out an (Unknown) surname.  Count the number of Ancestry.com family trees for 'Anna Martha Steigerwal*'... 2700 or so and they're all wrong.

I didn't hear back after trying to contact the control person in this case.

I keep wondering how many more processes will be needed to make a simple contribution on WikiTree.  The false starts, learning acceptable date formats only to find that wasn't the issue at all.  I do appreciate WikiTree's effort to minimize incorrect information; its only strength.

It's already required to learn details of the genie programs and sites — all different, understanding necessary security and privacy requirements, being familiar with *nix syntax, European and American copyright and permissions requirements and more.  Then unlearn the past.

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P -- Project membership does not equal "membership at yet one more site, or two".  These are Wikitree Projects, entirely on Wikitree, managed by fellow Wikitreers.

If you have tried communicating with a Profile Manager, and have heard nothing back, there is a procedure to deal with that situation.

As I seem to be only irritating you, despite only wishing to help, I will leave this conversation to others.  My apologies for not helping.

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But thank you for trying!

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P Reitz,

Ironically, the very thing you came here to do-- correct genealogical inaccuracies-- was a major contributing factor to why wikitree initiated the pre-1700 requirement and the creation of projects (groups of volunteers) that may be repelling you. Wikitree users were finding the proliferation of errors to be horrific, especially on pre-1700 and pre-1500 profiles. This change, along with others, helped slow down the firehose of bad genealogy here.  I hope you can find a way to work within this construct-- wikitree always needs more folks who are committed to accuracy.  

PS any relation to the Reitzes of Buffalo? A Peter George Adam Rietz married into a branch of my Betz line there...

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Jillaine, I greatly appreciate the source requirement feature of WikiTree.  If you read my 'steigerwalt' story you'd know why.

But the main question is the direction I prefer to go.   As you might see, I am much more interested in finding relationships among the various Reitz families in America.  And if, along the way I learn more about Reitz vs. Rietz, that would be great, too.

I find roadblocks and hurdles exasperating, so must undertake only those necessary to accomplish my limited objectives. Trying to fix the pre-1700 date without a clue on the date entry page of what was hindering progress is, to me, the equivalent of a computer message "unknown error occurred".  Yeah, they frustrate me too — it's an inherited trait!