Why do you love WikiTree?

Question

Hi everyone!

As you may have seen we are having a virtual party at noon (Eastern) on November 5th to celebrate WikiTree's 14th anniversary. 

We would love to hear from you about what you love about WikiTree!

Please share an answer below and maybe your answer will get featured. 

Thanks!

Answer 1

I love the ability to collaborate with other genealogists and write robust, readable biographies in a high interconnected wiki-style user interface. The emphasis on strong sourcing of information and the friendly and ethical focus of the site keeps me coming back.

Having met many of those most closely connected to WikiTree at RootsTech, I can attest to the passion and professionalism of the small, but mighty, team.

I also have a ready source of experts on a variety of genealogy topics that I can access through the WikiTree G2G community, also.

I could go on and on...

Comments

Super comments. Thank you, Marty!

Answer 2

I have enjoyed reading the answers of others about what there is to love here at WikiTree and totally agree with much of it.

But I have decided to share the main reason I have put so much effort (only been here for just over 2 years) into putting my family research onto this platform.

In January 2011 my 38 years of unpublished family research manuscripts and along with the associated primary sources that also filled the 2 suitcases floated down the flooded Brisbane River and were totally destroyed.

I was left with an old version of an exported tree in an email from when I have moved my old shareware Kith and Kin family research to Ancestry some 10 years before and some hard copy information I had given to my mother that she had saved even though I told her I had updated it and would replace it with the new version.

I was still desperately trying to put back together the information I had previously on the Ancestry platform some 9 years later during a long weekend opportunity when I found the site 'not responding'.  It was during this time of my planned family research being skuttled that I found WikTree. I have not stopped smiling since.

I love that the research that is now a team effort- not just my work- will be availble to all for free no matter what happens to any physical material I have collected and hold.

I too love WikiTree.

Comments

That's a heartbreaking story about your research, Rosalie, but your comments are beautiful and much appreciated.

Answer 3

My reason for loving WikiTree can be found in the 63 answers before me. Unable to add further accept to thank everyone for their contributions and being part of the WikiTree family. 

Answer 4

I love WikiTree because I can put all my genealogical discoveries here and know that someone else will be able to find them in the future; my research isn't going to end up destroyed with my hard drive when I'm dead.

I love the different projects. When I'm bored beating my head against my own brick walls, I can make profiles for the US Black Heritage project to help someone else find their ancestors and connections down the road.

I love the expectation of sourcing. I love helping other people improve a profile by adding a source they might not have known about, or when someone else adds a new source to a profile I manage.

Answer 5

I love WikiTree because of the integrity required to build family trees. So many other sites are so full of errors with people just copying what others have added. I love the fact that there should be only one profile that is shared for each ancestor.

I love that I now have a 'family', I am 65 years old and for so long I never knew most of my relatives, some I knew only as a young boy. My father was adopted as a baby so building his side of the family was exciting. His male line is German, his female line Irish. My mother's male line is English, her female line Irish. I now know my 'roots', this is important to me.

I also love the way I have to be rigorous in what I find, proving or even disproving a family connection in the distant past. I love the detective work, have added many profiles not related to my family. You see, I love to help others. I also love to help fill the gaps and connect profiles to each other. This sometimes finds me a number of generations away from where I started but I get excited and have to carry on.

I love the willingness of the very experienced to help the new members unravel their genetic history.

What is there not to love about WikiTree?

Cheers, Rich

Comments

Thank you for sharing these great comments, Rich.

Answer 6

I love WikiTree for so many reasons! I've never seen such an impressive collaborative community! Every day I interact with WikiTree cousins, and we work together to improve our global tree. I have learned so much from those around me, and try to pay that forward. My hope is to document as many of my ancestors as possible, so that my daughters can take it over and continue one day.

Answer 7

I love Wikitree as it has helped me grow as a genealogist, I have found lots of useful information and love help building One World Tree! The information sourced and documented in Wikitree is so important for our future genealogists!

Answer 8

In many ways Wikitree is a big sprawling disaster.  Occasionally I spend time cleaning up other people's messes.  Individuals who have been imported from terrible GEDcom files with no places associated with them--sometimes with no dates. Many with given names where surnames should be and lots of GEDcom gobbledygook.   For all the talk of sourcing, there are millions of unsourced profiles.  Many more with one source which often doesn't begin to support all asserted facts.  But cleaning up other people's messes adds to Wikitree just as much as creating nice, well resourced profiles from the beginning does. And presumably I spend time cleaning up profiles because I enjoy it.  As much as it annoys me, really bad unsourced profiles add to Wikitree--even if it sometimes take many years to get them cleaned up and useful. And over time Wikitree has gradually instituted measures to prevent and correct bad profiles. So far to go, but it keeps me interested.

Answer 9

I love connections! I believe in six degrees of separation, and you are helping me confirm my belief. Every week I find about more and more cousins. Thank you

Answer 10

I love WikiTree because of all the genealogy training, and experience I have gained since I became a member.

I love the people on our one world tree because no matter what kind of question you need a answer to, there is someone always willing to give you the best advice on answering the question asked.

I love this website just for one there is never a dull moment here on WikiTree because there is always something that needs to be done.

I love a good competitive challenge, and unlike other genealogy sites, WikiTree does not hand you sources for a monthly fee.

I love WikiTree because for every Profile one manages, it is our responsibility to research, and find the sources on our own, that backs up the facts that we write about in each of the Profiles.

Answer 11

*The Apps. They make our life so much easier when adding biographies and sources to profiles.

*The Relationship Finder and Connection Finder. Love being able to find, in the blink of an eye, our relationship with an ancestor, a WikiTree member, or an historically significant person.

*The opportunity to share personal knowledge about family members and events that otherwise would probably be lost to history.

Answer 12

I love Wikitree because it's not a narrow focus of just MY version of MY tree. That kind of focus often leaves out children who died young, people who never married, or couples whose children all died young.  These folks are often entirely missing in other sites that only focus on one's direct ancestors.  This is a collaborate effort to document everyone.

Answer 13

Many reasons to enjoy Wikitree but the greatest enjoyment is story telling. Adding and linking sources externally and within Wikitree itself. No constraints. The bio pages are ours to express facts and maybes and questions. Ancestry for all it's fabulous features feels like a straight jacket compared. I can share a wikitree link across any platform and program supporting html. It's free. Best of all are the wonderful contacts I've made and folk happy to help with my frustrations. 30 years in hardware I'm still a technophobe and have always relied on smarter brains who code for fun. I just ain't wired that way!

Cheers, from a chilly Lancashire.

Answer 14

I love this site because there are hundreds of people who have a family tree handed down to them, and don't know any information of some of their relatives. With WikiTree you can find cousins, grandparents, etc. simply by entering their tree. They can add to their family history more broadly and often deeper than possible before!