Talk:Hesse-Nassau (Hessen-Nassau), German Empire Church Records

Edit about LDS users
The wiki is supposed to be religion neutral. The records are available to LDS users because of a conditions requested in the contract by the provider of the records to FamilySearch, not because the church wishes to discriminate against anyone. The wording for this paragraph was carefully determined by a collaborative committee of FamilySearch library consultants and Wiki administrators. Please do not change this wording in any pages.

The same committee created the format for all of these German Empire main pages, Church Records pages and Civil Registration pages. Please do not remove the numbering. Again, thank you for the extensive help you have offered to the Wiki. Your input is greatly appreciated.

hanna5974

Having been told more than once that my edits regarding record restrictions were inappropriate and potentially illegal, I will cease making edits on those topics.

But I must express my very strong opposition to how a "collaborative committee" has dictated the content of this page. A Wiki by definition is supposed to be a collaborative project that anyone/many people can edit.

If you want to dispute my edits, then there should be a discussion about it rather than you just overriding everything I did.

My edits to both this page and the Hesse (Hessen) page, and my justification for each item are:

1. Removed Numbers from titles- highly grammatically awkward 2. Mentioned how to access Catholic records- if Lutheran records are to be specially mentioned then Catholics and other large religions should be as well. Given that each religion stores their records separately and makes them accessible in different ways it is necessary to treat each religion separately. 3. Mentioned specifically what the restrictions were for records in the Catalog, especially for Catholic records- very helpful for researchers to know.

Something I couldn't work out how to change- there are two images of the Catholic diocesan boundaries on the Hessen-Nassau page. The more zoomed-in one is better.

I invite anyone with an interest in this page to discuss the above topics so we can reach a consensus. --Av85647 (talk) 20:55, 10 August 2019 (MDT)

Differences in the FamilySearch Research Wiki
The FamilySearch Research Wiki is not set up like Wkikpedia or other Wikis. It has a Governance Council that is tasked with solving debates over correct content. It also is maintained by the FamilySearch Department of the LDS Church and as such, content decisions are governed by both of those bodies. There are also projects organized with specific protocols and formats designed to maintain consistency throughout the Wiki. Your claim that "A Wiki by definition is supposed to be a collaborative project that anyone/many people can edit." is not true in this case. This Wiki is not as open to free editing privileges as other wikis you may have experienced.

Two members of the Governance Council, one of which is employed by FamilySearch to run and maintain the entire Wiki, sit on the "collaborative committee" developing the German Empire pages. A third member is the manager of the German services provided by the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. A fourth member holds a master's degree in curriculum development. Three of the members are professional German genealogists with years of experience, and four of the committee members are accredited genealogists.

The work being done on the German Empire pages is an organized project with specific writing and development assignments given to designated individuals. Lengthy discussions on how to organize and write these pages have already been held. You would not be expected to override those decisions and edit the writing style of the pages. However, we would love to have you send information on any record sources you know of that still need to be included. Our intent is to include sources for both Catholic and Lutheran records, but we are still in the process of adding sources. Your additional knowledge of sources is very much welcome.

As you can see, many major stakeholders in these pages have already reached a consensus, and further discussion would not likely change the pages in line with your suggestions. hanna5974

Would you/the Governance Council at least permit me to add new content to these pages about Catholic records?. I will not change the existing text or mention anything about viewing restrictions. --Av85647 (talk) 17:02, 13 August 2019 (MDT) Sure. You are welcome to add your knowledge. Good rule of thumb--Don't change or delete, do add. I will change the size of the diocese map for you.hanna5974