User talk:Jbparker/Archive 1

WorldCat template
Did you see the information that I included concerning the WorldCat template that I created? Thomas Lerman 15:58, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Soliciting your opinion
Hey Jimmy, will you weigh in on "Local Histories" or "Histories" heading on county pages? I want to reach consensus on this quickly in order to get a big missionary team engaged in FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Linking to Books in the BYU Family History Archives. Thanks in advance! Ritcheymt 13:46, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Wiki Etiquette and Conflict Resolution

I have now reviewed a number of articles in Wikipedia to see how they handle dispute resolution, and deal with contributors who could become difficult. From what I have read, I believe we need to prepare some pages on the FamilySearch Wiki on proper behavior on our Wiki, on how to treat others, on how to mentor newbies without making them feel inadequate, etc.

One of the articles in Wikipedia which has some good information is "Wikipedia:Etiquette." I think it needs some work and needs to be rewritten to reflect our own philosophies, but there are some good ideas in it. Two others are "Wikipedia:Dispute Resolution" and "Wikipedia:Consensus."

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Jbparker 18:20, 2 March 2009 (UTC)


 * For direct access to the above mentioned Wikipedia articles, click on one of the following links: Etiquette, Dispute Resolution, and Consensus. I have read the articles. My hope is that we will have shorter and fewer articles. My opinion is that like longer and more articles will equate to less read articles especially dealing with these kinds of subjects. Thomas Lerman 15:21, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

This will also be important for other reasons in the future to have these pages as concise as possible, to aid in translation to the future language instances of the wiki, and also so as not to leave the user or potential editor feeling intimidated. Most people realize there is supposed to be some sort of user etiquette and policies regarding terms of use, and for most it won't affect what they do on a day to day basis. However, they will be necessary for those times when there are problems.

Boiling down the apparently overinflated policies at Wikipedia, and by that I mean they are very wordy and almost look like something I would read in a law library, and may scare off potential editors just because of those two factors alone.

PS: I'll make some changes to the copy below and let's see how that sits with anyone working on this. JamesAnderson 22:43, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

[This statement, or something like it, would go on the Main Page as the invitation or "teaser" to get people to contribute.]

Would you like to add something to this Wiki? Whether it's something small or a full article, it's easy! Click here for a guide to contributing on FamilySearch Research Wiki.

[The following would be a separate page and would be kind of an umbrella article to lead contributors to how-to articles, hopefully, without overwhelming them with more information than they need to know initially. Everywhere it says "Here's how," there would be a link to a more detailed, step-by-step article on that subject. Many of these pages already exist. We just need to provide a simple, user-friendly "table of contents" for the contributor. All of this needs some more thought and work. It is at the conceptual level only right now.]

Indians of Maryland
Hey there! I noticed you've done some great work on Indians of Maryland -- thanks! As the barn raising winds down, I want to get a feel for how each article on the Maryland Barn Raising Tasks is coming along so I can tell where to allocate any help that contributors can give for a last push. Could you either send me a message by editing my User Discussion page or go to the Maryland Barn Raising Tasks page and update the column on the % of "doneness" the article is at now? Ritcheymt 15:52, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Getting started as a Contributor
Anyone can use the FamilySearch Research Wiki to read about and obtain information about research and records, just about anywhere in the world. Some localities are becoming fairly well-developed as to their content. For other localities, little has been added or in some cases readily available. The underlying reasons may simply be that the information is in hard to locate physical locations of the data, or is in an obscure location that is difficult for the average Internet user to find online easily. Even in the more well-developed areas, there is always more detail that is known by only a few people. Maybe one of those people is YOU!

We welcome your input, even if that input is only information about the location of an obscure cemetery, or a link to a web site, or just about anything about the content, location, or use of a record.

Registering -- Identify yourself
In a Wiki environment, we need to communicate. Tell others who you are, how you know what you know, etc. Contributors (authors, editors, etc.) must register in order to make additions or changes to the content of this, the FamilySearch Wiki. Your email address is protected and is available only to System Operators (SYSOPS). Here's how to register.

Logging On
One you are registered, all you need to remember is that editing or authoring information on FamilySearch Wiki requires you to sign in. Here's how.

Editing existing pages
Some of the information currently in FamilySearch Research Wiki has been "auto-imported" from previous printed paper publications. Most of it is good information. But some of it is out-of-date, the last printed editions being published before 2002 in a large majority of instances, and needs to be updated and in some cases corrected. New sources of information are constantly being found and new data bases are being created or located, and the location, whether phsycally or online, of data, changes on a regular basis.

Because of the limitations of previously published material, more detail is needed to make the information about records more helpful.

Adding Bits and Pieces of Information
Many who have done research on their own lines have found information that would be helpful to others searching in the same time period and locality. Add that information to the Research Wiki so it can be made available to all who use it. Here's how.

Locations of Records
Do you know about the location of a record or set of records? Are copies available in more than one place? Add information about those copies to existing pages in the Research Wiki. Here's how.

Links
Do you know about a web site that provides information helpful to those tracing their ancestry? Provide a link to that web site by adding the link to the Wiki. Here's how.

Would it be helpful to cross-link information already in the Research Wiki so it could be more easily found? Add the link or links. Here's how.

Authoring a Full Article
Do you have knowledge about a type of record not yet covered in the Research Wiki? Would you like to share that knowledge with others? It is relatively easy to author an article in the Wiki. Here's how.

We need your opinion
In order to help the community arrive at consensus on some issues impacting most of the pages on FamilySearch Wiki, I'd like to invite you to add your opinions to the following discussions:


 * FamilySearch Wiki talk:Format for Citing and Linking to Works in FS Library, Worldcat (OCLC)
 * FamilySearch Wiki talk:Consensus
 * FamilySearch Wiki talk:Source Citation Formats
 * FamilySearch Wiki talk:Disambiguation

Thanks! Ritcheymt 12:13, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Will do, Michael. I'll try to get to it this morning, at least part of them. I assume you would like me to do so before tomorrow's meeting. Jbparker 13:32, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

What's your best work? And your favorites from others?
Hey Jimmy! I'm searching for the wiki's best content to highlight it during a presentation I'm doing soon. Will you link me to 2 or 3 articles you've contributed to that you are most pleased with? Also, could you link me to your favorite article(s) written by others? Thanks! Ritcheymt 17:06, 8 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Will do, Michael. I'll get back to you later today. I will say that mine are kind of bland, compared to some of the more appealing articles on the Wiki. I haven't concentrated on looks, more on content. So there are certainly more exciting articles on the Wiki than any I've done!Jbparker 17:17, 8 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Some of the pages that I have written, which I feel are coming along fairly well, are Indians of Montana (as an example of western Indians), Indians of Maryland (as an example of eastern Indians), and Owyhee County, Idaho (as an example of a U.S. county page). I like the Wales non-portal page and the Maryland non-portal page, not only for content, but for how they look. I hope that helps. Jbparker 21:09, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Where should wikiproject contributors communicate?
People who work on writing projects on the wiki are asking for an online venue they can use to talk about...


 * how to organize projects,
 * how and where to recruit contributors
 * how to motivate project members
 * how to track progress on projects
 * Manual of Style issues that we need to settle to avoid rework
 * ...and other stuff.

Could you go to the wiki feedback forum and give your opinion as to what tool(s) we should choose to communicate? The thread where we will discuss this is Which tools for wikiproject contributors to communicate? Ritcheymt 16:24, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Michael -- I have added a post to the thread suggested above. I really think our "power contributors," as you call them -- the ones attending the Community Meeting -- need to know a little more about the "writing projects." How many of them are among those being asked to be a project coordinator? And will the questions above mean anything if they aren't?Jbparker 07:14, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Please vote on new name for Reviewer role
The wiki community is voting on a proposed renaming of the Reviewer role so that we can give the role to anyone we trust to upload their own images without review. If you care about the name of this role, please discuss the issue and cast your vote at FamilySearch Wiki talk:Reviewer. Ritcheymt 16:47, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

For your editing information
For your information, when you are editing pages, the Wikitext editor is automatically deleting captions to photos. I was having this problem and I had to turn of the Wikitext editor to fix it. I have tried to alert tech support of the problem, but it has not been resolved. I reverted your edits on Bonneville County, Idaho Cemeteries to replace the captions and made the change from "churches" to "cemeteries" myself. Let me know if you hear anything about the problem. --Gregorybean 20:04, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. Fortunately, I haven't edited many pages with photos on them using the Wikitext editor. I have reported the problem to the Wiki team member I work most closely with. I'm assuming that when you say "I have tried to alert tech support..." that means you sent in a ticket on the problem using the Technical Support link at the bottom of each page. If that's not true, let me know.Jbparker 00:12, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Call for Feedback Re: Making Wiki Easier for New Users/Contributors
Jimmy - if you have time, your opinion on this post as well as contributing to the links is highly valued. What do you think? This is what I'm posting to talk pages: We need your feedback! Our goal is for wiki.familysearch.org to be a friendly, welcoming place that is easy for you to use and make contributions. Please share your comments. What is your experience? What challenges do you face in using and contributing to the wiki? Where do you find help? When you notice problems, please go to Challenges Facing New Users. This is the page for making comments on challenges you have encountered.

Please post your comments and ideas for the solutions at What New Users and Contributors Want to Make Wiki Easier. Then, come add your "Vote" by listing and prioritizing those solutions that are most urgent and important for the entire community at Newbies Priorities. This is not only for newbies, we also need experienced user/contributor feedback on your early, new user experiences. Thank you!

Kara aka CK Whipple 12:30, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Welcome!
Welcome...

Hello, Jbparker, and welcome to FamilySearch Wiki! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like this place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

Introduction The Guiding Principles of FamilySearch Wiki Get started with this site Search for Articles Help:Edit and Contribute Manual of Style

Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically produce your username and the date. If you need help, ask me on my talk page, or place  on your talk page and ask your question there.

Weigh in on FamilySearch Wiki talk:Naming a Project?
Project pages are getting hard to find because people are putting them in multiple namespaces and using all kinds of naming conventions. Would you mind weighing in on FamilySearch Wiki talk:Naming a Project? Thanks! Ritcheymt 00:13, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Please vote on search result title link color
Some users have reported that the red color of the article title links in search results are confusing because in a Mediawiki site, a red link means a link to a page that has no content. There is a poll on the forums as to whether to make the links blue instead, which would also conform to what Google and Bing do. Please read the thread/explanation and vote. RitcheyMT 16:23, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Letter from Wiki Product Manager
By way of introduction, my name is Ben Bennett and I’ve recently joined the FamilySearch team as the product manager for the Wiki and Forums. Put simply, my job is to ensure that your experience, as contributors and users of the Wiki and Forums is excellent. To this end, an apology is in order.

As you know, we recently implemented a new user ID/sign in process for the FamilySearch Wiki. As we implemented this new system, I personally heard from many of you. You shared with me problems that were occurring for you as you tried to sign in, edit or do other things that resulted in lost work, lost time and frustration for you, our key contributors and users. Please accept my sincere apology for the poor performance and poor experience associated with the Wiki during the past few weeks. Please also accept my commitment that the FamilySearch team will learn from this experience and do all that we can to prevent situations like this in the future. To this end, I wanted to share with you ...CONTINUE