User talk:Familyjournals

Debbie's Discussion Page

Soliciting your opinion
Hey FamilyJournals, 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)

Nice Maryland Societies page!
Hey FamilyJournals, I just wanted you to know I really like what you're doing with the Maryland Societies page! Ritcheymt 01:28, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you Michael FamilyJournals 03:18, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Washington county cemeteries
Found the Washington County cemeteries page on interment.net, just six cemeteries, but they may be ones not on findagrave. http://www.interment.net/us/md/washington.htm  JamesAnderson 02:37, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you James! I had actually already used that interment.net information on the Washington County page. Those cemeteries on that page are from various transcriptions, most are from findagrave but there are a few surprises in there. I appreciate your interest! Thank you. Familyjournals 03:19, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Nice work on Maryland Military Records!
Hey there! Great work on Maryland Military Records! Thanks! Ritcheymt 18:58, 16 February 2009 (UTC) Thanks! It is really fun to do! Familyjournals 00:13, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm working to help w/ your trouble
I've been forwarded some e-mails showing some trouble you've been having from another user stemming from his ideas of what your content should look like. ;) I appreciate your patience with this really rotten situation. I'm studying some policies and procedures Wikipedia has that will prevent this kind of thing in the future. I just wanted you to know I am on the case, but it'll take some time because I'm incredibly stacked up with tasks right now. Ritcheymt 12:19, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

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 FHLC, Worldcat (OCLC)
 * FamilySearch Wiki talk:Consensus
 * FamilySearch Wiki talk:Source Citation Formats
 * FamilySearch Wiki talk:Disambiguation

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

What's your best work? And your favorites from others?
Hey there FamilyJournals! I'm searching for the wiki's best content to highlight it during a presentation I'm doing soon. Will you link me to a couple 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)

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)

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 00:10, 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 16:20, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

To all FamilySearch Wiki Contributors: An apology is in order...
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

Moderator/Adopter issues coming to a vote
As you probably already know, FamilySearch launched an Adopt-a-Page program at the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference over the summer. Many groups are signing up to adopt a page. We need your help in order to resolve some important questions about the relative roles that Moderators and Adopters ought to play and how they can work together. These questions and discussions are on the new FamilySearch Wiki Contributors' Corner forum. We are going to hold a vote on these issues by year's end, and the resolutions will change the roles Moderators and Adopters play, so please visit the forum and add your thoughts. Thanks! RitcheyMT 17:42, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Welcoming Committee

 * Hi Deb! Just wondering if you are still a part of the welcoming committee. Your name is still listed on the committee page as one of the members. Let me know, and if a change is needed, I can do that for you. Thanks! -Fran 23:38, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Fran, It might be good to take me off of that. Thanks so much! FamilyJournals 23:42, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Moderator for Utah
Hi, I guess Rorie Jensen put us both on as co-moderators for Utah. I am on Skype and my user name is jamestanner. I am also the moderator for Arizona and have been for the past couple of years since 2008. There is a moderator group on Skype called FS Research Wiki Moderators and it is a pretty good way to communicate. You can also email me anytime at genealogyarizona@gmail.com. Let me know your thoughts about the Utah pages. James L. Tanner 03:37, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

Aultorest merger
You might want to add some comment about the merger taken place many years ago. I visited Aultorest and found out the northwest portion was Mountain View Cemetery. The burials are mostly Catholic. Dsammy 03:44, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing that out. I thought I had mentioned it on the Ogden page but I'll go check it when I get a break from work. You are right, Aultorest has a very nice Catholic section. We are very familiar with this cemetery as it's where our plots are along with those burials of my husband's family. Thanks again. Familyjournals 19:12, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

If you go to northwest portion, you will find the GAR memorial monument and it mentioned "Mountain View Cemetery". it's on top of a raised circle. Dsammy 23:18, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Ohio moderation
Hello! I didn't realize there was a moderator for Ohio, and since I have done a lot of cleanup work on articles for Ohio already, I thought I should come by and leave an introduction :-) I live in Cleveland and have been a lifelong resident here in Northeast Ohio. Besides my ongoing interest in genealogy/family history and local/Ohio history, I am also an IT professional who has made contributions here and there on Wikipedia and WikiTravel. I've spent a good amount of time fleshing out and organizing articles for counties in Northeast Ohio, especially Lorain County. If there is ever anything you could use from me, please let me know. I hope you will also weigh in on any ideas I bounce around, as I am interested in setting and following useful standards to keep things neatly organized! Thanks!!! - LeeTHawkins 22:34, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Hi Lee, I've noticed that you've been very busy lately. Great! Keep it up! There are several live user meetings that are available if you'd like to discuss your ideas with the others in the community. FamilySearch Wiki:Community Meetings I'm unable to attend due to my work schedule but the times I've been there have been very informative. Welcome and let me know if I can be of help. Familyjournals 01:38, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Wiki Support
Hi Debbie! I just saw that you signed up to help with Wiki Support. Welcome to the team! I'm very excited to have you join. What's your schedule like? We meet each week but it's definitely not required that you attend. Do you have anything specific that you would like to help with, or would you like us to work with you to find something interesting? What we do is broken up into a few main areas:


 * Communicating with and helping other contributors
 * Patrolling and maintenance
 * Governance (this we are just starting to figure out)
 * Improving the Help content

You can also see the Forum thread where we talk about building some committees to see if there's something specific of interest to you there. Let me know what you think. Again, welcome to the team! -- janellv 17:47, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Your Utah contributions
Thank you, Debbie, for your history additions for Sanpete county in September. You have added very interesting facts.

Two questions:


 * Do you mind putting these in a timeline format, date first and with bullets?
 * Did your information come from Wikipedia or other sources? We'd like to let users know.

Thanks, Debbie. AdkinsWH 19:10, 15 November 2011 (UTC) Utah Wiki Project administrator

I try to get more in depth sources other than just taking it from wikipedia. Here is what I had listed in my footnotes at the bottom of the page not to mention the links within the paragraphs. I don't have time right now to do a timeline. I will as soon as I can.

↑ 1.0 1.1 The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed.

(Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).

↑ Sanpete County http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/s/SANPETECT.html ↑ Albert C.T. Antrei and Allen D. Roberts, A History of Sanpete County (Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society, Sanpete County Commission, 1999), 25.

A History of Sanpete County http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/pioneers_and_cowboys/saltlakecity.html

↑ Scandinavian Heritage Festival http://www.scandinavianheritagefestival.com/unique.aspx

Familyjournals 00:58, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Headings on County Pages for Utah
Hi Familyjournals,

We appreciate the discussions and decisions made by a community of experts and interested parties regarding headings on the county pages especially for New York and Illinois, We want to adopt many of those changes and adapt some specifically for Utah. Will you please review the page for FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Utah County Headings county headings in Utah and make comments on its discussion page?

Some volunteers for WikiProject Utah have already begun adapting the county pages. Your great suggestions will be implemented later, and we need to move now to prepare for a big push in January 2012.

Making your comments on the discussion page will allow for transparency, progress and improvement.

Thank you Wilma Adkins, WikiProject Utah manager; Marilyn Markham and Patsy Hendrickson, content specialists; and Dawne Hole and (Joy) Wyzer17, communications and volunteers liaisons.

Wyzer17 15:58, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

"Gardening" of some Iowa state topic pages
This is to let you know that I am part of the FHL US/Canada Reference Unit that will be doing some basic cleanup of the following Iowa state topic pages: "Archives and Libraries," "Societies," "Cemeteries," "Emigration and Immigration," "Military," "Naturalization and Citizenship," "African American," "American Indian," "Ethnic Groups," and "Minorities." I anticipate that most of the changes will involve current contact information, updating links, and correcting typos. Would you like notification before I make the more involved changes?--Charlene Pipkin 17:09, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for letting me know. In the past I've spent quite some on some of those pages. Let me know if I can be of any help. Familyjournals 19:39, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

Mentoring
Will you please look at the Mentoring page? We've got a request for your help from you there. Thanks!averyld 21:21, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Wiki Volunteer
Debbie,

We've got a volunteer who is interested in helping with the Ohio pages. Here's his information:

I have done research for ancestors in the West Virginia panhandle, Washington Co. Pennsylvania, Loudoun and Prince William Counties in Virgnia, Vinton, Licking, Muskingum, Fairfield and Coshocton Counties in Ohio. I've delved into courthouse records and libraries in some of those areas. I've tramped through unkempt cemeteries and driven down country roads to find the actual houses built by ancestors as early as 1835. Online I have researched areas in New York State, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, perusing passenger lists from as early as the late 1600s. I live in Knox County, Ohio.

Her name is Laura Franks. Her email is lauralee18@embarqmail.com EST.

She's a beginner to the Wiki. Would you contact her and get her exact interests in helping and we'll help her with wiki mentoring.

Thanks, Lynda averyld 19:53, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Wiki Contributors Meeting
We would like to extend this invitation to join us for the next Wiki Contributor's Meeting to be held Thursday, June 6th at 1:00 PM Mountain time. Please follow the link to the Wiki Contributors Meeting for further instructions on how to join: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:Contributors_Meeting_6_June_2013

We are looking forward to your feedback on how things are going as well as:


 * hints or tips you have to share that may benefit other moderators.
 * ways to resolve problems that arise.
 * areas that you may need assistance.

If for some reason you cannot attend, please forward anything you would like to share. We will be happy to bring it before the group and provide a response. You may also post any feedback on the agenda above or on my Talk page: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/User_talk:SavingStories

Sincerely,

Robin Foster Wiki Support Team

6 June 2013 Wiki Contributor Meeting
Hi Familyjournals! Thanks for your reply. The meeting will be recorded: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Wiki:Contributors_Meeting_6_June_2013

SavingStories 16:57, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Iowa County Page Tasks
Hi Debbie,

We talked last year about the Ohio WikiProject. The volunteers and staff at the FHL have nearly completed Ohio and we are using the same-type tasks to populate other counties across the country. We would like to work on the Iowa county pages if that is agreeable to you.

You can see the Ohio project and the Iowa project on the following pages Ohio WikiProject Iowa WikiProject Not all the Iowa task pages are completely created.

At this time we will probably only be able to complete the Level 1 tasks. That mainly consists of the introduction and basic links to vital records, cemetery, church, land, probate, tax and newspaper records.

Let us know what you think about doing these tasks for the Iowa county pages.

Mcbridelw 21:02, 3 June 2013 (UTC)