Discussions about the Collaboration Pool

Hi every one!
I have to say, these public discussions are a great way to see each other. Hi Janet! Hi Hinn, Ofir, and Bjorn! I like your uniform, Michael! I wish we could have a kind of cam capability so we can see each other in real time. I love to check out my relatives from all over the world. I am honored to get to know each of you, no matter where you are. I have been studying, researching intently my subject -medieval era, and know we, each of us have the power and freedom to do something the ancient rulers couldn't- communicate, collaborate and actually see and know what is going on all over the world. I am humbled to know I had been born in this era and not thousands of years ago or even 100 years ago. I awe folks when I tell them who (ancients and all of you) I am related to and how I know, they can't wrap their minds around it. Knowledge is the key to power and industry and success. I wonder of the next wave of technology to improve our lives.
k- back to the original discussion. Yeah, we should post things that are needed in order to influence the software designers to create a more user friendly program. Maybe there should be a 'confirmed historical data' ability so such data as dates and names can't be changed. Also, since this is global, (we all belong to this great tree) it should be flexible to include the data in the individual user's language and include multiple title capability in the name and nick names. This way, when we find a ancestor that has confirmed historical data(that should be confirmed with images of records if available or the location of record). That data should also be triangulated between say known parents, individual, siblings and children + spouse information, giving the user to only add such data to be available on his end available to be accessed, viewed and possibly entering any new data that is found ie. scanned documents, photographs of headstones etc.

*whew*
I want to give a shout out to Marsha and Susanna, thanks for helping me with merges.
You're all an inspiration. Thank you for your hard work.
Appreciatively Yours,
Desiree

I miss a simple way to append a personal signature or message to requests. At the moment i copy a text from word into the message box, only if i have to copy anything else, ihave to go back and copy the text again. I signature or messages that we could store and choose when sending would be nice.
Here is my standard:
I am a member of the collaboration pool!
“If You are interested in actively merging and such in the tree, we will all benefit from you joining the Collaboration Pool: http://www.geni.com/discussions/6000000008539319639 This will help you find people who will help complete merges and resolve problems for you"

hmmmm this conversation really turned weird. look does it did it matter whom bjorn does or doesnt work for? if i work for NASA does that mean i have a laser pointed at you? no! there are 480 people in my collaboration group. is it making it easier for me to maneuver in the tree? ..YES!, are merges getting done and the tree straightening out a little more each day? YES! do i still need to collaborate with more people? YES! i am trying to straighten out Charlemagne's profile and that is a mess..there are many profiles i can't move to the correct place because i have no access. there are at least 4 poepl that i KNOW of that have merged into the tree and then dont answer. if they had wanted a private tree there are many other places to go....if you want to enlarge your tree, and find generations and family ties..this is the place to be. there are a lot of us on here and we all have different ideas..we as people aren't perfect, and it takes a little bit to work out the kinks....so lets get back to making a big tree and straightening it out.
^U^...and yes @kathleen jenema still needs more collaborators and more help. Charlemagne's profile and wives are a tough one and i could use all the help i could get.

Hi Dez,
Like you, I have enjoyed getting to know some of my collaborators better through many of the discussions. History has always been fascinating to me. Now I am learning my own history and finding out about ancestors I didn't even know I had.

There have been a few discussions that were painful to read, but, hey, we aren't all saints. We are just humans with a very human desire to know more about our roots. It's what separates us from the animals.

There have been a few discussions that had no value to me and I simply "unfollow" them.

Hi Marsha, Hi Kathleen, Hi Michael Lancaster, Hi Janet. Hi Mimi Hi Serafina, Hi Noah
Always glad to see posts from you

Hi Everyone else,
I couldn't name all the names of all the people who have helped me or have removed a roadblock in my portion of the tree. You have been invaluable resources.

I hope that everyone is using the Pool to his/her best advantage. It's a marvelous tool.

Happy ancestor hunting!
Maria

now I am worried about a laser pointing at my head....

The following people have not responded to my collaboration pool requests (and I do write 'Collaboration pool" in the message):

pending Cancel RequestSend Message
3 weeks ago
You requested to collaborate with C. Williams.
"Collaboration pool!"

pending Cancel RequestSend Message
Apr 26
You requested to collaborate with M. Engstrom.
"Collaboration Pool!"

pending Cancel RequestSend Message
Apr 22
You requested to collaborate with J. ROBINSON.
"I got your name from the collaboration pool."

Anyone else get a response from these manager? Thanks!

Marsha Gail Veazey
If your "C. Williams" is Colleen Williams, yes, she responded to my request.
if your "J. Robinson" is James Wright Robinson, yes, he responded to my request.

I have no collaborators named Engtrom and the search function on the last name brought up too many to check manually to see if I sent a request. Can you give me a link to his profile?

Yes, those are the first two. And sorry, I misspelled the Engstrom:

Private User

Should I request again? Or do they not like me? ;)

Marsha Gail Veazey
I had not sent a request to Marian Engtrom, so I sent one today. I'll let you know what happens. How long ago did you send yours? I give people a few weeks. I know I have weeks where I'm lucky to find time for Geni emails on top of Geni data entry.

And there's absolutely no way they don't like you. I like you.
Maria

I have 54 pages of merge requests beginning in March. I will be just as time consuming to go through alle these requests and cancel and send new ones, and this will not guarantee that they will merge the second time around. Only solution is that Geni sets a time limit to merge requests, then transfers ownership to the public domaine, after asking those who have requested the merges if they want ownership. Also a time limit for login should be set.

@Maria Edmonds-Zediker

Thanks, Maria! You're a sweetheart! I did give them a couple of weeks but I thought since they were joining the collaboration pool, they'd live here like the rest of us. LOL! I'll give them some time. Thanks!

@Michel Trevor Lancaster

I agree. I just look at my sent requests and want to just delete them all. Sometimes I'll cancel a few pages that are months old. So much to do - so little time!

Marsha -

I had to cancel my 1st request to James Wright Robinson (after 3 weeks) and send him another one - which he accepted right away. He probably just got inundated with requests and missed a few.

Michael, at present these stale requests aren't doing anything much ta all.

So going through the list and just canceling anything older than a month, should be easy enough. Just start on the LAST page and work your way to the front of the list (going front to last causes the list to regenerate every page, and you'll miss lots of them).

If you are the primary manager the merge is with, you can just go through your merge issues list again at your leisure. Most likely even those you are NOT primary manager of, you will come to again while resolving the merge issues you DO have.

That makes sense, Sherry. I'll try again in awhile.

Has Anyone(!) been able to merge with Vera Susan Meran? I remember hearing about trouble with her profiles. I have no permission to merge with her. If anyone does, please let me know!
Thanks,
-Shiri

Shalom Shiri!
it's been a while. Vera has made it explicitly clear that she did/does NOT want her profiles merged. She was practically hysterical about it (probably why she herself has a duplicate). So I strongly doubt ANY one can merge her profiles, unless perhaps she has left Geni. It might be worthwhile asking Geni if she has.

Hi Shmuel!
Thanks for your response, Grad School has been keeping me extremely busy. But lately a breakthrough in my tree means I am finally part of the core of the big tree, descendant of the big rabbis, and directly descended from Adam (well... theoretically). Which is exciting enough to pull me back into Geni. :-)
I will indeed ask Geni, because I ran into a ton of her profiles across the big rabbis.
Thanks again,
-Shiri

Vera seem to still be be a Geni member, but we can ask Malka Mysels to give us some more details since she is still listed as a friend.

Several of us tried several times to help Vera with her "problems", including cutting her loose, but it was an endless fight. She did also have some strange naming rules, so in general we should leave her profiles alone.

Hi Shiri,
Vera only recently responded to a profile inquiry I sent her more than six months ago. So she hasn't abandoned Geni but obviously prefers her maverick loner status, and it is best to follow Bjørn's excellent advice.

Goodluck with grad school and your phenomenal genealogicali breakthrough!

Mybe we should start a discussion called " Signup for collaboration pool only"
since the signup discussion has deteriorated to discussions about the pool. But that is entirely up to You Henn. It would require moving a new list to the new site.

Michael, trust me that won't work. People love being contrary, and the more people you get, the more "noise" you get...

Henn Sarv
I was asked to complete a merge on this profile --

Saint Margaret, Queen of Scots --

and I saw down in the middle of profile managers our nemesis ЛАЛЮ ВАСИЛЕВ МЕТЕВ. I don't think anything has been messed up in her data but If someone more knowledgeable about that era would check it out, I'd feel better.

Also, if he's already included in the list of managers, how do we deal with him?

Regards,
Maria

Yeah, it would be a lot easier on everyone if we let a little noise happen. It is a social site, a lot of us have gotten to know each other and become friends of a sort; it would be a shame if we let a stray comment or two ruin the congeniality we currently have going for us.

@Marsha
Well said. It is great to have a group like this working together to help build the most accurate tree possible, and as we see many times in these discussions, we are all connected in one way or another. Thanks for your help and for your positive attitude.

I am not clear here. I collaborate with everyone who asks, I clean up messes wherever I find them and I help when asked. Does that make me a member by default?

Rick

No it doesn't, Rick. But it means that you would fit right in. ;-)

By "joining" you state that you agree in advance, to collaborate with every one else who joins, and to merge [valid] requests sent to you.

I have searched.... where are the settings for the auto-accept for collaborators??? I know it's been moved.

also, I am having LOTS of trouble with still getting merge requests and I know that i have EVERY collaborator set to auto-accept.

Heather (Fachet) Bond@Heather. On your profile-page you will see all your collaborators down at the bottom on the right side. Click on View all (or something like it) and a list over all your collaborators will show up. On that page you can change the settings indivdualy for each collaborator.

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable merging living & deceased profiles? I don't like those RED warnings! so I don't merge them, especially when the LIVE one has no dates to go with them. I'm working through my collaborators merge issues, and frequently come across this dilema. Even though I am trusting that most of my collaborators know what they are doing, I still shy away from merging living and deceased profiles. Any suggestions? I have just been leaving them alone and going on to another issue. Thank you

If one of them has dates/years and the rest of the data seem to fit, I would go ahead and merge. But if in doubt leave it alone.