Geni User Wiki

This is good. I wasn't aware of it. I think we should all work on populating it. I'm going to look in there for recommendations on the best way to remove wrong parents, for example.
It needs the Geni favicon

What about the support forum? Could it be integrated along side the family and public discussions? It might be used more and support questions might occur less in public discussions.

Thanks

Yes - we're going to add a Help discussion category in the next few weeks. We hope that this will enable users to help other users with common questions. Ideally, wiki pages will be created for questions that get asked frequently, and users can just direct other users to these wiki pages.

Noah Tutak@noah

You hit one of the bad spots about Geni on the head by saying "One of the great hidden resources ", why is it hidden?

Why can't I get to "http://www.geni.com/list/collaborators/" thru the menu

What is the sense of having a resources that no one can find unless you're already an expert or you.ve been around long enough to see someone talk about.

If you do go to "help" there's no easy way to get back to where you were (unless you opened it up in a new window, but why doen't it open up in a new window to begin with when you click on help?)

And here's a good question, if you take a look at the discussions you will find that people have had to ask someone how to get to the work ticket section because they can't figure out how.

Perhaps a study should be done of a few people who have never used Geni before in thier lifes, and see if you can redo the menu's so people can find the resources. The easier the can find the resources, the less the mistakes, the less the questions, the better the results!

Marvin Caulk, (C) we're actually a few weeks away from releasing a new navigation/menu system. We're moving towards fewer, more important tabs to give the more important pages on Geni more visibility.

Regarding the wiki, we just added it to the footer. We'll give it more visibility if users find it useful.

Noah Tutak@noah
Thanks, there seems to be a kink in the system. I'm set to follow this discussion, but I was not notified when you made your comment (even tho it looks like you put the @marvin caulk in it). I would have missed it if I hadn't looked.

Because of the volume of emails we were sending to users, we now only send one email notification per thread per day to any given user. You must have been notified of another post in this thread within the last 24 hours.

"", we now only send one email notification per thread per day to any given user''
Noah can that be changed..e.g. set a system where you can subscribe to a discussion and whenever there is a new post to that discussion we are notified..

I am a relatively new Geni user. Though I joined over a year ago, I've only become active over this past summer. I have been trying to figure out how Geni works and have only recently been told by the Help Desk of the existence of the Geni wiki.

Though the wiki has lots of good information in it, it needs an editor. My original question was where can I find a glossary of Geni terminology? Well, the wiki has four categories related to glossaries/terminology as well as two additional pages. The wiki also has conflicting information. I have found three different definitions of the default for Immediate Family Members. Lastly, I have found two pages referenced in the wiki that do not exist.

I am a big fan of Wikipedia. If Geni could create a similar repository of Geni information, that would be great. But it won't happen without some direction from a Geni editor to assure the accuracy of the articles posted and a coherent organization of the wiki. IMHO

You can make the changes, if you want, or if you give specifics, including links, someone else can make the changes.

Brendan, as I said, I'm a relatively new user who is trying to learn about Geni. I'm hardly in a position to document Geni functionality. If you will tell me how I can notify someone at Geni of the problems as I come across them, I will be happy to document them for Geni to correct.

No problem. I completely understand.

You can use this forum for your suggestions. Could you paste in the url's to the pages that you're referring to? I can make the changes or another user might make them. Geni employees watch these boards and may make them as well. However, I'd rather them spend their time on functionality, so users like us will probably make the changes that you or others point out.

Brendan,

You have to teach me to use the Wiki! I am overwhelmed by it. (: I want to get a freshened up Mayflower Passenger project going there.

Is it clear that like Wikipedia, any user can become an editor of the Geni Wiki?

Erica,
Yes, it looks like anyone can edit, just like with Wikipedia. When there is a page that you want to edit, it's not bad. Setting structure on wiki pages and starting one from scratch is more work and can feel overwhelming.

A Mayflower page would be cool. There could also be a page for all of the presidents. There is a list in one of the discussions right now, but that's going to get buried. I can create the pages, if the Geni staff don't mind. A section for each could go in the lower right blue box.

Anyone from Geni want to give the go / no go?

Noah Tutak or Mike Stangel
?

The Geni Wiki pages is the users playground.

The Geni curators and Geni staff have agreed on making them more visible (like the new link at the bottom of this page) and trying to contribute, but you all are invited to contribute making pages of interest linking to Geni profiles like giving an overview of mayflower passengers, royal lines on specific countries and so on.

Brendan,

Speaking on behalf of the Mayflowerans, I'm thinking this for the wiki:

1. Master page for the project "Mayflower Passengers and their Descendants"
2. Individual pages for each of the main families

There is already a Wiki page for Alden / Mullins:

http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Alden/Mullins_Mayflower_Family

I just chatted with Jason Patrick Herbert and he wants to freshen that page up, but I think there's a lot there you can use as a structure.

I can provide a list of the Mayflower families and hopefully a list of the "master profiles" for each of the passengers for the "Mayflower main" page.

Go for it!

This is the list of Mayflower families with known descendants.

1 Alden
2 Allerton
3 Billington
4 Bradford
5 Brewster
6 Browne
7 Chilton
8 Cooke
9 Doty
10 Eaton
11 Fletcher
12 Fuller
13 Hopkins
14 Howland
15 More
16 Mullins
17 Priest
18 Rogers
19 Samson
20 Soule
21 Standish
22 Tilley
23 Warren
24 White
25 Winslow

Cool. I'll put this together tomorrow. Thanks

Thanks for the list Erica and thank you too Brendan!

To keep this discussion more about the wiki in general, I just created a separate discussion for the Mayflower passengers
http://www.geni.com/discussions/6000000010037047103

I've been writing a paper to suppliment the Getting Started info for new users. Its tentative working title is "Important Information and Recommended Strategies for New Users of Geni.com". It is largely about managing expectations and how new and other Geni users can most effectively help each other.

This info would probably work well as a Wiki, but I'm not particularly interested in dealing with the Wiki formatting requirements. If someone would like to take on the task of turning the text into Wiki format, I'd be happy to pass it along when I'm finished with it.

If I get ambitious to learn wiki formatting I might use your paper as my test, David. If we want it done quickly I'm sure we can make that happen, too.

@David: We are several who can help create and edit. It sounds like a great paper that should definitely be available in Wiki form.

OK, Brendan, here is "Geni User Wiki - Problem No. 1." There is a page in the wiki entitled "Release Notes" (http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Release_Notes), which has not been updated since May 2008.

Please let me know if the information provided here is sufficient. Thanks.

Brendan, here is "Geni User Wiki - Problem No. 2." There is a page in the wiki entitled "Terminology" (http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Terminology), which says, "This is a listing of genealogically related terms and definitions. For definitions specific to Geni please view the Glossary." The "Glossary" page (http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Category:Glossary) There are only 16 definitions listed on this page. Surely, there are more than 16 terms specifically related to Geni (e.g. the concepts of public and private, forests and trees, etc.) that need to be added to this page.

"Geni User Wiki - Problem No. 3": On the wiki page entitled "Privacy" (http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Privacy) in the section called "Definitions" for "Family Groups" it states: "By default, your Family consists of all your blood relatives out to your 5th cousins and closer and their current partners (plus your spouse’s if you are married) and your Inlaws out to 1st cousins."

On the wiki page entitled "Family" (http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Family) in the second paragraph it states: "By default, your Family consists of all your blood relatives out to your 4th cousins and closer and their current partners (plus your spouse’s if you are married) and your In-laws out to 1st cousins; this includes the first cousin of your current partner as well as the current partner of your first cousin. "

Which of these definitions is correct?

Good catch, Joe! The Geni definition of family group was updated: the second definition is more current (would need to check if *still* the most current).

"Geni User Wiki - Problem No. 4": On the wiki page entitled "Invites" (http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Invites) in the section called "Friends" it states: "A Friend can view your profile and photos but not your Tree."

On the wiki page entitled "Friend" (http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Friends) in the first paragraph it states: "A Family Friend is a Geni user who can view your profile, photos and videos. They may also View your Tree but cannot edit or view your family's information."

Which of these definitions is correct?

Noah Tutak or Mike Stangel

I believe that what Joe is highlighting is an old way of Geni posting information. I don't think those pages are updated and, if that's the case, they should probably be deleted and replaced to links in the new system.

An example is the Privacy page: http://www.geni.com/company/privacy?ref=pf That was updated on 2/18/2009
This is the old page: http://wiki.geni.com/index.php/Privacy

The old pages can be edited by anyone, which I'm sure is why they were replaced.

I can delete the contents and put links to the real pages instead, but I wanted to check with you to see if you want to delete the pages and go upstream one level by replacing any links to those pages with the links to the new ones.

Brendan, are you saying that there are two Geni Wikis? I got the link to the Wiki that I've been using from the Geni Help Desk. (See the copy of an email that I received from them on 9/21, Ticket ID: PON-636797, below:

Dear Joe,

Thank you for your feedback. To learn more about Geni, you may also wish to read our wiki page: http://wiki.geni.com/?ref=pf

Thank you for using Geni,

Amanda
The Geni Team