WeRelate:Suggestions/Prevent MySource pages without username in title

Status: implemented (will take effect WeRelate late June 10)

Is it possible to prevent the creation of MySource pages that have no username in the title? An example of this is MySource:Diploma from Southeast Missouri State Teachers' College (though I fixed and deleted this page already). --Jennifer (JBS66) 06:16, 9 November 2011 (EST)

Seems like a good idea.--Dallan 18:40, 9 November 2011 (EST)
Is it also possible to either report on, find, or rename the MySources that don't have usernames in their titles? --Jennifer (JBS66) 05:12, 10 January 2012 (EST)
That's also a good idea :-) --Dallan 23:37, 10 January 2012 (EST)

I agree that a MySource page should have something where the user's name would normally belong, however it CAN BE USEFUL to allow that to be something generic. Imagine that I am creating a MySource for a will that I transcribed from a book. The will is not in my control - there is no special reason that it ought to have a name-level association with me as a user. It is for that reason, that I like being able to rename a MySource to something with "WeRelate" in the space for the user name. It's fine not to offer particular support for creating a page without a user association - but rename needs to be allowed. --jrm03063 16:08, 13 March 2012 (EDT)

All MySource pages must now begin with a username. You can rename them to a different user, but they still have to start with a valid username. You could create a generic username, or preferred is to use the "Transcription" namespace for generic MySource's. I will push out this change along with several other changes later this evening.
The list of pages without usernames in the title is at WeRelate:NoUserMySources--Dallan 16:52, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
If you use the transcription namespace for a "generic" mysource - how is a person or family page supposed to cite that? --jrm03063 17:02, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
Ah, right -- I still need to add "Transcript" as an option for the Source citations on person/family pages in addition to Source & MySource. I'll add it on Monday. (The citation information displayed on the person/family page will come from the source cited by the transcript in this case.)--Dallan 20:14, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
Ok, good, but isn't that a little bit circular? In the case of a generic mysource that becomes a transcript - there really won't be a source! Oh dear :( ! --jrm03063 21:36, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
I see what you're saying -- yes, in the case of a transcription of something that would not qualify as a source page, then adding it as a Transcript page that referenced a MySource doesn't make as much sense. Feel free to create a generic user account and name it with that username in that case. Anyone can edit any user's MySource pages - not just the ones under their own username, so this should be a workable solution. We could even standardize on what we call the username for general MySource's.--Dallan 21:51, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
Ok, Good. Now I understand. I use the "generic" user - "WeRelate" - which I think is already reserved from use by ordinary users. I would agree to any sensible choice on that though. --jrm03063 22:08, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
I am not following the logic in this conversation :) Why would we need "generic" MySources if any user can edit a MySource? Why would we suggest implementing a system that can only be utilitzed by non-"ordinary" users? Dallan and JRM, are you both suggesting that any user could create a "generic user account" or just JRM? How would other users access this account? With this newly implemented MySource naming fix, other users wouldn't be able to create a "generic" MySource anyway, it would automatically be titled with their username.
JRM, can you please provide a concrete example where this process would need to be implemented? --Jennifer (JBS66) 10:20, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
The scenario I'm talking about is described in my comment above, dated 13 March 2012. Several specific examples can be found by searching on "MySource" pages with "WeRelate" as a word in the title. One example being the page we're both watching for the Dame Family Bible. This isn't a bible I own, nor is it published as an item on its own (arguably it's published as part of Tracy St. Hillaire's site dedicated to bible entries, but I havn't taken that entire space on as a transcription project - not yet anyway!).
Tiny transcripts like these strike me as potentially very useful (I think you could argue it's THE BEST and really THE ONLY thing to do with any will), but I don't want to assert - even by accident - any proprietary interest in the content. --jrm03063 11:04, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
While the term MySource may imply a proprietary interest, they are not being used in that manner on WeRelate. There is no definition that says one must have created or own the source in question. When a GEDCOM is imported into WR, and the source in the file is not matched to a corresponding source page on WR, they are created as MySource pages. The criteria for creating a MySource page only states that the item does not belong in the general collection of sources because the contents focus specifically on one person or family. Attaching a username to the MySource just gives attribution to the user who uploaded or added the source. I would rather see these "WeRelate" sources attributed to you, than to see a work-around created because one may be over-analyzing the word MySource. --Jennifer (JBS66) 10:44, 12 June 2012 (EDT)
I would prefer to reserve specific MySource pages for items where I have unusual access to the materials indicated. A will or birth certificate - where I have an original copy. A transcript of an interview that I conducted, etc. I don't mind what other people may choose in this regard, but this is my preference. I am aware of the default behavior of reference materials at load-time, but that seems more a product of choosing a default behavior when source matching is absent or weak. --jrm03063 19:02, 12 June 2012 (EDT)
I don't have strong feelings either way. Since anyone can edit MySources, I think it's perfectly acceptable for people to create MySources under their own usernames. If others feel as Jrm does, that they'd rather create the Mysources under a generic username, then WeRelate seems fine to me. Could we leave this as a matter of personal preference? I expect that most people will create them under their own usernames, since it's a lot easier. But in case they want to use a generic username, can we suggest that they use "WeRelate" rather than creating another generic user? They wouldn't have to log in as the WeRelate user to create MySources under WeRelate; they'd need to add a link to "MySource:WeRelate/page title" on some page, and then create the page by following the link.
(BTW, since we're not able to use Transcripts for this purpose, and since we have other higher-interest enhancement requests at the moment, I've decided not to add Transcript to the Source/MySource source citation drop-down at this time.)--Dallan 01:26, 13 June 2012 (EDT)
That's all fine with me. From my point of view, there are presently two types of transcripts - a transcript of a published source (which therefore has a one-to-one correspondence with a source page), and a MySource-based transcript (which is either entirely unpublished or is a fragment of a published item - hence not having a one-to-one correspondence w/a source page). There's an unambiguous way to cite either one - via the source or mysource pages, so we have what we need. --jrm03063 10:47, 13 June 2012 (EDT)
Thanks Dallan! There are 260 MySources that need to be fixed. This just involves renaming the pages to include the username after the MySource:. A few, like MySource:Jlchaff:Shirley Ann Gray Obituary need the : turned into a /. Are there others who are watching this page that would be willing to help rename these with me? --Jennifer (JBS66) 17:23, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
Hi Jennifer, I will start at the top and do half. --Beth 18:46, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
Thanks Beth!! I'll get started on the second half :) --Jennifer (JBS66) 19:50, 10 June 2012 (EDT)
Dallan, Beth and I finished renaming this list last night. Should I go ahead and delete the WeRelate:NoUserMySources page? --Jennifer (JBS66) 10:20, 11 June 2012 (EDT)
Thank you! I went ahead and deleted it.--Dallan 01:26, 13 June 2012 (EDT)