User Motivation-Keep Track of Contributions

LegacyUser

David Roderick McLean said: I love indexing shows me a running total of how many names I have indexed. In common interactions, these numbers come up and are talked about with people doing indexing but never with those doing "sourcing".

I'm sure familysearch has metadata on every user. It might be motivational to see the number of sources I have attached, or the number of persons I have added to the tree. I call these my "contributions" to the tree.

A displayed running total might help motivate certain users to continue to add information to the system. You could award certificates for 10,000 sources, etc.

Some users like that kind of thing!

PS: Familysearch would also quickly be able to categorize users into "experience levels" which could help you survey and meet the needs of all levels.

LegacyUser

iLoveMyLife02 said: I just received an email on February 7th announcing a new feature, "My Contributions". As far as I can tell, it is only available on the phone APP, not the website version. I love it! You can view by All, Sources Attached, Memories Attached, and Persons Created. I especially like seeing how many sources I have attached.

LegacyUser

ATP said: Now if they will work on showing you how many merges you've made! : )

LegacyUser

Christine said: Just curious why these features are not on the website version. I do not do family history on my phone, so I can't access this information.

LegacyUser

Paul said: I'm afraid I'm all for quality - not quantity. I can image some users patting themselves on the back for the "contributors" they've made to Family Tree, whereas all they have done is a to add a lot more duplicates, or made loads of incorrect merges.

What does it tell me about my work if on some occasions I can add a whole family - including all their vitals - in a matter of hours, but sometimes it might takes me days, or weeks, to find just one relevant event?

As with indexing, inputs to Family Tree - and thereby "achievement" - can't be measured using numbers alone, as seemingly comparable tasks can vary considerably in their complexity.

Statistics like this are not worth the paper they're written on, unless any "FamilySearch metadata" is able to take into account the accuracy of our contributions.

LegacyUser

ATP said: Paul Wrightson

Thanks for you comments. I certainly do agree with the quality aspect, and, yes, the statistics are not worth the paper written on for as long as "FamilySearch metadata" is, as you say, not able to take into account the accuracy of contributions. But, that, then would likely take a whole new core design to enable more complete accuracy and I don't think that's going to happen, at least not anytime soon.

I came to this forum a couple of months ago to see if there was a better way for me to navigate the system, to see if there was a way to more efficiently cleanup and more readily correct all the dupes and lack of sources I surprisingly found. It was quite another surprise to discover that these core issues surrounding identification of individuals and family links through sources and the multiplicity of duplicated individuals have been discussed back and forth in some cases for as long as 10 years!

Saying that, even so, on certain response details on which I had questions have been generously answered and have been very helpful to me in knowing what to disregard and what not to.

So, thanks, again.

LegacyUser

David Roderick McLean said: This worries me. I NEVER use my phone for merges. I just make too many mistakes. I can't see all the data. I think its great for people to view their family on a mobile app; but I disagree they should be able to make changes to the tree on a mobile platform.

I know that this is an unpopular opinion that will go no where; but I just make too many mistakes when I use the phone app. (I assume others do as well )

LegacyUser

Brett said: Paul

As I preferred in another post ...

I am certain that many Users/Patrons will also 'Love' the "Statistics" ...

As recently indicated in a recent post ...

I have NO interest in the "... Number of sessions performed, number of people created through record hints, etc ..." that I have been involved in.

I just want to DO the Work and get it as 'right' (ie. correct) as I possibly can - ie. QUALITY over QUANTITY.

I am sorry; but, I would suggest that having the "Statistics" available to us would just/simply promote "Competition" amount Users/Patrons (especially, Members of the Church); and, even, "Shaming", that has been the case in the past.

That, "Competition"; and, "Shaming", is ONE of the REASONS that the ACTUAL Names of individual Member Users/Patrons was TAKEN OFF the various ("Temple and Family History") "Statistical" Reports available to Leaders.

It is 'human nature' ...

Unfortunately, I anticipate "Discussing" of one's "Statistics" between Users/Patrons; especially, Members of the Church ...

Hence, my disappointment with this NEW feature.

Of course, each to their own ...

Brett

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