Are You A Player?

I'm not writing about this kind of player. I picked this photo of a player as it was one of the coolest things I have ever watched in youth soccer. Mind you, I coached youth soccer for 8 years, and had never seen this done by anyone, let alone a 14 year old girl.

Perhaps it's a common trick now, even so I was shocked and impressed. I was watching our granddaughter Kendelle's game and instead of throwing the ball in from out of bounds holding the ball over her head, this team mate got a running start, did some sort of flip as you see, came standing up with tremendous leverage, and cast the ball to an amazing distance. Stunned was I as Yoda would say. These kids, my oh my.

Anyway this article has a genealogy message where I steal this term "player".

I picked up this term, "player"  from my daughter Chelsea when she was dating guys. "Oh he's just a player". I hated to ask but had to; "what is a player"? Her definition is that a player is a person who is into breaking hearts, not serious but out there playing the game.

So in a genealogy bent, when you change something in a common family tree, such as FamilySearch Family Tree, "are you a player"? Mind you we want everyone working in Family Tree. That's what it is all about. One tree for all mankind. Any of us can add to the tree, or make changes. We can create a discussion for all to participate in. We can add sources, photos, and stories. It's turning out to be pretty darn cool.

We can also put children in the wrong family, thereby creating havoc to the tree. Or, we can delete at will. (unless we get turned in for being abusive).

Here now I introduce Chelsea's use of the term Player. A person who is breaking hearts, not serious, but out there playing the game.

Play, please play, OK? But don't break peoples hearts, OK? Don't delete someone without being extremely confident, and by attaching proof, or you are likely to be just a player. Do you know how much effort some go to to build their portion of the family pedigree? Think about it, some spend hundreds of hours on just one ancestors pedigree. And consider the shock when it is all deleted by a player. How about this is a serious alternative: start a discussion first, or email someone who has already added to the tree, stating your opinion. Work together. Decide together. Approach the issue with the delightful attitude of working with someone you are related to.

Always, always, always provide a source for an entry. Players don't do that. Did I say always provide a source before making a change? I did. Let me say it again: always, always, always provide a source before making a change.

What is an acceptable source? Anything credible is the answer. My daddy told me, is that a source? Yes, but is it the best source? We had an experience where a man had documentation he had added to the family tree. A woman distant cousin changed the facts in the tree. They went back and forth, sort of a war went on. She finally answered his email this way, " I don't care what your sources say, I know what my mother told me"! Well, well, well; how do we handle that one? Family tree now has an abuse button. It is found in the tools section in the right column when you are in the person section of family tree:

What happens when this is implemented varies. That ancestors file might be frozen for two weeks while you loving cousins work it out. Family Search professionals might look at the documentation and freeze the file based on best evidence. They might also remove a user from the system if it is determined they are in fact abusive to the tree.

So please don't be a player. Don't break another relatives heart. Get into the tree, love it, work it. Just always be serious. Doing serious things, adding correct things to the tree is fun and engaging. We want that. Besides, by playing the game you will learn some fancy tricks and just like the girl in the photo above, shock and impress an innocent bystander.

If you haven't joined family tree this is the link: https://familysearch.org/