Help:FAQ

Help pages are being updated Please note, menus have moved. General functions are now accessed from the top left menu bar. User functions appear in the right menu bar. Page functions appear on the left sidebar. Options and functionality are the largely the same. Help pages will be updated as soon as possible.  :)

This general list of frequently asked questions and answers applies to general WeRelate issues. You can find feature-specific FAQs on the help pages and definition of terms in the Glossary.

What is WeRelate?

WeRelate is a free genealogy web site where genealogists and family historians share their work in a collaborative "wiki" environment, connecting the work of multiple contributors into a single family tree, supported with excellent, user-contributed source information and rich contextual and historical data.

WeRelate is a free public-service web site developed and sponsored by the Foundation for On-Line Genealogy, Inc., a non-profit (501c3) organization, formerly operated in partnership with the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library. It is funded by your tax-deductible donations and a host of Volunteers.

Read more...

How does WeRelate differ from other Genealogy Web Sites?

Where sites such as Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org focus on providing research tools and information to help individuals build their own family trees, WeRelate.org provides a web-based environment (using wiki technology) to support sharing and collaboration across multiple researchers and family trees, resulting in a single "tree" with one page per individual. WeRelate achieves this, in part, through uploaded individual GEDCOMs that are then merged with matching information already on the site. Therefore, by sharing your tree or research with WeRelate, you are contributing your work to a larger community effort.

How (if at all) does WeRelate differ from my genealogy software?

WeRelate is not a replacement for your genealogy software that you run on your home computer. Such programs are built to give you greater control about what you do and don't include in your genealogy file. (For example, WeRelate disallows pages for living people.) In addition, genealogy programs, unlike WeRelate, give you the ability to make and even customize a variety of reports and charts that WeRelate does not support. Use WeRelate as an add-on tool to share and collaborate with others. Upload your GEDCOM to WeRelate (see below), then as changes are made on the WeRelate version, you can copy and paste those pieces you would like to have in your desktop file (giving proper attribution to the contributors of course). WeRelate does support the ability to export GEDCOMs to your desktop, but this should be used to replace or add an entire branch of your tree, not as a means to keep your desktop version up to date.

GEDCOMS

You can contribute your own research to WeRelate by uploading a GEDCOM.

How do I upload a GEDCOM?

If you've done genealogical research online before, you probably have a GEDCOM file recording your past research. Upload your GEDCOM by selecting "Import GEDCOM" from the Add menu. Follow the instructions you will receive.

How should I prepare my GEDCOM for upload?

There are several things that you can do to make your GEDCOM upload experience more successful.
1. Clean data. Make sure you don't have duplicates, people married to their children, dead mothers giving birth -- that sort of thing.
2. Take a good look at your naming convention. All page will be named First Last (#). (Titles, middle names, and other name parts are retained in the name fields on the page.)

• If you have individual given/surname/prefix/title fields in your genealogy program: The system assumes that the first word in the given name field is the first name, and the entire entry in the surname field is the surname. So if you put things like "Captain John" in the given name field and "Smith II" in the surname field, you're going to end up with a page titled "Captain Smith II (1)", when it should be titled "John Smith (1)". Put titles in the title field, put suffixes in the suffix field, remove your personal markers that show your line, etc.
• If you have just one name field in your genealogy program: either put slashes around the last names (John William /Smith/ Jr.) or carefully review your pages on upload to make sure the uploader chose correctly.
• Case does not matter.
• The system will automatically drop middle names when it generates the page titles, but middle names (and prefixes/suffixes) will be retained in the name fields on the page.

3. Clean up place names. The uploader will try to match your places with the "official" names, but you can make things easier on it by making them as clean as possible. Merging places that aren't matched automatically by hand is optional, but if you don't, your places will have "red links" that go nowhere, and you won't be able to display your events on maps.

• Places must be entered as small to large -- i.e. "City, County, State" NOT "State, County, City".
• Make sure there are commas between each level of jurisdiction. Spaces are nice (the lack of them affects formatting), but not required if there are commas.
• Use official place names where possible. Inland bodies of water and specific locations like churches and hospitals do not have place pages, so put those in the event notes. Same goes for things like cause of death, occupation, etc. Many cemeteries do have pages, so you can leave cemetery names in burial place fields. For international waters, use the place "At Sea" and put the details in the event notes.
• For United States jurisdictions, you need only the state, not the country. The county name helps distinguish between multiple towns with the same name in the state (of which there are many), but the system will otherwise match town names without them. The word "County" is unnecessary.
• For other countries, spell out the country name.

Does WeRelate filter out living data?

The Gedcom upload process will automatically exclude people who the system perceives as possibly living:

• The person does not have a birth or christening date more than 110 years old.
• The person does not have a marriage date more than 90 years old.
• The person does not have a death or burial date or place.

and at least one of the following is true:

• The person has a birth or christening date less than 110 years old.
• The person has a marriage date less than 90 years old.
• The person is the spouse or child of someone who is already considered living by the conditions above.

You should review the Person tab and check the exclude box if there are any additional people you know are living.

While you may uncheck the exclude box to force a page to be created, this is discouraged as the new page will have no content: The given name will be changed to "Living" and the vital data will be deleted.

I found an error while uploading? How can I change it?

The new gedcom upload system will warn you if there are problems, like a grandfather died before he was married. Then, you can edit your gedcom during the upload process. See Help:Review_GEDCOM for more details.

Can I Update my wiki pages by reloading my GEDCOM?

Yes, but you will have to match the families in the GEDCOM to the existing pages. It is easiest to upload small GEDCOMs containing only those people with changed information.

In the future, WeRelate will have a GEDCOM Update function which will automatically ignore unchanged people and families.

What is the size limit for the uploaded GEDCOM?

The size limit is 5,000 individuals. After you've used WeRelate for awhile you can request to upload a larger GEDCOM by leaving a message for User:Dallan.

Can I download my GEDCOM?

Yes. From the MyRelate menu in the upper left menu bar, select Trees and then click on the Export a GEDCOM link.

Can I create a GEDCOM to download from WeRelate data?

Yes. From the MyRelate menu in the upper left menu bar, select Trees and click on the Export link.

How can I tell if deleting one of my trees will affect other pages I don't want to delete?

From the MyRelate menu in the upper left menu bar, select Trees and click on Impact.

How do I delete a GEDCOM or a tree?

You can remove a GEDCOM before it is uploaded. You cannot delete an uploaded GEDCOM or tree with a single command. You have to delete each page one at a time, and you can only delete the ones no one else is watching. You should check to see if others are watching parts of your tree. If so, don't delete pages that will impact how families are tied together, unless the pages are wrong (people who didn't exist or marriages that didn't exist).

Exploring your Tree

Once your GEDCOM is loaded, you may search or explore your tree. Your tree is listed on your User page. It can also be found by selecting either Dashboard or Trees from the "My Relate" menu. Click on "search" or "explore" beside the name of the tree.

How can I access someone else's Tree?

Go to their User page (if they created one). Their Trees are listed at the right. Click on "search" or "explore".

Creating Person and Family wiki pages

How do I create pages without a GEDCOM?

If you do not have a GEDCOM, you can manually create person and family wiki pages for your ancestors. Check out the Person pages tutorial to see how.

How do I create a person or family page?

Select Person or family from the Add menu in the upper left menu bar. Enter the person's first given name in the Given name field and the person's surname in the Surname field. Do not include middle names, titles, suffixes or prefixes. Because of names like "de la Vega" and "Van Pelt," everything after the first listed name will be indexed as the surname name. If your page is titled Mary Elizabeth Jones, it will be indexed under the last name of "Elizabeth Jones," not "Jones." For women, use their "maiden" name, not their "married" name. When you click on Add page the system will display a list of existing pages that might match the person you entered. If none of them match, click on the Add page button and the system will create a new page titled with the person's first given name, followed by their surname, followed by a system-generated index number to make the page title unique. You may then add the middle and other names in appropriate field on the new person or family page.

Can I rename person or family page titles to include middle names or my own index numbers?

Some people want the title of the person page for their ancestor to include a middle name or an index number of (1). To keep page titles consistent, the policy at WeRelate is that person and family page titles not include middle names. Furthermore, index numbers are assigned in sequential order; it is not recommended to rename pages to different index numbers. However, if you change a person's first given name or surname after creating a page for the person, you are encouraged to rename the page to use the updated first given name and surname.

Can I create pages for living persons?

No, with one exception. Posting vital data for living persons is against the law in many countries, and WeRelate focuses on sharing ancestry, not information about living people. We therefore do not permit the creation of pages for most living people, and pages will be deleted when found. If you would like to link pages to others that would otherwise be linked through living people (in-laws with living children, for example), do so by creating direct links in the body of the pages. Do not put information about the living people on the pages.

The exception is for famous and notable people whose ancestry is of interest to the general public. The general rule of thumb is that if someone has a Wikipedia page listing their birth information and/or parents, a WeRelate page may be created for them. This exception is used primarily for heads of state.

If a user objects to the inclusion of information about people who are still living, the information and/or pages will be deleted.

On pages for People/Families who are deceased, information about still living people that is publicly available (ie, 1940 census data) - can be included on the pages.

Somebody uploaded my research. Can you delete it?

As a general matter, no. One person does not own information about deceased individuals and cannot demand that it be removed. Edits that attempt to remove information for this reason will be reverted. The best policy is to make sure what is posted is correct and well-sourced, so that anyone else interested in the line will find the best information. You should also Watch the relevant pages so that you will be notified of any other changes and so that other researchers can contact you.

There is an exception. If someone copied text that you wrote, that may be removed as a copyright violation. Please note the reason for deleting any such text in the Summary box.

General Editing

Is there a maximum page length?

No. However, that said, people with dial connections may have excessive load times with pages of more than 256K. If you have a lot of information it is best to create subpages and link to them. Be aware that a subpage will automatically link to the root page but you will need to create a link from the root page to the subpage.

How do I create a subpage?

Place a link in the root page by entering [[Namespace:Title of root page/title of subpage]], for instance see User:Solveig/Caddell research notes. The subpage will automatically link to the root page. However, you must put a link to the subpage in the text of the root page.

Why did I get a "[1]" instead of the alias I entered with my external link?

Internal and external links should be entered differently.

• For external use a space between the link and the alias, i.e. [http://www.url alias]
• For internal links use a "|" between the link and the alias, i.e. [[Namespace:Title|alias]]

Formatting

How do I insert a header or subheader?

Create Headers by typing double equal signs on each side of the header. Subheaders are made by increasing the number of equal signs, i.e. ==Header== or ===Subheader===.

How do I link Sources to text in my ancestor's biography?

Just type {{cite|the Source number}} i.e. {{cite|S1}} and a superscript notation will link to that item on your source list.

Can I use html color codes?

Yes. Type <font color="the color"> Your text </font>. For instance, <font color="purple"> Some purple words </font> would read Some purple words . Please see HTML Color Codes

Can I leave editing comments that do not appear in the text?

Yes. To add a comment in the wiki code so that the text will not appear on the finished page, you would type: <!-- This text is for explanation purposes and not to be shown on the finished page. -->. It would not appear in the text.

How do I add "superscripts" to my pages to show preceeding generations?

"Superscripts" are often used (many times in publications) to show a person's preceeding ancestors in successive generations, such as the following person:

Thomas¹⁸ Rogers (William¹⁷, Martha¹⁶ Whittingham, Mary¹⁵ Lawrence, Hon, John¹⁴, Thomas¹³, John¹², William¹¹, Margaret¹⁰ Kaye, Edward ⁹, Dorothy⁸ Mauleverer, Lady Alice⁷ Markenfield, Lady Dorothy⁶ Gascoigne, Sir William⁵, Jane⁴Neville, John³, Lady Mary² de Ferrers, Lady Joan¹ Beaufort)

You can add superscipt by adding the html codes: ^{BEFORE the numeral to be superscripted, and} AFTER each numeral (or word) to be superscripted.

Deleting pages and "undo-ing"

How do I delete a page?

If you are the only contributor to a person or family page you may delete it by selecting the more menu from the left side bar and clicking on delete. If others have contributed to the page, or if there is not a more menu, enter {{Speedy Delete|insert reason for proposed deletion here}} at the top of the text box. One of our admins will review the page and delete if appropriate.

Can I delete my tree?

No, you cannot delete an entire tree with a single command.

How do I undo changes to a page or revert to an older version?

Select the History menu item. Then select the versions of the page you wish to compare. When you find the version of the page you want to revert to, click on the edit link above the version you want. It will warn you that you are not editing the current version of the page. This is ok. Save the desired older version of the page. When you save the page, the older version will become the current version.

Maps

How do I get to the Pedigree Map?

From a person or family page, select the more menu item and click on Pedigree-map.

Why are some of my ancestor's events not mapped?

The pedimap function can only map events to places it can find. This means the place pages for each event you want displayed must have latitude and longitude coordinates. If the event is not mapped that means either there is not place page for that place (red link) or there are no coordinates on the place page (blue link). You will need to create or edit the place page with the right coordinates.

Why is my event shown in the center of the state and where it happened?

The smaller jurisdiction's place page doesn't have coordinates, so the event defaults to the center of the surrounding jurisdiction that does have coordinates.

How do I find coordinates?

You can locate the coordinate (latitude and longitude) for any place by using Google Earth and entering the place name in the search field. The latitude and longitude will appear in the bottom left hand corner. If you don't have access to Google Earth, coordinates can often be found at www.Wikipedia.org.

Can I embed a Google Map on a page?

Yes.

1. Go to http://maps.google.com
2. Click on "My Places"
3. Create a new map, add the placemarks, and click "Done"
4. Click on the "Link" icon in the upper-right corner of the My Places screen
5. You may choose to Customize and preview your embedded map at this point
6. Copy the link under Paste link in email or IM; do not copy the HTML under "Paste HTML to embed in website."
7. Go to any WeRelate page and paste the link between googlemap tags like this: <googlemap>the link you copied from google</googlemap>

Additional parameters: If you want to change the size of the map, you can add height and width attributes to the googlemap tag; e.g., <googlemap height="300" width="400">...</googlemap>

For specific questions about creating a Google Map, please consult the Google Help pages.

Transcriptions, Documents, Charts and Tables

Can I upload a spreadsheet?

Yes. There are several options.

1. Check out a freeware program called ASAP Utilities that can convert Excel® spreadsheets to HTML.
2. OpenOffice can read excel files and save them in html.
3. Rootsweb tutorial will walk you through it.

How do I upload transcriptions?

Create an article and cut and paste from your word processor. You will need to reform the text. If you want to make it more searchable, create a source page (for collections) or a MySource (for single documents) for it, put a link on the Source or MySource page to your article. WeRelate has a digital library under construction. You will be able to load word files directly into the digital library.

What about document images?

Scan it, upload the jpeg's, annotate the pertinent parts and transcribe the text into the text box. If you have multiple images, create an article for your collection and put the images on the article. If you want to make it more searchable, create a source page (for collections) or a MySource (for single documents) for it, put a link on the Source or MySource page to your article. WeRelate has a digital library under construction. You will soon be able to load word files, GEDCOMs, and image collections directly into the digital library.

Images

Upload scans of your documentation like birth, military, draft cards, snippets of newspaper articles, obituaries, deeds, census records, etc., by selecting image from the add menu.

What about copyrights?

There are strict copyright rules that must be followed at WeRelate. Please read Image licensing.

How do I upload an Image?

Select Add from the menu. Next, click on Image. Your image cannot be uploaded unless it is first made available to your computer. This can be made available via either a file on a CD, a Hard Drive, or a Thumb/Flash Drive. You cannot upload an image without selecting Copyright information. See Image licensing for more detail. Also, detailed uploading instructions, image sizing, and locating instructions are available at Uploading images.

Images need unique titles, i.e. John Smith (5) at the farm. If an image has the same title as another image, it will over write the old image when it is saved. June 15

Why did I get a red title instead of my image?

Image titles are case-sensitive. You must enter the exact title of your image including the .jpg, .JPG, etc.

How do I title an image?

You may use any title you like. Please use a unique descriptive title. The title needs to include a dot jpeg or other image designation. However, keep in mind that if you choose a common title like Grandpa.jpeg. The next person who to use the same title will over write your image. Next time you are at grandpa's page, you may be looking at a stranger from a different era. :)

Can I link to photos, slideshows and videos on other websites?

You can add links to them, but you can't copy copyrighted photos from other websites and upload them to WeRelate unless you abide by the licensing rules described here.

What kind of images can I upload?

Just about anything that relates to your genealogical research. We recommend that documentation is scanned and uploaded whenever possible in accordance with copyright rules. It is so much easier to collaborate when your cousins have access to your documentation. That said, Images are patrolled, offensive material will be deleted. Offenders may be disciplined.

What is an annotated image?

It is very simple to create "hotspots" of information on your uploaded images. Information pops up when the cursor is dragged across the hotspot. You can include the names and vital information for individuals in a group shot or point out details on a document. Check out the Images tutorial and image annotation instructions in the help pages.

How do I annotate an image?

From the image page, select edit. Next, select add note. You will then see a white box; this is your hot spot. This box can be resized and moved with your mouse. Size the box to cover a person's face, body, or some other item in the image that you wish to annotate. It is very helpful to annotate relevant parts in census records or other documents. After you have positioned the hot spot, enter your annotation in the note box, then click ok and save the page. For more information, see image annotation instructions in the help pages.

Can I attach an image to several pages?

Yes. Your image will be automatically added to any person or family page title that you enter in the person or family page fields below the image on the image page.

Search

You can search on many different criteria and recieve an order search list.

How do I search?

You can enter search terms in the search box at the upper right of every page. Or click on Search > WeRelate to get a form with more fields. If you search this way, you can immediately limit your search to a particular namespace or to exact matches or other limitations. Either way, after you run the search, the search form will appear at the top of your search results to allow you to easily modify your search.

What do I do if the search list is too long?

Select exact match or add more criteria. One easy way to narrow your search is to choose a namespace -- if you're looking for a person, choose the Person namespace; use Source for sources; etc.

I just created a page. Why does it not show up in search results?

In order to appear in Search results, pages need to be indexed by the WeRelate Search Engine. Pages that you create or edit that have not yet been indexed appear in your Recent Edits section of the left-hand panel of Special:Search. When a page no longer appears in that list, it has been indexed. As of October 2008, indexing should take about one hour.

Is there an easy way to get a list of the persons or surnames for a particular place?

Yes. Go to the place page, click on the More menu item and select What links here.

How can I find just those pages I'm interested in?

Use the Watchlist! When you find a page you want to follow, click on the watch link in the top right hand corner of any page and get an email when new information is added to the page. In addition, updated pages will appear on your Watchlist. Access your Watchlist under the "My Relate" menu in the upper right corner.

Family Trees on WeRelate

What is a tree?

A tree at WeRelate is a collection of pages. A page can be in multiple trees at the same time. You would typically use a tree to hold all of the people in your family history, but you could also create trees to hold your "brick wall" people or people you are currently working on. The Trees item in the MyRelate menu lets you export a tree, share it with others, view a searchable list of the pages it contains, etc.

How can I create a new tree?

Click on Trees in the MyRelate menu, then on Create a new family tree.

How do I add pages to my tree?

When you upload a GEDCOM, pages are added to your tree automatically.

Also, when you create or edit a Person or Family page, a checkbox near the "Save page" button lets you add the page to your tree.

Finally, if you click the Trees link in the upper-right corner of a Person or Family page, you will be able to add that page and optionally several generations of ancestors/descendants to your tree.

How do I share my pages or tree with family members?

There are two easy ways to direct others to your pages.

1. If you only wish to share a few pages, select the More menu (when on the page you want to share) and click on email this page.
2. If you'd like to share an entire tree, click on MyRelate in the blue menu bar and select Trees. You will see a list of your trees with some options. Choose email and enter the desired email address. Your cousin will be able to explore your tree. If your cousin wants to work with you on this tree, they can:

• Create an account on WeRelate
• Click on the link in the email you sent - this will take them to a page in your tree
• Go to each page in the tree and select "Watch" from the left-hand menu. By doing this, they will be notified whenever a change is made to any of the pages in the tree. Likewise, you will be notified of changes that they make. (If they are only interested in part of your tree, they need only watch the pages they are interested in, and they can optionally create their own tree consisting of the pages they are interested in.)
• In the future, they can explore or search the tree by going to your User page (you have to create one if you haven't already) and selecting the link beside the tree name.

Can different users work on the same tree?

Yes. The first user should email the tree to the second. The second user would then need to save the tree under his login. (See the question about about sharing a tree with family members.) Then you will both have the same tree saved under your separate logins. An infinite number of users can access this same tree in this fashion.

Staying Current

WeRelate supports your efforts to stay current on changes to the wiki with a "Watchlist".

What is a watchlist?

You may watch as many pages as you like. You will get an email every time a page on your watchlist is changed. You put pages on your watchlist by clicking on the watch in the second menu bar in the top right corner of the screen.

How do I know when new information has been added to a page?

You will get an email from WeRelate every time someone edits a page you are watching. Click on the link in the email to view the diff screen and see exactly what was added or deleted.

Collaboration

Is there an easy way to network or find other users with common ancestors or research interests?

Yes. First make sure you are watching the pages you would like to network on. Next, select MyRelate menu item and click on Dashboard. Then look at the Network box and click on View network. This displays a list of WeRelate users watching the same page(s) as you are watching.

If anyone can edit a page, how do I protect my information?

Even though anyone can edit your person pages, all past versions of the page are permanently archived, meaning that you can easily revert back to the original version. Also, you can create any number of user pages that are visible to the entire WeRelate community, but are password-protected (i.e., only you can edit them).

How do we avoid duplication of effort?

Several researchers may be working on the same person and not know it. Collaborate! From the More menu, click on Find duplicates. The compare screen makes it easy to combine duplicate pages.

What happens when users keep overwriting each other's work?

Please play nice:)

Things posted on the Internet are meant to be shared. Pages posted on a wiki site are intended to be collaborative, a joint effort written by the community. We are always checking the recent edits. If we find a feud going on, we will lock the page to let you both cool off, and send you the following suggestions.

• You can create a second article with a slightly different title and keep your information separate.
• You can put your information on a user page where no one else can edit it.
• You can insert a few sentences explaining the disagreement, and agree to disagree.

As of date, overwriting each other's work has not been an issue.

Can I keep others from altering MY pages?

Yes. If you want to share but don't want others to collaborate, please post your family information on a user page. In the near future you will be able to post this material in our digital library (view only). You can create User pages from your dashboard. Click on My Relate and select Dashboard. Then, select Add user page from the last box on your dashboard.

If you create Person, Family, or Source pages, you may not prevent others editing the work you contribute.

Can I keep others from deleting pages I'm interested in?

Yes. No one else can delete the page if you are watching it. If a page has more than one watcher, it can only be deleted by an administrator, which may be done after it has been placed in Category:Speedy Delete (see How do I delete a page? above) or a violation of WeRelate policies has been discovered.

How can I send someone a private message from WeRelate?

Go to their User page (you can do this by clicking on their name anywhere you see it). Under the More menu in the upper right column, you'll find Email this user.

I recognize someone in an uploaded image! How can I "tag" it with their name?

You can annotate family group photos. Label the people you recognize and ask your cousins label the others (example). Collaboration is easy! See: Annotating images tutorial.

Merging pages

How do I find duplicate pages?

Two approaches:

1. To review probable-duplicates for the pages on your watchlist, click on Show duplicates in the MyRelate menu.
2. To review possible-duplicates for a particular person or family, first navigate to that Person or Family page, then click on Find duplicates in the More menu. You will be taken to a search page with possible matches. Check the boxes next to the pages that appear to be matches and press Compare.

For more information, see Help:Merging pages.

How do I review and reverse (un-do) a merge?

To review merges affecting your tree, click on the review/undo link from the page history screen to see a comparison of facts and familial relationship for the merged pages.

Types of Wiki pages

What is a Namespace?

A namespace signifies the type of page it is, like a category. It is the word before the colon in the title of each page. Thus, person pages are in the Person namespace, such as Person:Ella Grey (1).

What is an Article?

Articles are blank free form wiki pages that you can use to write about anything genealogical that is not a person, place, source or family. Articles do not have namespaces.

What are Place pages?

WeRelate has the largest documented inhabited current and historical place index available. Place pages contain geographical and historical information about particular places. You may find research tips, timelines, charts outlining when records were kept, maps and geo-coordinates.

How to title a place page?

Place pages are titled with the smallest jurisdiction first, followed by containing jurisdictions, separated by commas. Whatever follows the last comma is the country name. Thus, a place named New York, New York would be indexed in the country of "New York" and not in the United States. Each country has a different name hierarchy. The United States is Town, County, United States.

Do you enter a cemetery as a place?

Yes, if the cemetery is located within the town limits enter the cemetery below the town: Cemetery, Town, County, State, Country. If the town is not known or if the cemetery is located in a rural area enter the cemetery below the county: Cemetery, County, State, Country. If you know the township, you may alternatively enter the cemetery below the township: Cemetery, Township, County, State, Country.

Why are some of the place names blue and others red?

Blue links link to existing pages. Click on a red link to create a pages for this title. Please search for your place name before creating a new page.

Is there a short cut for entering place names?

Yes, if you enter the name of the town or county followed by a comma and wait 2 seconds, you will see a list of all the places in the world with that name. Click on the appropriate one.

What are Source and MySource pages?

Source pages are for sources of general interest, such as Oregon death records. You will find access and reference information along with some research tips and evaluations. MySource pages are for personally significant sources such as a family bible or a death certificate.

What are talk pages?

Every content page has a talk page. This a place for you to discuss the material of the content page. Click on the Talk link at the top of any page to leave comments. Whenever a watched talk or content page is edited, you will receive an email alerting you to a change.

What are User pages?

Your user page is place to tell the community about yourself and your research. You can create them from your dashboard.

Replying on User Talk Pages

The replies should be on the page where the question/comment was first raised. When you reply to a comment on your user page make sure the person who posted the question is also a watcher so they'll be notified. If you make a comment on someone's user page; select watch this page. If for some reason a user wasn't watching your page after they left a comment, copy and move the entire comment to that user's page and then make a note on your page that the conversation has been moved.

What is a category?

A category is a user-created list of pages of interest. It is also a way of cross-referencing pages that are not obviously connected. For instance, Category:Drayton Family Slave Genealogy is a list of slave records for unrelated individual slaves from a particular plantation.

Miscellaneous

What is "MyRelate"?

"My Relate" is a set of features to help you use WeRelate more powerfully. It includes:

• Dashboard lets you see your network, check your watchlist, view your contributions list, manage your trees, create password protected user pages, and access your profile.
• Network displays all the WeRelate user names of people who are watching the same pages you are. This indicates a possible shared interest if not relatedness.
• Watchlist lists all pages that you have marked with "Watch". Items that are bold are those you haven't visited since they were last changed.
• Contributions lists those pages that you have edited, most recent first. This is a good way to find a page you've recently edited, but can't remember.
• User Profile takes you quickly back to your User page.
• User Talk Page takes you quickly to your own Talk page.
• Trees displays which trees you have and allows you to manage them.
• Show Duplicates displays possible duplicate person and family pages that you may have. See Help:Merging_pages.

Can I copyright the information that I contribute to WeRelate?

Yes. You retain the copyright to whatever you contribute to WeRelate. You may still put it in a book and sell it; it is yours. However, text posted to WeRelate is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, which means that other people can freely copy it and use it as long as they give you credit and share "derivative" works in a likewise manner. See terms of use for more information. If you don't want your content subject to this license, please host it elsewhere.

Can I copy information I find on WeRelate and paste it elsewhere?

Yes. Any text displayed on a WeRelate page is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. You can freely copy it and use it as long as you give proper attribution and share your "derivate" works in a likewise manner. See terms of use for more information.

Can I link to WorldConnect, GenCircles or similar sites on WeRelate pages?

Yes. You can link off site by typing [http://www.NameOfTheSite name]. An example: [http://wikipedia.org Wikipedia] would appear on the page as Wikipedia. Be sure to leave a space between the url and the name you want to appear in blue in the text.

If you want to cite such pages as sources, you can create a MySource page. To cite a page once, type the name of the website in the source title field while leaving "citation only" selected in the drop-down box. Put the URL surrounded by brackets in the Vol./pages field. (Note, however, that such sources are by their nature not particularly reliable and should be replaced by better sources where possible.)

However, please do not add WorldConnect, GenCircles or similar sites as "links", "further reading", or similar listings on person or family pages. If you find useful information on such sites, move it to the WeRelate page and cite it appropriately.

What is a Permanent Link?

When you select more > permanent link on the menu you set a permanent link to the specific version of the page you are viewing: a link that will always take you to this version, regardless of whether the page has been edited in the future.

Are there interwiki links in place to Wikipedia?

Yes, type wikipedia: for the namespace; e.g., wikipedia:Main page.

How can I see previous versions of a given page?

Click on the history link at the top of any page to see how the page has been edited. Nothing is ever lost.

How do I find out about administration activities that I could become involved in?

WeRelate is supported by donations and volunteers. Please check out the volunteer log to see what administration activities you could become involved in. Thank you!

How do I discover what pages link to a particular page?

Every Namespace page has a menu item at the top, More. When you click on this and choose What links here, you can discover important information such as:

• the people in WeRelate buried in that cemetery
• the families in WeRelate in that town
• the sources referencing that county
• the surnames mentioned in that book

What genealogical information is copyrightable?

Here is a good overview.