Mightier Acorns

Reflections upon reaching 5,000 edits

I knew the big round number was creeping up on me, but I didn’t expect to see it when it happened. I tend to go for several weeks without editing, then add a flurry of full biographies for a whole family group.

But…

Major v Minor

Everyone’s approach to editing a wiki is different. Some people are more comfortable adding one fact at a time. Save, read, edit; view, save, read, edit—building one page might mean a few dozen edits until they get it “right” and move on.

I prefer to gather all the facts and evidence, draft as complete a biography as I can, and put my source citations in order before I even begin to create a page. I still end up finding minor edits to fix, but for me, one page usually means 3 to 5 edits.

Neither approach is “right” or “wrong,” and I am just grateful when other people add even a small edit to a page I’m interested in.

A Little Preview

You will notice that edit #5,000 was on a new page (created as edit #4,999) for the first wife of James Henry Opp. I worked on my Opp family extensively about a decade ago, before getting on WikiTree, and I keep trying to work my way back in their direction. They need to be added to the wiki, but there have been some challenges.

James H. Opp was an interesting character and his biography took several twists and turns: an early divorce, a bankruptcy, allegations of embezzlement (not by that name, because they were unproven allegations and that would have been libel), and a total of three marriages with 2, 3, and 3 children (plus one adoption) with each wife, respectively. My standard is to try to develop as complete a biography as possible for each wife and child, and since the family spent time in New Jersey, New York City, and Upstate New York, the records are scattered and hard to find.

But once I get all of that done, I will start climbing those Opp Wavetops, and there are some interesting folks up there!

To the Next Milestone!