Yes good points.  I think a lot of the misinformation is put up with the idea that someone will come along and correct it or with the idea that it will be corrected once the correct information is found.  I think most if not all databases are a work in progress. Merry Christmas See full size image Happy New Year ----- Original Message ----- From: "Diana Gale Matthiesen" <DianaGM@dgmweb.net> To: brown@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 3:40:51 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: Re: [BROWN] WILL HELP If you upload information to Ancestry.com, of course they're going to use it. If you don't like your information being used by Ancestry, don't upload it to Ancestry. Most of what's free at Ancestry.com has been uploaded by users, so blame other users for the errors, not Ancestry.com.  At least in the case of RootsWebWorldConnect / AncestryWorldTrees (same database, different interface), you can add Postems supplying the correct information for any errors you find. Most of what's really valuable at Ancestry.com requires a paid subscription to access.  It's not a question of knowing, ahead of time, where to look.  Whatever they have, their search engine will find, provided you try enough spelling variations of the name. Most of their databases will allow you to add a correction to the index, so it behooves all of us to add the standard spelling for names that are misspelled in the index, as an aid to future workers.  Some indices will even allow you to add a comment to, for example, indicate the correct relationships in a census record that is, on the face of it, misleading (e.g., that a young boy is a nephew, not a son). If you see a fellow genealogist is in error, don't complain about it, correct them.  The more we share our information, the faster we will all advance.   All IMO, of course, Diana > -----Original Message----- <snip> > > I am not very good at Ancestry and avoid like the plague to put any   > information on line at their site.  They love to use every > bit of it and  some is incorrect!  Maybe you have an idea where to > look on Ancestry that I  have missed. > <snip> > > Nora   ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BROWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

None of the online databases -- not the LDS, not Ancestry, not RootsWeb, not Broderbund -- check the accuracy of the information uploaded to their sites, much less edit and correct it. They couldn't possibly provide the personnel that would be required to do so. They're simply offering us these databases as tools for the exchange information, but it's entirely up to us to evaluate the validity of that information. WorldConnect, at least, allows you to post corrections online, on the database itself. I know of no way to correct bad information in the other databases, except to counteract it by posting the correct information elsewhere online (e.g., on our own web sites). At least with online information, the errors *can* be replaced with correct information. Errors burned onto CDs, for example by Broderbund (Genealogy.com)'s "WorldFamilyTrees" and the LDS's "Pedigree Files," will, like works printed on paper, continue to be perpetuated by novices for the foreseeable future. Diana > -----Original Message----- > From: brown-bounces@rootsweb.com On Behalf Of dianelovejoy@comcast.net > Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 4:47 PM > To: brown@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [BROWN] WILL HELP > > Yes good points.  I think a lot of the misinformation is put > up with the idea that someone will come along and correct it > or with the idea that it will be corrected once the correct > information is found.  I think most if not all databases are > a work in progress. > > > >