Every body has their own way of doing things. The most important thing is to be consistent and to think about how others can understand how you do it. Victor -----Original Message----- From: "ColeValleyGirl via" <family-historian-users@rootsweb.com> Sent: ‎03/‎01/‎2016 14:39 To: "trevor@trevorrix.co.uk" <trevor@trevorrix.co.uk>; "family-historian-users@rootsweb.com" <family-historian-users@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: [FHU] References Trevor, Nobody is forcing you to do anything -- if you want to rely on images that may or may not be accurate and complete representations of the originals and not analyse the reliability of the evidence you're using, then carry on doing so if it gives you most pleasure. However, some of us get more enjoyment out of more rigour , which doesn't make us right and you wrong or vice versa. But I think you're doing beginners a disservice if you lead them to believe that all versions of the same source are equally accurate or complete. For example, I have transcriptions of the 1939 register (bought before Findmypast got involved) that have significantly more info (less redactions and better transcription) than the FIndmypast equivalent. If I just quote "1939 register" and let them find their own version, they won't find what I've seen and they won't understand why I've documented what I have. And while some beginners (I wouldn't presume to say how many) want to keep things simple and won't much worry about citing their sources accurately, others will value the opportunity to do so (especially if they ever have their conclusions challenged and need to understand why they reached them). So you're doing them another disservice if you don't show them the tools they might use and let them decide for themselves what's enough rigour. ColeValleyGirl -----Original Message----- From: family-historian-users-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:family-historian-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Trevor Rix via Sent: 03 January 2016 14:04 To: family-historian-users@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [FHU] References In my opinion most of this discussion regarding references, sources and citations is making life far too complicated and time consuming, taking away much of the enjoyment from researching and recording what has been found. As the permutations of faithfully recording references, sources and citations are complex with many variables, it seems that many users have developed their own methods that are non-standard because there is no absolute agreed standard. So, what is the point in wasting all that time? Now we are in the digital age what matters is having a digital copy of the original source image that can be called up immediately with a click of the mouse. That image contains all of the information that is needed. Why transcribe it? I prefer to keep things simple, not spend hours typing references, sources and citations. In my opinion it is sufficient to link the a copy of the digital source image of the event (the whole page, not cropped) to each of the people concerned, using Ancestral Sources or the Media tab in the Property Box. Again in my opinion it is not necessary to record detail such as where the image was downloaded from be it Ancestry or Findmypast or FamilySearch because the original source has to be the single paper parish register or paper census return etc. the location of which can change just as licences/agreements companies have negotiated with the record holder can change resulting in the image no longer being available from company A or company B at some point in time. Keep it simple. Many beginners would be totaly turned off by all this complexity. Trevor Rix ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message