J. Hugh Sullivan wrote: > On Mon, 23 May 2011 04:52:05 -0700 (PDT), Tom Wetmore > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> This thread is an offshoot from the Linux thread that is going off on a num= >> ber of tangentsl. >> >> How should we store evidence in genealogical databases? >> >> You get a marriage record in the mail; you find an image of a census record= >> at Ancestry.com; you find the record of an event on a page in a book you f= >> ound on Google books. What are you going to do with those three records? He= >> re are some possible answers. > > It's easy for me - I establish parameters. If it is online or in a > book I don't want a hard copy unless it is my direct line. Most people > who have all that paper can't find anything anyhow. And finding it > serves no more purpose than listing the source where others can see > it. After I have proved it to myself I have absolutely no need to > prove it to others. If they are not satisfied with what I have they > can do their own research. Moreover, the relatives who have even a minor interest in any of this have about 1/4 as much interest in where I found something or what it really says. If I share sources with them, they aren't in footnotes; the narrative text gets generated with footnotes because that's how software does it, but I go back and edit the document pulling those footnotes into the prose; as in , "I finally found this marriage in the next county over (Tyler) in the chronological record but just not in the county we thought." Everyone is happy, particularly after I send the one who does care a copy of the unedited version. If someone doesn't wish to believe me, showing them papers won't change their mind and not showing them papers won't change the minds of those who do believe me. Cheryl