Tim Powys-Lybbe wrote: > In message of 14 Feb, Wes Groleau <groleau+news@freeshell.org> wrote: > > >>Peter J Seymour wrote: >> >>>I'm trying to use a gedcom file that has a lot of occurrences of an >>>unrecognised tag "FREE" at the 1 level under INDI (one per INDI). It >>>typically occurs in association with BIRT and DEAT. Problem is I can't >>>figure out what it means and the rest of the data doesn't help either. >>>The main data seems to be a date. Can anyone shed light on this tag. >> >>At the beginning of the GEDCOM there should be an identification >>of the program that created it. That program's documentation >>is the place to look. If it was hand-edited, the person who >>created it is the one to ask. >> >>If both of those are unavailable, post a few representative samples. > > > I am getting more and more uncomfortable about this use of GEDCOM files. > > If you are taking in information, in a GEDCOM file for instance, from > another person, you may consider that their research methods are well > known and their word on something is almost as good as a lookup from > some primary documents. > > But for the bulk of GEDCOMs you do not know this. Does the originator > even say where he (or she) found the information? Are sources includes > in the GEDCOM? Are they good sources? In any case you should endeavour > to check their sources by some means to satisfy yourself that the > information was valid. > > So either you have well researched information from someone you know to > be a good researcher and you can ask them what they mean. Or you have > checked it out yourself. In either case you must be able to find very > easily what 'FREE' referred to. If you can't find any source for FREE > or anything else like that, just leave it out. > > But adding someone's GEDCOM without some verification of the data is > genealogical suicide. (Perhaps all this copying of GEDCOMs around the > internet will be a means to the over-population problem? :-) ) > Quite. The original question was a simple technical one relating to the meaning of a gedcom tag. I wasn't meaning to imply anything about genealogical practice. Peter