What I've heard lately is that there seems to be a rise in submissions from people that never visited the cemetery and never photographed a headstone. They seemingly post information they have found in secondary sources, such as county histories (and we all know how inaccurate many of those are). I'm sure they're simply trying to be helpful, but are, in reality, simply muddying the waters. I have no first hand experience with this, as many seemingly have, for I have been the one submitting photos and data for my own family. It's simply another case of what happens when there are no regulations for what may be submitted......it seems it started out with folks taking pics and adding them and their info to the site, which is as it should be, but is changing into a place where folks post what they or some secondary source 'think' is the burial site. Not quite the same as walking the cemetery and taking photos of the stone, which was how it started. Like everything else on the internet, we simply can't, unfortunately, believe anything without knowing where the info came from..... S. "I take photos of graves in my local cemetery to fulfill FindAGrave requests. Technically my photos are original sources because I took the pictures and own the copyright. We have to rely on families to supply accurate biographical information unless we do it ourselves with what we find on a tombstone. So we might consider FAG somewhat of a hybrid when it comes to secondary/primary".

I know people who have entered names from county books or cemetery books for Find a Grave. So, if there is a mistake in the book, there will likely be a mistake on Find a Grave. -----Original Message----- From: pa-old-chester-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:pa-old-chester-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Sandra Ferguson Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 3:33 PM To: Nancy Neuman; 'Barb Januscheitis'; pa-old-chester@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PaOldC] Find a grave What I've heard lately is that there seems to be a rise in submissions from people that never visited the cemetery and never photographed a headstone. They seemingly post information they have found in secondary sources, such as county histories (and we all know how inaccurate many of those are). I'm sure they're simply trying to be helpful, but are, in reality, simply muddying the waters. I have no first hand experience with this, as many seemingly have, for I have been the one submitting photos and data for my own family. It's simply another case of what happens when there are no regulations for what may be submitted......it seems it started out with folks taking pics and adding them and their info to the site, which is as it should be, but is changing into a place where folks post what they or some secondary source 'think' is the burial site. Not quite the same as walking the cemetery and taking photos of the stone, which was how it started. Like everything else on the internet, we simply can't, unfortunately, believe anything without knowing where the info came from..... S. "I take photos of graves in my local cemetery to fulfill FindAGrave requests. Technically my photos are original sources because I took the pictures and own the copyright. We have to rely on families to supply accurate biographical information unless we do it ourselves with what we find on a tombstone. So we might consider FAG somewhat of a hybrid when it comes to secondary/primary". ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PA-OLD-CHESTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Obviously I'm biased but I can tell you that there has always been a fairly significant amount of speculative posting on FAG. I've seen contemporary African-American's listed as being buried in a slave owning family cemetery that hasn't existed for nearly 200 yrs, I've found a white woman listed in an African-American cemetery not founded until 20 yrs after her death in a county 45 miles away from where she lived. I've found people listed in one of my family burial grounds who was not related and definitely not there. One of the reasons people have given me for doing this is that they didn't know what other cemetery might be in that area, one told me he couldn't really read the death certificate very well and "found" a cemetery with the same first letter ("L") and had no knowledge of the geography of the state he was researching. Some of it is lazy, some of it copying other people's work rather than actually visiting a cemetery. We have our transcriptions and sometimes our photos as well stolen by people who then contribute them to FAG as well. With the no-human-involved approach there is no living person to say 'hey, that is impossible' -- just my opinion.   Kathi Jones-Hudson, National Coordinator Tombstone Transcription Project http://www.usgwtombstones.org/ >________________________________ > From: Sandra Ferguson <ferg@ntelos.net> >To: Nancy Neuman <neuman.nancy@gmail.com>; 'Barb Januscheitis' <bjanuscheitis@gmail.com>; pa-old-chester@rootsweb.com >Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 2:33 PM >Subject: Re: [PaOldC] Find a grave > >  What I've heard lately is that there seems to be a rise in submissions >from people that never visited the cemetery and never photographed a >headstone.  They seemingly post information they have found in secondary >sources, such as county histories (and we all know how inaccurate many of >those are).  I'm sure they're simply trying to be helpful, but are, in >reality,  simply muddying the waters.  I have no first hand experience with >this, as many seemingly have, for I have been the one submitting photos and >data for my own family.  It's simply another case of what happens when there >are no regulations for what may be submitted......it seems it started out >with folks taking pics and adding them and their info to the site, which is >as it should be, but is changing into a place where folks post what they or >some secondary source 'think' is the burial site.  Not quite the same as >walking the cemetery and taking photos of the stone, which was how it >started.  Like everything else on the internet, we simply can't, >unfortunately,  believe anything without knowing where the info came >from..... > >                                                                            >                                                                            >                                            S. > > >"I take photos of graves in my local cemetery to fulfill FindAGrave >requests. Technically my photos are original sources because I took the >pictures and own the copyright. We have to rely on families to supply >accurate biographical information unless we do it ourselves with what we >find on a tombstone. So we might consider FAG somewhat of a hybrid when it >comes to secondary/primary". > > > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PA-OLD-CHESTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >