Hi folks, As the primary author of the book, Family History Documentation Guidelines, it is one of my main frustrations to encounter information that is undocumented and/or incorrect. I spend a lot of time trying to teach people to do good documentation. I bill myself as a documentation evangelist. So I think I can understand the feelings about bad information that has been expressed in this thread. However, it seems to me that we should consider the fact that if people did not make any information available until it is proven to be 100% correct, we probably would not have nearly as many clues, leads, places to start, or hunches to go on as we do by having the volumes of data available to us. We all know that even the most primary of sources can have hideous errors. My mother-in-law is listed as a male in the census record when she was an infant. I can go on and on about how normally good sources have been misinterpreted, so I find myself being much more cautious about criticizing information submitted by others. There was a time when I was not as conscientious about accuracy as I have become, and I appreciate the patience my mentors had with me. A good scientist continues his or her research to refine their understanding of their field, but they are not very popular if they criticize the work of those who came before them that laid the foundation of where they are now. Just my personal opinion. Richard Rands SV-CGG

Richard Rands wrote: > Hi folks, > As the primary author of the book, Family History Documentation > Guidelines, it is one of my main frustrations to encounter information > that is undocumented and/or incorrect. I spend a lot of time trying to > teach people to do good documentation. I bill myself as a documentation > evangelist. So I think I can understand the feelings about bad > information that has been expressed in this thread. > > However, it seems to me that we should consider the fact that if people > did not make any information available until it is proven to be 100% > correct, we probably would not have nearly as many clues, leads, places > to start, or hunches to go on as we do by having the volumes of data > available to us.......... Hi all: I take heart from Richard's comments. Some time ago, and after several years of research, I submitted my family details to the Ancestral File. It has proved very profitable as a number of people have contacted me and exchanged information. However, it is no longer possible to correct the Ancestral File. I now know that there are a number of errors in what I submitted, most of them minor, and lots of new information and better sources that I did not have when I originally submitted. This is frustrating to me as I sometimes have to explain to contacts that the information has changed and they reply that they saw it on the AF (implying that it must be true). Jean Gilson Winnipeg, Canada -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.11.16 - Release Date: 24/05/05