The short answer to your question is, there is no way to know. You cannot assume, unfortunately, that all genealogists are diligently documenting all their sources. Not everyone knows the difference between a primary source, and a secondary source. Some people are simply collecting names. They are not interested in proof. Others require proof, and assume nothing. Some people are offended if a potential cousin contacts them, asking for source information. There have even been unscrupulous professional genealogists who have provided faulty information to their unknowing clients. Whatever you find on-line, consider a signpost, pointing in a direction. Then prove, or disprove it yourself, with documentation. Liz in Michigan ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Ruther" <chicagojohn@comcast.net> To: <POLAND-ROOTS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2008 11:06 PM Subject: [POLAND] A Questioin of what to believe. > This is not a question about Poland or the Polish; it is a question about > Genealogy in general. If that is not appropriate for this forum, then > please, by all means delete this message. > > My Question is simply this: When do you believe or not believe what you > find on Ancestry.com? > > In addition to trying to trace my own Polish Roots, I have been working to > trace the heritage and lineage of my wife, Gayle's English ancestors. Very > little is known about her Father's family and all of the family members > who may know something are long gone. > > We have some bits and pieces of information with some names and dates. One > of those names was of a Mary Ann Cornell. She married a Charles Ryder and > when I went into Ancestry.com I found posted in their section called ONE > WORLD TREE a whole host of information dating back hundreds of years; work > that I assume some other genealogist performed. The information was posted > in 2001 and the "contact eMail address" is no longer viable. > > On the whole, the information looks valid; oh, there are some obvious > errors, such as incorrect dates of birth and such, but mainly it looks > like an excellent resource. My question is simply, how can a subscriber > know that the information someone else can upload to Ancestry is, as far > as they know, truthful and a good effort at accuracy has been employed? > That someone is not having fun at ancestry.com's expense and loading a > "Family Tree" with bogus information. > > I understand that some information that individuals put on line can be > incorrect, that is not what I am talking about. Honest mistakes I would > believe will happen, but what about out and out fraud. Does Ancestry have > a "policing action" in their organization or do you simply take it on > faith that only people of good will enter data into Family Trees? > > John > ********************************* > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at > Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com > ---------------------------------- > Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as > long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: > researching our Polish roots. > ---------------------------------- > Browse the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots > Search the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message