Hi John,You asked "Once a transcriber has written something plausible, how is a researcher to know which bits of the transcription to treat with caution and which to accept with confidence?"The short answer to that is to follow the standard advice that all would-be genealogists should (but don't) follow and that is "Never take copied information as irrefutable, always examine the original document for yourself" The philosophy of FreeCEN transcriptions is that they are only provided as a guide to where the information you seek might be. Once that is established then you can hone in on the original document you need.Sorry but I really don't think your analogy of data gathering from motorists is apposite to the discussion at hand. All the bestJim