Charlene, Dave & all interested parties, (Which should be everyone)
I am VERY interested in this & would love to help in any way I am able. I
too have seen some of my earliest (and incorrect!) info show up in the
GEDCOMS of people I don't even know & have never met! Obviously some of
this stuff really gets around & it stays around!! I won't go through Dave's
whole note word for word but after each sentence I was shouting "yes!".
(Felt like I was in church which is where I'll be in abt 2 hours anyway).
Some thoughts. When I get info from others & they give no source for their
info I do not add it to my own. I might put it in the notes or as a source.
If they give a good source (sorry not WFT, IGI or ANF) I use them as a
source. Still trying to figure this out. If someone tells me they found a
death date in lets say the History of so & so Co. c1945
on pg 67, do I cite that as the source & put the book as the details or vice
versa? I'm not consistent w/ that right now. Of course the biggest problem
is that most people have NO sources! And worse they get defiant when
asked!! As my kids would say "what's up w/ that?".
When I connect people in my files & I'm not 100% sure they belong together I
always cite that somewhere. Usually in the birthplace, somewhere obvious.
I will write NOT PROVEN in bold type. Another big problem is when this info
is copied that choice bit of info is not. When I'm given a GED I usually
will take out the direct line of the person who submitted the info & paste
that only into my file. Again if they didn't give sources I don't do it,
because later I'll never remember where in the heck it came from!
If it seems like my main gripe is sources or the lack thereof, you're right!
What's funny abt this is that when I started into "this", only 5-6 years
ago, I was not good abt it. Never imagined I'd accumulate so much stuff,
that I'd never be able to remember where I got it all! I too have
notebooks, folders & manilla envelopes full of info that will take 2 more
lifetimes to enter into the computer.
Despite all this there is still nothing quite like the feeling you get when
one of those manilla envelopes arrives in the mail from a "cybercousin" &
you open it to see a picture of great-great-great-grandparents. I don't
feel the same rush of excitement when I find a GED on the net.
So maybe us source-nuts just have to band together! Let the games begin
Dave!!!
Cindy Torres Owens
1023 Aquia Dr
Stafford, VA 22554-1940
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/o/w/e/Cindy-L-Owens/index.html