The news is out--there is genealogy data available online! Actual cold, hard, data. Facts--names, dates, events. But considering the number of individuals online, the data is few and far between. "Data" in this case means pension lists, surname lists, census extracts, land record extracts, obituaries, vital records, military records, passenger lists, etc.

Many users new to the Internet mistakenly believe that their entire family history is lurking on some web page, just waiting for them to discover it. And, although the number of people posting to newsgroups asking where to find "the online censuses and vital records" is fewer, it still occurs.

So what happens when you do strike gold online, and discover an online data source with your family information? How do you treat the information? Is it valid? Is it suspect? How do you find the source? Do you look for verification?