Re: Posting Genealogical Data

It is easy for researchers to disparage work of others.If we could ban all the bad work that has been published we would find a world with little help to us doing research.

The important thing to remember is that if we wait till we get every thing right in our databases before we provide copies to LDS, etc. there will be no data there.In order to do research and share info we must publish periodically with complete knowledge that parts of what we have published is in need of more research, is possibly wrong, etc.

As researchers, we must realize all that we examin, whether old bible, census data, etc is suspect.All was recorded at a time and is subject to correction as later facts come to light.The only duty we who published have is to correct data when it is proven to be false.That is not always easy, especially with LDS.I spent three years running down an incorrect connection with my CRENSHAW line.I was finally able to get in contact with the widow of the poster and she had no interest in doing correction of her husband's work.I have not been able to get it done either.Fortunately my postings on LDS have it correct as do others.

Let's not pile on early posted research by our peers, but make sure WHAT WE HAVE DONE IS PUBLISHED with the knowledge that serious researchers will know it is a snapshot in time.The snapshot is to be evaluated in comparison to other later published work by the original poster and others that may be more accurate.Failure to publish is the most serious mistake we can make.

Serious scientific research, involves the publishing of theories so other professionals can review and work from it to come to the correct conclusions.Genealogy work with so many missing parts is much the same.