Thursday, December 6, 2012

Online family trees

During Tuesday's workshop we discussed the perils of using family trees found online, including those with information we know to be incorrect. One opinion: "Why does it matter; as we should never accept anything found online as true without verifying all facts."

Family Tree Magazine (Feb. 2012 issue) has an article with a few ideas about this problem.

Suggestions from the article: Address the culprit as "dear cousin" rather than "dear moron." Suggest that "I'm pleased my online family tree was useful" rather than "I see that you've stolen my information." Offer evidence of necessary changes in facts rather than an unhelpful "only an idiot could believe Dan Nickel came from Germany."

Food for thought. 

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