So I took a month’s membership to Ancestry.com recently
and started researching some of my lines when I found
something that sort of discombobulated me, and at my age I
can’t afford to lose my combobulate.
I won’t say which line it was but I was checking the “Stories
and Articles” category and well, one of my posts here on a
particular family member showed up on another private
Ancestry tree.
It’s not that it’s posted on Ancestry. This has nothing to do
with the controversy of last year. And one of the main
purposes of my blog is to get my family’s history out there
and accessible. It’s just that I never expected to have
something I wrote quoted as part of someone’s
research.
Nor am I objecting that the person did it as long as it’s not
cited as a source in and of itself. (I do give the sources for the
anecdote within the article itself.) What does give me pause is
that it reminds me that I need to be as accurate as I can when
writing about my family history and genealogy because it will
be read by others and if I mess up, there might well be a ripple
effect as the error appears elsewhere.
So, folks, whoever you may be, please read the warning under
my blog’s title and verify what I’ve written for yourselves. I
try to cite my sources when I post and if you find I’ve made an
error in one of my posts I’d like to hear from you!
2 comments:
I have found a lot of my information on other peoples trees at ancestry and some it later proved to be wrong. In only a couple of instances did the person using the info contact me. A simple howdy-do would have been nice! If they took the trouble to contact me I send them corrected info otherwise they are stuck with my lemons. I hope they check back and see this post and at least drop in long enough to say hi!
Bill:
Glad to see you have survived with your combobulate intact.
I'd also like to say one of the things I really enjoy about your blog is your post titles.
They always make me want to stop and read. The sign of a good writer and a well thought out post.
fM
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