submitted family files in Ancestry

[gilbertdh]

I started posting this as a tangential topic to the thread below on submitting a gedcom to Ancestry.

You have probably noticed that Ancestry is returning entries from these submitted family files in search results among that from their data collections. These submitted files are rarely sourced. Recently though I've seen them sourced from other submitted family files which in turn are unsourced. In my searching I've found a lot of incorrect data and unproven assumptions from an earlier genealogy document about parts of my family. Will there be any way to correct these things as these files multiply?

David

[donworth]

Re: submitted family files in Ancestry

Will there be any way to correct these things as these files multiply?

Probably not.

If I have a real issue with something, I sometimes find all the trees that have replicated the error and post a comment (nicely worded and not at all accusatory) on each one of them. Many of the posters are pretty clueless and don't even notice there is a comment in their tree (or they never logon to Ancestry again) so they just leave it there. If they do respond to my comment, it's usually to ask how to correct it. I figure any outcome works since people who come to copy the information in those trees may see the comment and think twice about doing so.

Anyway, from what I've seen, many (most?) genealogist who know what they are doing don't post their trees on Ancestry for this reason. However, I think that's exactly the wrong way to respond. Instead of abandoning Ancestry public trees to a chaos of error, I think it's better to post well researched, and properly sourced data there. Some people (the ones that count) will see sources and go right to your tree. And, if your data gets copied all over the place it's likely to offset some of the bad information - especially if you put your data other places (eg. your own web site, familysearch.org, etc.) as well. In the end, well researched data will live longer than junk.

You usually can't count on people copying your data AND the sources (or crediting you) but I like to post family stories on Ancestry with a last line that gives my name, email and web address. When people copy the stories, they have never removed that last line (that would be too hard to figure out for many of them) so I get credit for my work.

Don