Dear Genealogy Sites,
Please oh Please could you insist on people sourcing their dearly departed loved one. By not insisting on sources, a conglomeration of multifaceted errors has occurred. Novice, and I am a novice, are attaching peoples names as family members just because they have the right name or location. Little do they know that in one locations alone, there are millions of John Smiths who were born that same year. Some of those John Smiths even married a Betty Sue Richards, or was it Richardz. I know crazy, right.
Authenticity is in the details, and well you could really help by insisting sources be included. You already have the options, why not make it mandatory. Ok, yes we get the fact people would have to look through all those census reports, other lovely documents added, and OH heck they might even have to upload a document or two – but really is it that hard to do, especially if you are invested in preserving a family legacy.
How about a compromise? If you are not going to mandate sourcing, then PLEASE for the love of all, make some fields required entry. A Mary Jones from no where, does no one any good. Was Mary Jones from England, America or Africa. Seriously?? If someone doesnt know where their family member was from, perhaps having them wait until they can find the persons location is in order before entering their information into the HUGE LARGE DATABASE that has millions of Mary Jones with no additional details.
It take a community. People have to be willing to include the sources, if their not online, then from getting it from originating sources. A Death Certificate, Birth Certificate, or Marriage Certificate, most of these things in the 1800’s are available. Of course I can give leniency to the later years, but at some point accountability needs taken. So PLEASE Genealogy Sites, we recognize that people entering data can help generate part of your income, but I am willing to bet that down the road if you have a quality data base, people will be willing to invest.
The Hunt for Peter Wise 