I don't think you can entirely avoid this. You'll just have to make a list of pros and cons and decide which one out weighs the other and whether or not to publish.
Some of the trees on Ancestry are sourced. Sources are important. However, when I began genealogy, my sources were lacking. Even now, I go to look something up and there's no source attached. I was soooooo excited in the beginning when I went to build my family tree that I didn't bother with the source. Now I want to kick myself. But I do have an ancestor who married his mother-in-law. I'm sure if you saw that one you'd think I was in error. But I have the source on it. His wife died right after childbirth. He needed someone to take care of the baby and the little ones. Grandma was a widow and was able to do so. But in the Azores in the 1700s, you didn't bring Grandma into the house to take care of the kids. You didn't bring ANY woman into the house to take care of the kids unless she was your wife. So he married her. At least if you saw that one on Ancestry, I'd be able to find that source and give it to you. Although Ancestry can be frustrating, there's nothing like being able to search for ancestors long past your bedtime, long past the Family History Center (FHC) hours, while it is snowing, sleeting, hailing, etc outside. Ancestry also has a newer feature. Say I'm looking at a U.S. Census. It tells me John Q Public also downloaded that image. I can contact John Q and ask how he's related! Well, that is, if he just wasn't randomly picking ANY Francisco and Francisca somewhere in Massachusetts and claiming that they were his ancestors! I've found one American cousin on my mom's side that way. The people downloading the images for my Portuguese ancestors and cousins, well, let's say that they were on a fishing expedition. Interesting this thread started. Dick Eastman wrote and article today on different collaborative programs with different amounts of control and features: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2010/12/from-the-in-box-which-online-software-to-use.html or http://goo.gl/fVafg Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
