I wish we could get back to GENEALOGY on this list - it seems more people want to complain about inaccuracies of information, bad folks at Ancestry or people who use information without properly giving credit to the source than actually doing something worthwhile!

The fact remains that there will ALWAYS be some inaccurate information, whether in incorrect census materials, typos of dates, bad research or whatever (and don't forget about those who purposely "seed" the genealogical community with bad information just to say "Gotcha" to a few!); likewise, there may be some at Ancestry that don't do their job the way we think they should or provide information that we don't want disclosed (that's really OUR fault!). And do we really think that we are all infallible and that it is everyone else that is causing the problems? I will bet that there is not ONE person out there that at some point has not used information and given proper credit --- it is a common mistake -- and can be a careless oversight, a result of missing information on the provider or just plain sloppy work! The point is, that will always be a part of genealogy and we should clean our on house first before ridiculing others - none of us are without some guilt!

As for the selling of information by Ancestry, the people complaining about that should have know from the start what they were getting into. Ancestry has made it very clear from the start that they are in BUSINESS (gasp!!!!) just as we all are in some form or another. If it were not for companies wanting to make a profit and generate business we would not have three-fourths of the research material that we now have to work from. Do you not consider the publishing companies, etc. from whom you get your materials in the same category as Ancestry? What about state record houses that charge you for access to data? Is that not the same principal as groups like Ancestry charging for information? No one, absolutely NO ONE can give away free, perfectly checked and verified information and stay around very long!

Geeeezzz people, let's get back to doing our own family trees and stop trying to reconstruct the universe!

Anthony

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