Lou I have come to the conclusion that some people only want to say "look at me, I have 50,000 people on my tree, see how important I am" they don't care if it is right or wrong it is the numbers that matter. Why else would someone post a tree that goes back to the year 1 AD? Unless they are just having us on and showing how ridiculous some trees can get. Clay --- On Wed, 5/19/10, Lou Poole <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: Lou Poole <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] reliable sources To: [log in to unmask] Date: Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 10:32 AM I have been following this discussion closely, and though I have quite a number of comments I could make, I'll confine myself to the one overriding question I'd like an answer for, or to... Why does someone post family information, usually asserted as truth by omission of any discussion or caveats, when they do not know it to be reasonably correct? In the past when I've encountered such incorrect information I've thought I was doing the person who posted the information, and the people who might encounter it, a favor by trying to contact them with a reasoned, factual rebuttal and/or correction that includes primary source documentation. My experience: 1) about half the time I can find no way to contact the person who posted the information 2) about half the time that I can find a contact address, I get no response when I attempt to contact them 3) about half the time that I do get a response, the response comes across as somewhere between disbelief and outrage that I should even be questioning the incorrect data. 4) and finally, about half the time I do get a chance to make my case, it is ignored, with no explanation as to why. (and bless the remaining less than 10% of the people who post, who do respond, and who are willing to discuss the issue(s) with an open and objective mind.) So, again, I ask why do people feel compelled to post information if they want no feed-back, no discussion, no corrections, or even the opportunity to correct my interpretation if I'm wrong? Am I wrong if I tentatively conclude that such postings have nothing to do with genealogy and everything to do with ego on the part of the poster? Lou Poole To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html