No Sources Attached

JRBlankenship

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum, but have been using FamilySearch for several years. The wonderful (and occasionally frustrating) thing about FamilySearch is that it's crowd sourced. Everyone's wisdom and research are welcomed.

One user is very active, and has entered many, many details about one branch of my family tree. Unfortunately, she didn't attach sources, but instead types statements into the "reason this information may be correct" box. For example, "He was with his mother Sabra Paul before she married Thomas Lumbard." Without evidence, we can't be sure this is true, so it shouldn't appear in the person's life details. Every entry this user has made needs to be checked, and sources attached, a time-consuming process.

I've written the user a couple of times, with an explanation of how and why to attach sources, but she hasn't responded. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

Paul W

@JRBlankenship

If you are referring to the profile for Henry Lumbard (KNWG-652) there are a number of sources attached there, mostly added (by her) in 2016. These include a 1841 census record which shows him in the household of Thomas and Sebra (sic) Lumbard. So it does appear the user (username removed) has added evidence for her reason statements.

You must consider the possibility she is no longer active within Family Tree. In any case, you are free to add the results of your own research, in order to give further evidence of relationships / inputted details of Henry.

JRBlankenship

Thanks for your response. I understand there are sources under the source tab, but they aren't attached to each fact, so someone has to sift through all of the sources to ensure that each fact is correct. That just makes things way too difficult. Of course, I can go through all of (username removed)'s research, double check it and attach sources, but it would save many hours of time if that were done in the first place.

I'd rather not use any user names here because I don't want to embarrass them. There are numerous users who add lots of facts without attaching sources. I think people are in such a rush, they don't want to do the tedious work that's required to show sources for each fact—so what they're adding isn't very useful.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

The sources are attached, but they are not tagged. The option to tag all sources is a new development.

I probably have a few hundred thousand still not tagged because we have only been able to do that for the last year or so.

Help article explaining tagging sources: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-tag-a-source-in-family-tree-to-a-specific-piece-of-information

Gordon Collett

Yes, in 2016, I don't think we could tag any sources, just attach them to the source page. Then came tagging to information in the Vitals box and it was just about a year ago that tagging to information in the Other Information section became available.

Fortunately, it is pretty efficient to use the Sources link in the righthand column under Tools to open the sources in the side panel, then open the sources one at a time, and tag from there.

Personally, if I checked a few dozen of a user's entries, tagging data as I go, and found that that user's work was high caliber, I would quit checking when I see that user as the last contributor, and go on to more critical items.

Ashlee C.

Mod Note: Some of the comments in this discussion were edited to protect the privacy of a living person. Please see the Community Code of Conduct for more details.

JRBlankenship

Thanks for all of your input!