Volunteer Data Entry in Family Tree
Just wondering if others share my views on all the "junk genealogy" being entered into the Family Tree by various "volunteers" particularly from US Census Records. As a result, profile names being added to the Tree are in error and incomplete. Names are many time incorrect or incomplete, especially with nicknames and female names where maiden names are not available in the Census), birth dates are not correct, and even family relationships are in error in some cases. I think we should "Just Say No to Junk Genealogy". In my opinion, Census Records are probably the least accurate records available as far as being a "Primary Source" of family history information, even though they have their place and have research value. Just sayin'
DL Melville
Answers
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LONG thread going back 18 months:
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I feel your pain. I too have had to fix stuff when the "volunteers" start putting stuff like that in. Many of them just click and pop it in whether it's right or not and relationships can and do get messed up.
While census records are good to have, you can't always depend on them to be accurate and the people who should be working with them are the people who know the families the best so that the correct documentation can be handled where it should be at. Of course we all know we don't spend all our time on one group all the time so it's difficult at times to gather all that when it comes out.
Best thing to do is watch and follow as many people as you can where you have problem areas like that.
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We can't always depend on anything in FS because we're all volunteers and we all make mistakes. I take issue with "people who know the families the best" because not all the people involved in FS know "my family or your family best " In fact, the majority of us are good-hearted people trying and doing their best to further the goals of family history and genealogical research. We just need to teach to and remind ourselves to document, document, document!
I take my hat off to all our experts, our folks with years of experience, and, yes our techies too!😍except for AI, with whom I will always have a hate/love relationship!
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I would like to lend my voice to share the concerns expressed by @dlmelville and others. I have also had issues with some of the work done by these project groups.
I have fixed several of the problems they have created and in two instances, contacted the users directly. In both cases they recognized and apologised for the errors they had introduced. I was left with the opinion that they were very inexperienced and were just performing tasks they had been asked or instructed to perform.
Does anyone know who these groups are? Could they be youth groups undertaking these activities as service projects?
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@John Curran If you skim the thread I attached in my reply of 22 Dec, your questions are answered there. It's long; I wouldn't expect anyone to read the entire thread. At least, not in a single sitting.
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The BYU Record Linking Lab is responsible for some or all of these projects. I participate in one called 5ADay where they send me 5 sources each day, with suggested people that the sources go to. (It's been right about 98% of the time, in my experience.) Usually they are census records to attach. The biggest problem I have seen is that past census records have been attached and the wife's name is not her maiden name. I take a look at the family and try to learn more about them before deciding to attach the record. I often attach other records if they are showing in the Hints. Occasionally I find big messes, but usually the main problem is with the wife's name.
It is my hope that these volunteer projects are getting more accurate, but I just have my personal experience.
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Thank you @Áine.ní.Donnghaile. Long thread indeed.
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