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 he Internet is a dynamic media, which is one of the main things that I like about it. I can continuously add to, update, and correct my pages whenever I identify an error (or when someone else identifies one, for me).
We all make typos, misspellings and transposition errors, and I am certainly no exception. I believe I must be at least partially dislectic since I almost always type a reversal of a consonant with a vowel once in every two to three sentences I just now typed "setnences" and then "tyepd' -- REALLY!), and I have to proofread at least three times to see such typos, and still miss some!
Most genealogy researchers utilize the previous work of other, earlier researchers, particularly which of noted and/or professional genealogists and in so-doing proliferate both their good work and sometimes their errors. Although I attempt in every instance to utilize reliable sources, this use or citation of an erroneous source has occasionally happened to me, along with virtually every other researcher, regardless of their belief otherwise, reputation or experience.
Some critics have suggested that a Web page which cited erroneous material should be deleted entirely, so that further proliferation of that error is avoided. I do not share that view. The books containing those errors, which exist in community, university and genealogical libraries are not destroyed. They continue to offer up the same error to future generations, along with the other non-erroneous data they contain. I believe that a much better approach is to annotate the error, offer the correction, or simply state that the information has been disproved or discredited, or is under dispute. In this way, a new researcher is enlightened as to both the origin and remediation, if any, of the error. I also hold that this approach instigates an occasional re-examination of the disproof of earlier beliefs, including both the original data and the arguments used to discredit a particular author�s work or conclusion. The "final word" is sometimes just a matter of time.
If someone cites my pages at an earlier point in time when they were in error, I believe it is not only helpful, but my responsibility to annotate and correct that error, rather than remove it entirely and leave that person scratching their head wondering how they, in turn, came to also be in error.
The majority of the more notable corrections\annotations and updates that I or others have found my pages have had to do with presumed Native American bloodlines among various French Canadian and Acadian ancestors, including those later discovered to be in error by way of mtDNA testing, or reliance upon misidentified documents, such as the so-called �1661 Quebec Registry.� The corrections and explanations for the original sourcing of such errors may be found, for the most part, on my Metis Sources page, but these and others may also be crossed-through and footnoted on the relevant charts that appear through my other pages, even though another person's site or blog may long afterwards still be referring to a page as being in error.
If you should happen to find other errors and wish to bring them to my attention, please feel free to cite obvious errors, and to provide the source documentation, or a link to such for less obvious errors, which will help me ascertain and document the reasons for the changes to my pages.
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