We have all seen them, the family trees that are compiled from coping dozens of others. Many times there are no sources, no explanations, just names, dates, and places. Maybe you have even been guilty of this in the past, I have.

When I first began researching, I had no training in building a family tree. Ancestry makes it so easy for anyone to build a tree. Most are only curious about their roots do not concern themselves with facts and sources. I have heard dozens of times that people do not make their tree public because of all the mistakes that are public. If you have a private tree that is your right to do so, but If you use this as your sole reasoning to do so, please reconsider your decision.

Whether or not your tree is public will not stop this behavior. In fact, you are only aiding in the population of incorrect trees. By making your tree public, you are giving the other person a better understanding of what is an acceptable conclusion and what is not. You are giving the person who wants to learn an opportunity to reach out, ask questions & learn.

For myself, if it were not for seeing this side of research, I may have never realized my original tree (which is now deleted) was nothing more than a hallucination. By reaching out to others not only did I learn the basics, but I hungered to learn more. Soaking up any information I could find on how to build a family tree.