We all love the instant gratification technology has brought us. With the click of a mouse we can search the catalogs of distant libraries, find ancestors in Internet databases, or connect with cousins we have never met and share findings with them. This easy dissemination of information can come with a heavy price, though, and that price is the integrity of our data. Large sums of money and a lot of valuable research time can be wasted in researching the wrong people, and most of us do not have an unlimited supply of either. Once you have merged your files, it may be very time-consuming to weed out the bad data if you find there are inaccuracies.
Bad data is viral.
Information circulates so quickly on the Internet, that within days of a posting, it can be picked up by surname lists, message boards, or any number or other ways, and reposted several times without verification. When it comes time to verify the information, it is not realistic to expect that the submitter make copies of all of his or her documentation and send them to you. Some kind souls may actually share some key pieces with us, or at least guide us further in our quest for documentation, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Information found on the Internet should be used as clues, pointing the way to original records. Verification, although more time-consuming than just adding in data and hoping for the best, will still not take as long as you would starting from scratch.