If it's on the Internet, it Must Be True...

I hear it a lot. Someone finds information on their family on the Internet and immediately adds it to their own family tree, figuring that it must be true. Thrilled with their accomplishment in furthering their research, they then proudly share this "new" information with others. Slowly it makes its way into other online family trees and databases, further perpetuating and amplifying any possible errors.

Definitely a common assumption, especially among genealogy novices, but unfortunately not always a good one - earning it a place among my Top 10 Genealogy Mistakes to Avoid. Genealogy information found on the Internet is often filled with mistakes, especially when found in the personal research of others. There's valuable information in their too, however, so definitely don't discount the Internet as a valuable research tool. The trick is to learn how to separate the good online data from the bad, something that I cover in Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Sources.