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Patrick Nielsen Hayden's avatar

This is a great explainer, and I'm going to bookmark it in order to save a lot of time in future online conversations that touch on these issues.

For years I've said that anyone who attempts to post a photograph to Ancestry.com purporting to depict someone who died before 1838 should encounter an immediate popup reminding them that the first photographs of human beings were taken in 1838-39. Similarly, Ancestry.com would probably be (at least marginally) improved if anyone who entered an individual with a death date before (say) 1500 AD were to be auto-directed to The Henry Project, just to get a taste of what well-done medieval genealogy actually looks like.

I know, I know, I'm a dreamer.

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The Genealogian's avatar

Thanks for the kind words! I like your ideas. I'd be in favor of anything that slowed people down, not just for accuracy's sake, but for their own enjoyment.

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Barbara at Projectkin's avatar

Well now, that was a fun romp!

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Martin Blank's avatar

Great post! Very entertaining.

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