[or-roots] Merged files

[CKlooster at aol.com]

I find myself half-way between Les and Gary on this issue.  I'm  passionate 
about historical and genealogical accuracy, but I've also downloaded  family 
files from the Internet and found a wealth of information.  I always  treat 
these as "third-hand" sources though...kind of a roadmap of  possibilities.  I use 
FTM and make a note stating my source and my  confidence level in the source. 
When I find errors or make  corrections, I note that too.  I do this also 
when I'm given verbal  information by a family member.  My first excursion into 
computerized  family files was using Family Roots on the old Apple IIe.  When I 
was led  to PAF by a Mormon friend, it was such an improvement that I was 
ecstatic.   Then I found Family Tree Maker and really fell in love with that 
format.   But, like Les, I find the limitations of the program frustrating.  While 
I  understand that it is better not to merge, than to merge the wrong two  
people, the fact that this program won't merge if there are multiple exact  
matches makes me want to scream and shout.  I also use the program to work  on a 
tribal enrollment project for the Indian tribe I work for.  There are  two of 
us working on this project on our own computers and we decided that the  best 
way to appoach the project was to do periodic merges of our individual  files.  
The number of manual merges of individuals needed to keep these  records up 
to date is astounding.  Aside from the multiple marriages and  children that 
result from merges, I'm also frustrated by the limitations in  extracting family 
lines from a large file.  If I want to send  someone only a single family 
line, it takes several operations to get the whole  family line segregated from 
the larger file.  On the other hand, it beats  the old 3" x 5" card method!
 
Carla
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