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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I have FTM and DO NOT LIKE it so I
stick with the one</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>who sold them their menu, Ancestral
Quest. It is so much</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>easier to work with.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=CKlooster@aol.com
href="mailto:CKlooster@aol.com">CKlooster@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us
href="mailto:or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us">or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 25, 2004 3:31
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [or-roots] Merged
files</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT
id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT id=role_document
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<DIV>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 <EM>not</EM> 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 <EM>extracting </EM>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!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Carla</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>