Unfortunately, the USGenWeb cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information submitted to it's many web projects. As a genealogist, it is your responsibility to double check any information that you find here against primary sources. The data provided here can be an invaluable guide as to where to begin your search for these primary sources. However, should you find information that you know to be inaccurate, there are a couple of things that you can do.
If the submission is a biography written by the submitter, you may contact the submitter (the email address is almost always listed) and explain to him or her the error and what evidence you have that contradicts their statements. Then you should politely ask the author to resubmit a corrected copy of the biography to the archives to replace the one in error. If they refuse or ignore your request, then it is up to you to send in a submission stating that you disagree with this biography and give your documentation as to why you feel it is incorrect. The archivist will then post your submission along with the inaccurate one. Since all submissions belong to the submitter, the archivist cannot delete or make any changes to a submission, even if he/she knows it is inaccurate.
If the submission is a transcription of a biography published in a book, the submitter is required to quote the article word for word, even if he/she knows some of the information is incorrect. To do otherwise would be illegal. If this is the case, then your only choice is to submit your own statement of disagreement with the author's conclusions, again explaining and documenting your reasoning.
If the submission is a transcription of a legal document such as a will, marriage, birth or death record, court document, deed, etc., then the most likely errors would come from illegible handwriting or simple typographical errors. Again, you should contact the submitter and explain the error and ask them to submit a corrected copy. As in the first situation, if they refuse, then again it would be up to you to submit your own interpretation. At least that way, serious researchers will know that there is some disagreement on the issue and hopefully do more research to decide for themselves which version is the correct one.
Be aware that cemetery listings may be partial and many cemeteries are constantly growing. If you find one of your relatives left out of a cemetery listing, the easiest way to fix this is just to submit an addition to the list to the archivist. He/she will be glad to post it. If you find an error in a cemetery listing, such as an incorrect date, first be sure that this is not the date actually listed on the tombstone as often times the inscribed dates do not agree with the actual date of birth or death. Once you have verified that the actual tombstone inscription does not agree with what is listed in the submission, you would once again need to contact the submitter and request a correction or submit your own correction to be posted under your name.
I realize how important it is that information that is as widely seen as the data included in the USGenWeb project be as accurate as possible, but we rely on volunteers, and volunteers are human, too. We would love for everything that we post to be completely accurate, but we have no way to check for accuracy. Therefore, it is up to the individual reader to verify the data as to the degree of accuracy contained. Please be aware that it does no good to contact the archivist regarding errors. Our job is to compile the information submitted to us by others and make it accessible to all free of charge. The information submitted is not ours to change or to delete, but remains the property of the submitter, who is the only one who can correct any errors within. An exception to this rule would be errors made in the construction of the web page itself, such as broken links, etc. In that case you definitely would want to contact the archivist! Thank you for understanding.
Sincerely,
Jeannie Watts
Archivist for many VA counties and a few WV counties.
