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There seems to be many sites whereby you can search for records or even share each others family tree. But what I would like is a site that contains family trees (perhaps broken down by surname) where multiple users can contribute to that tree, rather than just making their own copies. Almost like a musicbrainz for ancestry where users could vote on the validity of a link so over time errors are weeded out and quality improved.
Does such a site exist?
Several collaborative family tree websites do exist, such as:
The problem with collaborative trees in my view is that there are simply too few people contributing to them to ensure that all the data is validated. Genealogy in itself is more of an art than a science; we have to interpret records and draw the most likely conclusion based on the evidence. Little is ever an absolute certainty. And for that reason I do not think that collaborative trees will ever be successful (from the perspective of creating an accurate family tree).
