How Should We Handle Fake Pedigrees Here?

[Officially Retired]

I don't know how exactly to vote, but my thoughts are very similar to yours. However, I could make a strong argument that we should stick with official pedigrees b/c they are official. If a breeder is "caught" or "comes clean" those are both, potentially, unreliable sources of info.

True.

The key is the ability to check the motives ... as well as the circumstantial evidence ... and, in the case of Gr Ch Buck and Ch Blaze, it all points to listing the amended pedigree.

We don't know if that person was lying intentionally or unintentionally and both can happen. There are those who "come clean" for gain after knowing there is a gain. If a person is "caught" then they are liar and I can't believe ANYTHING they say, so how can I comfortably take their "caught in the act" words as truth when I know they are a known liar.

I agree 100%, so ultimately it becomes a matter of "what we choose to believe," as there is no direct knowledge, precisely because we weren't there to directly see.

Thus, here again, it boils down to motive and other surrounding evidence

I think I would go with official pedigrees and then those of use who understand "type" or "mountain of facts and hard evidence" can believe what we want and use that as our guide in what we do with our own dogs. Those who don't know or understand these things can either learn the hard way, go their own way, or simply make up their own mind the way they want.
This is a good topic here. Did you get this idea from Don Mayfield?..............I'm just kidding.

LOL, actually, yes, I got the idea from the last (closed) thread ... but, most especially, I got it from trying to marry the true intent of this database (which is genetic searches / credit to truly great producing dogs / breeders) with the fact some papers are falsified and therefore the statistics are skewed a bit.

In short, I raise this question in search of The Truth ... and how best to find it in a world of lies (or potential lies) on true lineage.

What good is seeing Bull Boy Bob on the ROM list, if Reuben is the one who really deserves credit for producing Ch Hammer?
How can pulling a set of statistical data be meaningful to us, as dogmen, if the data is false?

And yet the flipside consideration is guarding against changing EVERY pedigree where some old man mumbles something about "false papers" under a tree

As a former investigator, I always want to know The Truth ... and I understand that NO cases are perfect ... unless and until there is an admission of guilt ... or enough evidence can be piled up to remove all reasonable doubt (criminal) ... or to create a preponderance of evidence (civil).

At this point, as the owner of this Resource, "I" am judge and jury ... but, by opening this dialogue, I am inviting all of us to participate in the decision-making process ... because, ultimately, this is a Community Resource, and I want as many people as possible to be onboard and in agreement as is possible

Jack