I think people sometimes develop what I call "My dad's crossword puzzle syndrome"
My dad used to love doing crossword puzzles, but he wasn't terribly good at them, and he didn't have much patience. So, in the early stages he would get the majority of the answers right, but as he got towards completion he would tend to make up words that fitted, even if the words didn't actually exist ! Of course, the right words didn't fit because he'd made mistakes on some of the other earlier answers.
I think this also goes on in genealogy. People start off OK, working from the certificates that they may well have laying around the house (like parents' marriage and/or death certificates), and if they have chosen to make a small investment, they may also get some more information from the censuses. By then they will have told a lot of friends and family about their genealogical success. Then, they hit a brick wall or other problem. Experienced researchers at this point would back-track to see if a mistake had crept in, but they plough on regardless. Faced with a brick wall, and a host of friends and relatives asking about their progress, they do what my dear old dad did - they fudge the facts, just to find people who fit.
