Chime in folks...and welcome. 

I've been doing family research for almost twenty years, and I've learned everything the hard way. 

I began what I call "hunting and gathering" information by pulling information off the internet that was contributed but not documented.  I quickly learned that some or most of that information was inaccurate.  One time, I posted a lot of inaccurate, undocumented information on a website, and when I discovered my error, it took me a year to take that information off the site.  I was embarrassed by my mistate and have never done that again.  Since then, although mistakes are made unknowingly sometimes, anything I share with people is usually documented and has a primary source. 

So...jump right in! 

:-) Brownie