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Archiver > TMG > 2010-07 > 1280439366


From: Lee Hoffman <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] "County"
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:36:06 -0400
References: <AANLkTinppRojdDZvmFA7ubDubz+AJT1h--qmgZ47BfJT@mail.gmail.com><201007291550.o6TFoknG012177@mail.rootsweb.com><AANLkTi=mmpkceGU-f85CQabFbObk07CuA2UCyRyK-DP5@mail.gmail.com><201007291904.o6TJ4UQf030580@mail.rootsweb.com><4C51E1B6.4030800@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <4C51E1B6.4030800@gmail.com>


Rick Van Dusen wrote in regard to my data Entry Standards at
<http://www.tmgtips.com/datentry.htm>;:
>Good page. Thanks, Lee.
>
> From this page I:
>
>1. Picked up some good ideas,
>2. found out I was doing it wrong,
>3. saw answers to a few questions that have been bandied about on this list.

I am not sure that I completely agree with statement #2 above. With
few exceptions, most everything on that page is personal preference.

Further, I see that the page needs some updating (i.e., regarding the
Living Flag -- dates there need to be changed to 1910 and 1930 since
that was originally written in 2000).

For most of the items, I have a reason (e.g., include County (or
whatever) with the county name to prevent confusion). For others,
the reason is personal preference (e.g., the way I handle Census,
Residence, and Marriage Tags).

For all of the entries, the overriding reason is to be consistent. I
have seen data from other users with data in what I would call wrong
fields (lack of appropriate fields in other programs is a
contributor to this situation). But in some cases, an appropriate
field may have been available in the users program, but it wasn't
used for some unknown reason. Also, data would be mixed as to where
it was entered.

Such inconsistency just make it hard for anyone to be able to spot
problems within the data. For example, a person born in 1427 in
Virginia when the parent was born in Germany and the child was born
in England. In this case, I have not found much of anything I believe.

Still, I appreciate the vote of confidence and am glad you found it useful.


Lee Hoffman/KY
TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)


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