periods behind initials and obviously shortened names?

jlpetersen1

I just reviewed my first batch. The indexer did not put periods behind initials even when they are on the original document. I started putting the periods in but then thought that maybe indexer knew more than me and was not using periods. What is correct?

Indexer did not put a period behind "Fred." which to me indicated Frederick. I put the period in. Was I correct?

Áine Ní Donnghaile

I was a member of a now-defunct indexing help group a few years ago, and the lead arbitrator there said "PLEASE omit periods after initials." He was practically down on his knees begging.

This article is a few years old, but it indicates the same: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/indexing-tips-from-arbitrators

"Ignore Most Punctuation

The only punctuation marks that should be used are hyphens (-) and apostrophes (‘), and only when they are part of the record, such as in the locality Bössow-Westhof or the name O’Farrell. Don’t worry about colons (:), semicolons (;), commas (,), periods (.), or parentheses ( )."

CJohns7

Thanks for your question@jlpetersen1 and for your comments @Áine Ni Donnghaile.

There is an article in the Help Center that discusses reviewing punctuation. It's titled "How do I review a batch. https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-review-a-batch

This article says you can disregard the following errors, which will be corrected automatically before publication - Punctuation; Capitalization; and Unrequired fields marked <Blank>.

While it was important to omit punctuation while indexing names in the Desktop Program, it is not necessary in Web Indexing. However, you should always check Project Instructions and Field Helps. As you review, you will notice that if you add or remove punctuation in a field, it does not show that the field was corrected. It also speeds up the review process if you don't have to add or remove punctuation.

Thank you for your desire to index these records correctly, and for your efforts in making these records available to those searching for their ancestors.

Melissa S Himes

Always remember to check the field helps. I was shocked by a recent Virginia Marriages project that asked that all punctuation be used.