Do we need to capitalize Us in column 25?
This is in regards to column 25, the question "What country were his father and mother born in? Many of the handwritten entries are U.S. or US but the software translates it to Us. Does this matter? Or, should we treat that entry a certain way?
Answers
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I change them. I don't live in Us, I live in the U.S.
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Please provide a FamilySearch Official Answer to this question. And update the 1950 US Census Field Helps page(s).
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I treat that the same way middle initials are treated, use a space... U S
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There are no specific instructions regarding this issue. I would personally change it to be correct. @Ronald P. Tilby, please provide Feedback to the issue on the landing page of the 1950 census which is on the left side of the page.
Thank you all for your comments.
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I have not tried the suggested 'Feedback' button (nor do I intend to), but I noticed a comment in this forum that the feedback simply comes to this forum?????
Now two FS responders are suggesting it. ????
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@CaptBob, since there are no specific instructions, you can choose to leave it or correct it. This is hard to give a single answer for because in the end it is ok either way. I have found out that the system will standardize those fields so they can better be searchable. I don't think it cares about capitalization, but I'm not 100% sure. I always capitalize it.
I have now reached out to see if we can get clarification in the Field Helps so the many people asking the same question can have resolution.
Feedback does go to the engineers.
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Type what you see in the document
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I would not waste my time fixing MILLIONs of those. If they care, a computer can fix the entire database in a few minutes at most. Total waste of human energy...
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Does your response above that "Feedback does go to the engineers." mean that the feedback on the 1950 Census review goes directly to the 'engineers' & does NOT ever come to this forum (as a forum respondent stated) AND that comments posted directly to THIS Forum will only get to 'engineers' if, and when, a moderator (or FS rep?) decides, and takes action, to forward them?
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We have tried to be transparent about how things work, at least as I've answered questions I've tried to make this clear. It is important that people send their feedback and ideas through the feedback links on the website. The engineers get lots of feedback and they categorize it as it comes in from there. The forum is not an effective place to send suggestions for the engineers. It's not that they don't care about what people in the community say - they just know that only a subset of the volunteers ever make it into the community and so they've set up a system whereby ALL volunteers' voices can be heard. The community is more a gathering place where people can talk with each other and interact and get answers to questions.
I hope that makes sense.
To the whole conversation - it doesn't matter about the capitalization as @AndLinda said because the computer will standardize it after the fact. Personally, I capitalize it because I'm just a little OCD that way. However, if it drives you crazy to have to do that work feel free to leave it as is.
We are moving into a world where we need to help teach people the principles upon which indexing is based so that they can make good decisions. The variables in the records are so great that we will never be able to instruct to all of the nuances. Localities are important to be able to standardize, and we do have a system here where we will be able to do that after the review is done. I hope that helps! :)
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@CaptBob There is probably also some confusion around which Feedback button you choose. The Feedback buttons located at the bottom of most FamilySearch websites do direct you to the community. I'm sure you knew that.
However, the feedback buttons found in other locations, like in the 1950 census tools do go directly to the engineers. As Janell said, the engineers set them up to get feedback directly.
To answer your question about whether feedback from the community gets to the engineers, the answer is yes. The engineers get feedback provided in the community in a multitude of ways. We are actively working on improving this for the engineers to better organize the feedback and make it easier for them to act on.
Sam 🙂
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