"Comments" Field

cmonson3790184

Hello, 

I have been extracting for several years and I have a simple suggestion that would greatly improve the accuracy of the extraction: 

For each record that is extracted, you should be a "COMMENTS" field that is optional in the extraction.  

For example, I am extracting Belgium records right now. I just extracted a record where the death month could have been June or July but it was unclear which month it was because of a fold in the page. I had to label the field "Unreadable" because I couldn't fairly differentiate between the two months. Had I been able to put June or July in a "Comments" field, a researcher would then have known more accurately the month of birth.  

I could give many other examples but I think the point is made.  

Putting in an extra comment field would be simple and relatively inexpensive and would be a valuable tool for researchers. 

Thanks 

Maile L

moderator note – The original post was edited to remove personally identifiable information. For more information, please see the Code of Conduct.

Tena Holdaway

Code of Conduct issues of the post aside, I would also love a comment field while indexing to explain some information found or explanations of what it may or may not be.

Currently indexing baptism records of adopted children which lists age. Would be nice to annotate this somewhere. Or as mentioned above a place to explain letter choices or additional information that could be searchable. Would a comment field be a possibility?

thank you,

Paul W

I appear to have missed this, when first raised back in December. There is a great website, FreeREG, for those of us interested in English / British ancestry, and that does allow for a comment. This has proved invaluable in clarifying issues that have proved difficult for an indexer (or researcher) to be sure of, from the unclear way a date (or other item) has been recorded in the original register.

So, yes, how useful it would be if each indexing project could have a Comments field, to record an alternative conclusion (e.g., "possibly 5 July" for a 5 June indexed event, or "possibly 1765", for a 1764 indexed one, where it definitely could be one or the other).

Áine Ní Donnghaile

There are a few genealogy websites that offer the option of adding a "post-it note" to an index/extract. The ones with which I am familiar don't ofter the option when the original indexing is done but as a later add-on by users of the record set.

Paul W

@Áine Ní Donnghaile

Here are a couple of examples, where a Notes / Comments field proves of great help:

(See https://essexandsuffolksurnames.co.uk/ website)

These are also found on the FreeREG website, but I could not copy the URL links here for some reason.

I find that comment against James Bartlett to be invaluable, but appreciate the format on this website (as with FreeREG) is somewhat different to that of FamilySearch, Ancestry, FMP, etc. - as are the indexing practices.

Sister website FreeBMD works as you suggest, in there being an option to add a note later on to clarify an entry / error in either the original record or indexed version.