Alternate Name in Source Linking
When you attached a source, it matches the vital information. Many times, the Name is different. Then you have to go to the record to add an alternate name, (and if you only have one monitor keep switching back and forth between the windows to get it right.)
It would be nice to be able to have the ability to add all or a portion of that name variant to the alternate name section from source linker.
Answers
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Why do you need to add an Alternate Name? You have found the record, which would have been the main purpose of an alternate name as far as I can see. Lots of the names on records are simply wrong (whether on the image or just on the index) and the last thing you want to do is perpetuate them.
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For the same reason that there is an alternate name section.
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I thought the Alternate Name section is intended to enter names that an individual used in lieu of their given birth name not necessarily to document every erroneous spelling of their name or human indexing errors such as occurs in records especially with Censuses.
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Exactly, @melville,dl.
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But when the name in the record truly is a valid alternate name, that is, not an error in the indexing and not an error in the document, but really a signifiant alternate name the person used, it would be handy to have this suggested feature.
For example, you found John Smith in a census. In Family Tree his wife is Elisabeth and his children are Fredrick and Georgia. In the Census they are listed as Betty, Rick, and Suzy but you can tell by the information they are the correct people. It would be nice to be able to add Betty Smith, Rick Smith, and Suzy Smith all as alternate names right there in the Source Linker.
What's great, though, is that we already can!
Just click on the person's name in the right hand side of the source linker which opens the side panel. You can't edit things in the panel, but you can add various sorts of new data. For alternate names, scroll down to Add Fact. Then choose Alternate Name from that menu and add the name.
It's one of those moderately well hidden, not well advertised, special features that add to the elegance of the website.
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Nice to know that there is a way to get to it from the source linker.
I will use that.
Perhaps they can do something to make it more apparent.0
