Underscore Name Placeholders

LegacyUser

Linda Farnsworth said: Please allow "_____" (five underscore characters) as entries in Names fields without 'Invalid Characters' flag. This would serve well as a place holder for missing names and make it easy to see where work is needed. Thank you.

LegacyUser

Juli said: The underscores mean "blank, unknown", right? So just leave the field blank.

LegacyUser

Jordi Kloosterboer said: I leave the first name or the last name blank if I do not know it. It means that many stillborn babies only have a last name. And, many end of the line mothers have not last name.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: While your idea has merit for missing names, it posses othe problems that you may not have considered.

For instance, my Father’s sister died at or near birth and the only information we have is an approximate year of birth. No cemetery, no birth records, etc., make it impossible to know what her first name was.

If I used underscores for the given name, that suggests that there is a given name. We simply don’t know if she was given a name or not.

LegacyUser

Gordon Collett said: It sounds me that that system as it is now works exactly the way you actually want it to.

If you know that someone did have a name that you are missing and you want to get back to working on that name and need some way to note that something is incomplete with the name the way it is, what better way to mark that than a data error? Go ahead and enter those underscores. That red icon that appears is just what you need to remind you that you have not completed the name yet.

Just add a reason statement to explain why you have the underscores so others coming to the record know what you are working on.



The great thing about how the system works now, is that these data errors show up on the pedigree views so you can very easily find those names you still need to work on:



I've never though of creating data errors like this on purpose to mark people that need work, but it seems that this be a great way to keep track of them.

LegacyUser

Brett said: Linda

Firstly, "Welcome" to this "FamilySearch" ( "GetStaisfaction" ) 'Feedback' Forum.

Secondly, "Official 'FamilySearch' Representatives", do monitor; and, sometimes, participate in, this Forum.

Thirdly, I am just another User/Patron, just like yourself (and, happen to be a Member of the Church).

Many Users/Patrons who regularly participate in this Forum who have a great deal of knowledge and experience with "FamilySearch", like to assist/help other Users/Patrons like yourself - as evidenced by the previous "Replies".

Finally, I am sorry, just 'No', to your suggested enhancement.

The last thing we need is more User/Patron created "Data Problems".

As has already been proffered, just leave ANY name field, be-it, 'Given'/'Christian' name; and/or, 'Family Name'/'Surname', as "BLANK", if is NOT KNOWN.

We DO NOT want "_____" (ie. "Underscore") in a name field; and, for that matter, we DO NOT want any more of the, UNKNOWN/Unknown; or, "?" in a name field!

Again ... just ANY name field, be-it, 'Given'/'Christian' name; and/or, 'Family Name'/'Surname', as "BLANK", if is NOT KNOWN.

It is NOT necessary - it is already easy to see where work is needed.

Brett

.

LegacyUser

Jeff Wiseman said: Excellant observation! We have exactly the same thing in another thread only dealing with ambiguous place names. By standardizing the place name with the "None of the above" selection, you can keep the currently ambiguous place name in place but it gets marked with a data error.

The system works exactly the way you want it to (at least in these areas :-)

dontiknowyou

These profiles are not placeholders, just incomplete.

See https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/134848/placeholder-profiles-good-and-bad