Re: META: how-to ruin a perfectly good FGS


lojbab@xxxxxxxxxx writes:

But it does make them the norm. And most people would consider that
anything done 95% of the time is in fact the standard. Just as
Windows is the defacto "standard" operating system for most PCs
despite a large number of experts who say that Microsoft does
everything wrong.

Bob-

I disagree and let me give you an example... Recently on the TV
game show Millionaire there was a question with 4 multiple choice
answers. The question was about the hobby of researching family
history and said that hobby was called genealogy, geneology, and the
additional two choices were other misspellings of the word. The
contestant didn't know the answer and she asked the audience. A
poll of the audience resulted in 76% saying that "geneology" was the
answer and so she went with the audience and was eliminated.

The fact that 76% of the audience thought the word was spelled
"geneology" didn't make them right. And the fact that a majority of
people use "unknown" to show an unknown surname doesn't make it
right either.

That was NOT what you said in your initial reply to me. Your
initial comment came across as unqualified ridicule.

I've stated from the very beginning that if you are writing ONLY to
please yourself then you can do whatever you want. But most of us
are writing with the expectation that others (and our genealogy
software) will know what we mean and that is my reason for
persisting in this issue.


And that was the primary thrust of my original suggestion - to
solve someone's problem with organizing their own data for their
own research, when faced with a long list of people with surname
unknown and the same first name.

The problem is that one's own research most of the time isn't JUST
for themselves. If it is--then do what you like, but if you intend
that the genealogical community will understand what you have
written--then customary usage needs to be considered.


I actually have sent my data to others, but only as a private
interchange. Not one person has shown the least bit of confusion as
to what I mean.

If you have shared with even ONE other person, there is very good
chance of your data being misinterpreted and, even worse, copied to
the Internet with incorrect interpretation.

Joan

JYoung6180@xxxxxxx
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: META: how-to ruin a perfectly good FGS
    ... Windows is the defacto "standard" operating system for most PCs ... contestant didn't know the answer and she asked the audience. ... poll of the audience resulted in 76% saying that "geneology" was ... people use "unknown" to show an unknown surname doesn't make it ...
    (soc.genealogy.methods)
  • Re: Best roadbike for rough pave?
    ... >> But, with this 650B thing, I think they have gone astray, at least in ... >> business logic behind it (i.e., to give existing Riv customers an ... But 650B isn't some new standard which may or may not "catch on". ... than 650B is to>any< audience. ...
    (rec.bicycles.tech)
  • Looking for Tape of 8-30-05 Show in HD!
    ... I was in the audience on 8-30-05, which of course happened to be the ... An old buddy of mine and I were just a ... Dave - of course you couldn't see who it was in the standard aspect ... Dave tapes in return (I have some early shows from the 80s, ...
    (alt.fan.letterman)
  • Sharing a Personal View for a list
    ... there is a choice for the view audience: ... A simple cut-and-paste of the view's URL ... work - I passed it along to someone else and they received the standard ... error message, "Cannot complete this action. ...
    (microsoft.public.sharepoint.windowsservices)
  • Re: graphics file format for go books?
    ... I doubt TeX is unknown in South Korea. ... audience. ... It is probably unknown to most people unless you are writing ...
    (rec.games.go)