SIT: Spring Cleaning the SIT: Done, All clean and shiny !

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Everybody,

the new search button Surname Search shows that the SIT needs spring cleaning.

There are three main problems:

1) Not just surnames in the 'surname' field
i.e. some have include forenames, and dates
I have made a start:  most 'surnames' with an obvious forename, or other information have been cleaned up. The extra information is now in the 'Comment' field.

2) More than one name in the surname field:
e.g.
JONES / SMITH / WHITE;  SMITH & JONES;  SMITH BROWN EVANS;  etc
Name variations: SMITH(E);  SUT(T)ON; SMITH/SMYTH; etc

If you have any of these, please add extra entries, so that only ONE surname occurs in each entry
If you have (for instance) TELFER/TELFAR/TELFORD then add two entries, one each for TELFORD and TELFAR and then edit out /TELFAR/TELFORD from the original entry.

3) No entry in the County field. 
Mainly older entries, from the time "before" this feature was available.  Now and then I edit a few of these, but my time is limited, so if you have any, then ....... 


All these measures are not because I'm house-proud (although I am SIT-proud)
but to make sorting and searching easier for you. 

You want to find connections ?? ... then make it easier to find and be found


(If all your entries are already cleaned and optimised, then please ignore this posting  )

Bob

[kerryb]

Will do Bob and can I say thank you for your hard work.  I think SIT is an underused but very valuable asset that we need to encourage more Rchatters to use!!!!

Kerry

[Berlin-Bob]

As part of the "Spring Cleaning" I am now tackling

2) More than one name in the surname field:
e.g.
JONES / SMITH / WHITE;  SMITH & JONES;  SMITH BROWN EVANS;  etc
Name variations: SMITH(E);  SUT(T)ON; SMITH/SMYTH; etc

I am adding seperate entries for each variation, and deleting the variations from the original entry. 
Now and again I miss one, or the variation doesn't get saved properly.

So please check your SIT entries occaisionally, to check that everything is still there !!

(Better still, do it yourself, then you can be sure  )

Bob

[Berlin-Bob]

Update:

I have now finished     

2) More than one name in the surname field:
e.g.
JONES / SMITH / WHITE;  SMITH & JONES;  SMITH BROWN EVANS;  etc
Name variations: SMITH(E);  SUT(T)ON; SMITH/SMYTH; etc

Apart from a few entries which were difficult to decide, all entries now only have ONE SURNAME, and all variations have been entered seperately, one per line.  This should make searching for surnames a lot easier.

To fit things in, I have sometimes made small corrections in the entries,
so please check that all your entries are OK.

If not, then I apologise, and ask you to edit them.

Bob

[Berlin-Bob]

2) More than one name in the surname field:
e.g.
JONES / SMITH / WHITE;  SMITH & JONES;  SMITH BROWN EVANS;  etc
Name variations: SMITH(E);  SUT(T)ON; SMITH/SMYTH; etc

To avoid this in future I have now changed the entry fields in the SIT.

Only alphabetic characters are now allowed !!

There are three exceptions to this rule:

• the apostrophe ' is allowed (O'Crikey, D'Atsustold, L'Otsofus, etc)
  
  
• If you enter a space, you will be asked if this is a valid name.
  (usually names of foreign origin: De Licious, , Van Ity, etc)
  If it's a forename, put it in the Comment field, please.
  
  
• If you enter a hyphen, you will be asked if this is a double-barrelled name.
  If it is that's fine, carry on 

In your own interest, please don't  abuse these exceptions
If you put more than one name in a line, none of them will show up in a simple search !!

Enjoy,
Bob