DBE 788 → Olive Tree Genealogy and still don't have answers 1/2 day of reading 8+ links

Question

How many links to click to get the answers for the NEW Data Base Error/Suggestion 788 Punctuation in Last Name?  The following are links and pages I have been through and still have no clue. It's almost like "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a toostie pop?"  I fear we may never know. In my efforts of getting to understand 788, clicked on information, then, Action Steps, →Name Field Guidelines, then, General Naming Conventions, → Special Naming Conventions, → Project Name Conventions, → then → Help: Name Fields, → then clicked on a link which took me to another page "use their conventions instead of ours." then wikitree's "Redirect Problem" page. still looking for an answer and clicked backwards, tried another link and took me to Olive Tree Genealogy with more links.

Please we do not need another suggestion, we can't stay on top of the ones we have.  Not to be mean, but please don't make it complicated by putting out reading material that doesn't go anywhere.  Well, there you go, my thoughts have been recorded.  Whether or not my punctuation is correct, gee, I hope so.  Thank you for your time.  WeRok staying inside.

Comments

If you don't understand a Suggestion -- particularly a newly added, just ignore it for now. Maybe a better explanation will be created, or maybe someone else who understands the message will come by and resolve the situation. No one will think ill of you for having unresolved suggestions...

In this instance, chances are good that something got garbled in the explanation for the suggestion. If so, it is likely to be fixed soon, now that  you have complained.

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This particular error seems to be generated when a bit of punctuation, such as a comma or a period (full stop), is included in a last name. In many cases, this is a typo (for example, a last name of Haw,kins is an error) and should be pretty easy to fix. The long explanation at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:DBE_788 may become relevant when it is believed that the punctuation is a valid part of the name.

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I have been going through the 788 and 778 (current last name and last name at birth) errors. I have found quite a few that are a middle initial with the period for the last name of females. Looks like they took it from a census or something but didn't bring along the remarried surname.

Paula, new Suggestion pages have been created yet and it does say there is punctuation in the Last Name field.  That means comma, period, dash, etc

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I wonder for a few days now why "Punctuation" is causing such a problem and people are mentioning commas all the time. After some research online, it seems that Punctuation is used for all sorts of separators https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ and my understanding was that it means only dot.

This suggestion addresses only dots in last names.

What would be the best replacement for punctuation? 

Maybe Period in Last name

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Yes, that might be better.

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Done. Help and online suggestions are corrected. Reports will be renamed next week.

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Thanks, Aleš. And thanks, Paula, for bringing this to our attention.

Answer 1

I find the best way is often to look at the "Technical Stuff" section on the error page, which describes exactly what the suggestion is looking for. In the case of Space:DBE_788 this section says "Field is checked for presence of punctuation (dot). The only allowed exception is St./Ste. which is often used abbreviated". So it sounds like at the moment the only punctuation being checked for is a dot/full stop/period.

Comments

Hmm, yes. I skimmed one of the lists in the Suggestions Report and I saw a lot of commas in the Info column, but it does look like all of the entries on the list include at least one dot/full stop/period. There are a number of last name entries such as Croft, Jr. and Zaborowski, H. Grzymala that have multiple punctuation issues.