Why change formatting

Question

Why is it deemed necessary to change the number formatting in a bio from *  1, * 2 etc. to #,# etc.?

They both show what is intended i.e. a numbered list.

Both are widely used and accepted so why do some people find it necessary to change the already existing formatting without referring the change to the profile manager first?

Answer 1

If it already formatted and has a current manager, there is no need to change it. I think some people just get carried away and forget to check. Have you tried sending a nicely worded query to the person?

Comments

I agree with Marion there is no need to reformat. There is an advantage, however, to using # rather than *1 etc. and that is that if you insert, remove, or change the position of someone in a list which uses # there is no work in renumbering--it is automatically done, whereas using *1 etc. requires that each person be manually reassigned a new number.

(Edit: Sorry, left out a word in the first sentence.)

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There is also sometimes a disadvantage to using the # symbol to code a numbered list.  That is when you have a nested list.  Wikicode just uses the same numbering system for all levels, which can be confusing.  Where I want my list to look like:

     1.  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
          a. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
              i.  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
              ii. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
          b. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
     2. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If I use the # code for the list (with ## and ### for the lower levels), it will look like:

     1.  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
          1. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
              1. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
              2. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
          2. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
     2. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Many times the manual numbering is not done with same spacing, or any spacing.  I have seen profiles where the list of children is easily seen in Edit mode but it all runs together in non-edit mode because there is no line breaking. Sometimes there is not the same number of spaces so the names do not line up when the manual method is used, so someone added the numbered method so the lists line up nicer.

You can revert the changes if you don't like it or put it back to the manual method.

Answer 2

So annoying. There are a variety of acceptable ways to format a profile and as long as it falls within the WikiTree standards there is absolutely no reason to go changing profiles.

I have a particular style I like. But if someone else manages a profile of someone in my tree I don’t go changing it to suit my taste (well unless no one has touched it in 5 years then I might take liberties) and don’t expect others to do that to me.

Comments

Also with merges if I had the older profile I feel like I get to format it. But if I made or adopted the dup then their style gets precedence.