Incorrect warning message

+4 votes
269 views
I was adding a child, born in 1871, and I have been given the warning “Check the data 1. A mother’s death date died 1869 should not be before one of her children’s birth dates. “

I checked the mother’s profile and her date of death has been entered as After 1869, though initially I checked her father hadn’t remarried etc.

I’m not sure what I think should have been the message but this mother didn’t die in 1869 as I first thought from the message.
WikiTree profile: Mary Black
in WikiTree Tech by L Greer G2G6 Pilot (105k points)

1 Answer

+13 votes

This is not really an incorrect warning message.

1. Machines are only as smart as the data they have access to. In this case the data provided is simply '1869 < 1871 = show message'. "After" doesn't mean a whole lot to me, much less a machine/code. Does After 1869 mean 1870? 1871? 1899? 1950? All of the above? What are the bounds of that assumption?

2. This warning is more of a "Check your data" type of message. Something doesn't look quite right to the system so it is asking you for help and clarification - did you perhaps fat finger a date? Is this the correct person you are attaching this data to?

If you have found a source that proves the relationship, then you have also found a source that proves an update to the mother's date of death! While the exact date is still not known, you can modify it to be "After 1871" citing the child as the source.

by Steven Harris G2G6 Pilot (813k points)
Well I’ve just been searching for a date and found it a second ago…it’s not my profile, so the date had been entered by someone else, but I’d found a child for the couple which I added. It’s a pretty annoying error message as every time you make a save on the mother or child’s profile you have to hit the Save Anyway button as well as save. I see your point that I could change the date though.

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