What is FindMNM?

Question

I have entered enough records now that I have connected with some existing records. I am looking at the bio for one of these existing records, and there are (were) several ref's of the nature <ref name="FindMNM"/>. I'm guessing this was a placeholder, but why? There was one real reference for this ancestor, but I had more so I entered them.

Record currently in question: Neely-806

Answer 1

It looks like a place holder, maybe stands for maiden name?

I did some googling and I see it in places where a maiden name would be...

Answer 2

After some reflection, maybe it meant "Find Margaret Neely McClure". I've been more "list all the sources, write bio later". Maybe the author was more "write the bio, fill in for known but unsourced info later"?

Answer 3

look at her profile, notice that there are several items that have <ref>Rumbaugh, Ruth Woten. McClure Families of Allen, Paulding and Van Wert Counties Ohio. 1990. 125. Print.</ref>

when you save and look the the sources, you will see the reference as

1. Rumbaugh, Ruth Woten. McClure Families of Allen, Paulding and Van Wert Counties Ohio. 1990. 125. Print.

2.Rumbaugh, Ruth Woten. McClure Families of Allen, Paulding and Van Wert Counties Ohio. 1990. 125. Print.

3.Rumbaugh, Ruth Woten. McClure Families of Allen, Paulding and Van Wert Counties Ohio. 1990. 125. Print.

if you change one of them to

<ref name="tag">Rumbaugh, Ruth Woten. McClure Families of Allen, Paulding and Van Wert Counties Ohio. 1990. 125. Print.</ref>

 then for all the other times you use that reference, mark it as

<ref name="tag"/>  tag being whatever you want to use, it is only seen when editing the profile, so one could be "1920 US Census" another could be "SSDI"  ,"FindAGrave", etc

now in the sources you will see it as

1.0 1.1 1.2 Rumbaugh, Ruth Woten. McClure Families of Allen, Paulding and Van Wert Counties Ohio. 1990. 125. Print.

when the same source is used in multiple places, such as SSI shown on birth date, birth place, death date, it makes things a lot cleaner, both in the edit bio and display of the profile.

 

Comments

As I stated, I replaced the FindMNMs with actual sources a little bit ago. I am the one that entered all the references to the Rumbaugh book (which I have sitting in front of me). I'm no expert on looking at the change history here yet, but it should reflect that.

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oh, i thought you meant you added more references, not took out the FindMNM.  looking at the changes page, that was setup to for the FIndAGrave memorial as reference on birth, marriage, death.

so, maybe it was that persons abbreviation for FindMemorialNumber ?

anyway, you can add that back in or if you think that the ones you added are a better source with documents than what FAG had, leave them off.  in theory, birth/death dates from gravestone photo, if present, count as a good source.  marriage date, if on stone, is good, if mentioned in obit posted there, also good, if only has link to spose with nothing to support, not so great...

Answer 4

Julie, welcome to G2G forum.

It's the editor used the format for "Repeated use of the same source in the same profile"

The editor named "FindMNM" the reference to this FAG Memorial

https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6849394

(Might be "FindMNM" stands for Findagrave Margaret Neely McClure)

The Memorial was used several times in the biography as can be seen at the left hand side in this Change Details

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Neely-806&diff=next&oldid=38120433

Hope it helps.

 

Comments

Ah! Yes, I hadn't noticed that - good catch.

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Sarah, anyway your participation in G2G is great !

: )

Answer 5

Julie,

The complete listing - before being changed was <ref name="FindMNM">[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6849394 Find A Grave Memorial# 6849394 Margaret Neely McClure]</ref>

The format <ref name="name"> Source</ref> is the proper way to use an inline source when the same source is used multiple times in a biography.

I use names in my inline references that I find convenient.  This is my personal choice as there are no guidelines that I am aware of. I use Find short for Find A Grave and MNM the initials for the person on Find A Grave.  Note that the last line of the bio states that her memorial has links to those of family members - while it may be true that the book listed has the same material, it is not the source for this statement.  So the   Find A Grave source needs to stay.

Comments

Julie,

i guess the takeaway on this is add new info that you have, update what is there if needed, delete if WRONG, leave alone if you do not understand and contact the person who put it there (review the changes to find out who) or contact the PM for assistance.

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There are guidelines on the editing page, which I was following. I see the formatting convention used by Phil now, and have replaced the reference and also added the Find a Grave as a regular source.