Using Categories page and naming a location

Question

On the Using Categories page we use the example of Category: Chicago Illinois for  naming a location. This should be changed to reflect the correct way to name a location using Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.  We should update the Category names Page as well.  I am right on this, right?  The Location name should have Cook County in it not just Chicago, Illinois?

Comments

i am thinking about consistancy.  Telling people it's ok to Categorize Chicago without it's county because it is the only one makes the naming convention confusing.

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And standard use in most genie programs and elsewhere in genealogy would be:

Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

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I think with many thousands of city categories in the US already created, it's a bit late to change the naming standards of them.

As for the style Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, as a non-American I find that style a bit confusing. As soon as the city or county is not known, it becomes indecipherable, because you can't tell if what you're looking at is a city or a county. Including the word "County" clarifies it a lot.

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Mmm, I'm not sure I see what's confusing about it. Once familiar with the format (city, county, state, country), if there are only three elements (in this case Cook, Illinois, United States) that the first is a county; and if only two elements (Illinois, United States) that the first is a state.

If one followed the logic you propose, shouldn't we then expect to see Chicago city, Cook county, Illinois state, United States country? (I can't help but think that's the logic the standard creators used...)

And whatever we individually think about it, it is a standard with increasing adoption "out there". (Some sites reverse the order: Country, State, County, City...)

That doesn't mean wikitree needs to change how it names categories-- especially as Philip points out, cities are categorized within a county category (which I didn't know before). This standard is more relevant for contents of the Place fields.

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Thanks for everyone's imput.  And thanks Phillip for the definitive, of course.

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The problem I have with Chicaco, Cook, Illinois, United States, is that now whenever I see Chicago, Illinois, or Cook, Illinois, I have to wonder, is that a city or a county? And there's no easy way to tell. Sometimes people will leave those (rather ugly, I think) extra commas to clarify, like Chicago, , Illinois, United States, but that can't be counted upon.

Living in a place with no counties, I tend to assume everything's a city/town. So for me adding "County" in the name clarifies things a lot.

And I agree, this only really affects place fields; I'm not suggesting changing the category names!

Answer 1

The correct category for Chicago is Chicago, Illinois.

The only time the county is included in the name is if there are multiple cities with the same name in the state.

Category: Chicago, Illinois  is correct.

As shown on the City category page, the city is in the county category.

Answer 2

My two-bits would be to standardize the categorization across the board. Meaning: across universal world records. Keep in mind, not everyone is from the U.S.; and there will come a time in future generations when many people will not be as familiar with these cities's names, or the U.S., for that matter. The word might be more in keeping with a genealogical standpoint, as in hundreds of years, if not thousands.

Answer 3

I believe this post ties in with an earlier on I started: http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/62909/what-is-the-best-way-to-fill-out-a-location-field where I'm not suggesting categories but a protocol to fill out locations on profile pages.