cut off on span between two births for a woman

Question

What is the span a time the WikiTree software allows for the birth of two children in succession for one mother? Is it like 8 month or 10 months?

And when the software was cobbled together did anyone consult with three or more OB/GYN to find out what was physiologically possible?

Comments

An extreme case might be physiologically possible, but it's still far more likely to be a typo.

Answer 1

The physiologically possible is not really relevant as all Wikitree does is give you a warning that you may need to check your dates carefully before saving the entry. If you are comfortable that your information is correct and appropriately sourced then you can override the warning and save the date. Usually a good idea to explain the circumstances in the bio so that others do not need to repeat your considerations when they look at the profiles in the future.

Comments

Deb, Thanks for the best answer star.

---

Eh, in the case of the one birth mother, and since I copy&paste information -- very seldom typing in the info myself -- it is either faulty information or a typo, yes.

I wondered about the trip-point in the software at WikiTree when those two births are by different mothers (same father), as in the polygamous arrangements.

Not that the software apparently notes that it's two different women.

I guess no one knows of a certainty what that span is, nor whether any OB/GYN were consulted to establish a reasonable span of say 10 months so that anything less than 10 months would be the trip-point.

My question is more like: experience teaches us that any two births by the same woman that are less than 10 months apart is more likely a data error.

In terms of fertility any female age 12 to say 45/48 can be considered "fertile" the point being a child born unto her within those years would be unremarkable, but one born before age 12 or after age 45/48 should prompt the researcher to check for data errors

There are reliable "rules of thumb" for birthing and for fertility. It is unlikely that a woman of 48 or older at the time of the marriage was going to give birth. It is what I call the Fertility Index (no child born before age 12 and no child born after age 48)

And yes, yes, there are cases which in fact fall outside that Fertility Index. The vast majority of cases do not.

So I wondered if the software at WikiTree had that "check" in place. It seems to honor the "no closer together in birth date than 10 months" rule-of-thumb.

---

I doubt if many software developers have felt the need to consult a doctor when deciding on their data validation rules for parent-child dates. They probably just apply a little common sense.

---

At any rate, no one seems to be informed about what the trigger is for WikiTree software whether 8 months 10 months or whatever.

My question is merely an attempt to clarify the limitations and limits on the software. Software is designed by humans. Ignorance is not a four-letter word but a fact in all lives, we humans are not all-knowing. And ignorance can cause gumption to fail of its goal.

At any rate I will operate on the presumptions of a 10-month gap between births, and no births before age 12, and none after age 48. Those rules-of-thumb were passed on to me by more experienced researchers and have served me well over decades of research.

---

I have added the Sysops tag to your question so that one of the developers might see it and give you a more specific answer to what algorithm they apply.

---

Wow, thank you. Had no idea that sort of thing could be done.

---

When you write your question you can add tags in one of the boxes under the main question text.

---

I most surely will look to locate the tags. Again, my ignorance ratio to information is altered.

I presume that the "main question text" indicates the initial question, rather than any replies or comments.

Thank you, Lynda.

---

Yes, you add the tags on the initial question, not on answers or comments. You can do it when you write the question or you can use the edit button to do it later. G2G Moderators can add or edit your question tags to help you get the right focus for your question.

Answer 2

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Data_Validation#Related_to_siblings

Siblings are too close: The birth date is less than eight months before or after a sibling's birth date, but the siblings are not twins born within one day of each other.

So it's 8 months unless they are twins. 

Comments

well, I have quibbles, but they are only quibbles, about the parameters age 6 or 7 is too young to be a parent (biologically) for the vast majority of humans -- that parameter could be bumped to age 10/11. And even that would "exceptional", 12/14 is more reasonable.

The child's birth was after the mother's 67th and that could be dropped to age 50/51 or if that's too edgy, then to 53 perhaps. More of that pre-1980's  biology stuff.

A male parent can begat as old as 75/90 years of age, I won't quibble over using age 70 as a cutoff because by then health factors affect the man, even if he has a trophy woman.

The rest of it is reasonable although I'd like to see a case of a 70 yr father whose child lived to 110. I really would. That would awesome.

And I have seen cases where half-siblings were born as much as 50 some years apart, but agree this is not all that common. Usually the father's 4th successive wife. LOL.

On the whole, taken as a whole, the data cutoffs etc can be said to be reasonable. There's always a "rogue" case, an outlier, an exception, but those are not common.

NOT that the programmers need my approval nor do they need to pay attention to my quibbles.