Is anything ever going to be done about bad date logic?

Question

I'm being bitten again by the bad logic causing big red warning when I try to save a profile:

A mother's death date (Falek-24 died 1908) should not be before one of her children's birth dates (Honig-125 born 26 Dec 1907) .

I wouldn't mind so much if it was only when I first create the profile, but it happens every time the profile is saved after a change … even if the change had nothing to do with any dates.  I know I've seen issues about this raised in G2G many times, but usually they are when the year is the same.  This time the mother's death year is after the child's birth year so there is no ambiguity here.  It is clearly, obviously, and incontrovertibly after her child was born.

Comments

I get these too, Gaile, usually when one date is exact and the other is just the year.

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But do you get it when the mother's death year is after the child's birth year?  I've seen it a lot when the two events occur in the same year, but I have never seen one like this before.

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Yes. I also get it when I have one child with an exact year and the next (or or previous) sibling with only the birth year. If it falls statistically within the nine month range, I get the warning.

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I got that recently for a father<--->child, where the child was born at the end of September and the father died some unknown time (January to May) in the previous months. 

It became so annoying I actually asked a G2G question about it.

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Melanie and Pip, your examples have a chance that they could be errors, although it would be good to only have the error when the specific date field is entered or changed.  My example is clearly not in error.  There is no date in all of 1908 that is earlier than December 26, 1907!!!

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Oh, I know .. and your situation just underlines that the whatever it is that does the warnings simply cannot count! 

(I dunno about a possibility of error .. the kid was born within the 9 months allowed, even if born 2 weeks after she was.  The warning whatsit is borked!)

I hope you get an answer. 

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I had that happen recently, too.

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Also, a lot of birth dates on Wikitree are actually baptism dates with the "before" radio button ticked and there is clearly no obligation to baptise your kids 9 months+ apart.

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13 Feb 2019

17:19: Gaile (Gordon) Connolly edited the Birth Date for Frymet (Honig) Komlos (1907-abt.1944)It's 17th today so suggestions has not been updated yet. That might be the problem.

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@ Louis .. I don't understand what "suggestions" has to do with the BIG RED WARNING that happens when saving.  Could you please explain (in such a way I can understand it)?

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I said "might" Maybe profiles update in the same way.

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I am no wiser (no surprise there, I've been steeped in reading death notices in the newspapers) .. but thanks for responding. 

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Louis, this has absolutely nothing to do with suggestions, nor is there any parallel to be drawn with synchronization between different databases.  When we edit profiles, changes are immediate.  If you change the date to make the system happy, the warning will immediately disappear.

The problem is that the system's logic concludes that all dates in the year 1908 are earlier than December 26, 1907.

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Gillian, the problem you mention is what I have seen often and is the cause of most of the G2G questions on this topic I have seen.  The system does not include any attempt to consider the impact of about, before, or after qualifiers.  That warning is displayed if there is any possibility that a precise date within the period allowed for by the qualifier might be in logical conflict with a date, precise or not, in another profile.  I think the system should be building ranges into the logic to include the qualifiers, but that's a different problem.  If the warning were worded to suggest that it is possible that there is a date error, instead of blaring that there actually is one, I would not find that unacceptable to happen ONLY when the date is changed, not every time any edit is made to any other part of the profile.

This instance, however, is of just plain wrong logic.  The system has decided that ALL of 1908 is earlier than December 26,1907 and adds insult to injury by screaming to us about it every single time any change in the profile is made.

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I had the same warning for someone born 19th January 1906 whose mother died in the year 1906, exact death date not specified. Makes no sense whatsoever.

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This looks like a legitimate bug. I believe the person who has to attend is currently not able to, (on leave). I am sure it will receive the needed attention in due time.

Answer 1

silly dang technology

Comments

Navarro, the technology is what makes it possible to do all kinds of sophisticated stuff … it's the task of the developer to harness the technology to exploit the capabilities.

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Well I know it is awesome, but sometimes it drives ya nuts!

Answer 2

It sounds like a singular character in one line of code which is prompting this error.