Rejection of Nicknames in Data Doctor

Question

Data Doctor seems to reject any explanation which involves true nicknames, So an explanation that Tom, Dick, or Harry or any other fairly common variant of a name is a nickname is accepted and the suggestion disappears.  But a true nickname, unique to the individual, such as "Sarable" or "Leelina" does not produce the same result. If this is just to ensure that your comment remains attached to the profile, then fine, But if it is a negative comment on the profile, or even worse an encouragement to others to correct this non-existent error, it is worrying.

Comments

It doesn't read comments.

If you say "Corrected", you're telling it you've removed the issue.  It doesn't check, it takes you on trust.  The line will disappear from some listings for the rest of the week.  But if you haven't really removed the issue, the suggestion will be back next week.

To say it's fine as it is, you have to choose "False suggestion".

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Do you perhaps have a link to the profile? I'm not really sure I understand the issue.

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Are you changing the status to "false suggestion?"

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Thanks.  That is very useful with the individual problems (there are about 30 from 3000 profiles which is part of the reason I did nor link any).
I can now solve most if not all of them.

It also highlights the real problem with the Suggestions response box, which I was groping towards. Five responses are provided, each with an array of comments, but there are really only three responses:

1. False Suggestion: Everything is OK (Hide for ever).
2. How is this for a solution?  (Hide until next check)
3. Proposed Merge (Hide for 30 days)

The third response is only appropriate in limited circumstances.
The other two responses (not in the list above) are meaningless because they will be totally ignored.  Any of the three real responses may be preceded by a little or a lot of work.

The box should be reformed to make these real choices clear.

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You are not limited to the comments that are suggested.  You select the "fix", then add your own comment if there isn't one that explains things.

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Below is exactly what you see. There really is a use for each one.

A comment is just a comment as stated, it does not alter the state of the suggestion in any way. The status of the suggestion remains the same and it isn't going away. A comment without correction is used when/if there is no known remedy for the suggestion, but there may be one in the future or it needs to be referred to another person to remedy.

Not corrected is pretty clear. With or without a comment the status hasn't changed and the suggestion isn't going away.

Corrected means just what it says. You believe you've corrected the problem and the suggestion will disappear until the next check with or without a comment. When the next check rolls around, if you haven't actually corrected the issue, it will come back and you'll need to rethink what the correct approach to the issue is.

False Suggestion might lead to confusion but I'm not sure what else you might call it. It's basically saying the suggestion made isn't a problem because it may look wrong but it isn't. Checking this, with or without comment, makes it go away forever as stated. It should never be used just to make a suggestion go away. It should always be used if the suggestion is wrong.

Proposed merge is used for suggestions involving duplicate profiles. Most merges will be completed within 30 days so the suggestion should stay gone. If it doesn't, the status of the merge needs to be checked and either completed or any issues holding it up resolved.

As Melanie pointed out, the comments to the right as you select a radio button are simply suggested comments based on the frequency of use of the comments. They aren't written in stone, can be used or not and make no difference at all to the status of the suggestion. If you want to make a comment and don't like any of the suggested comments you can write your own or leave the comment field blank. Comments are for the edification of other members, nothing else.

Select a status:

Comment (no change in status)

Not corrected

Corrected (hide until next recheck)

False suggestion (hide forever)

Proposed merge (hide for 30 days)

Optionally, include a comment:

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"False suggestion" does sound confusing.  What is intended is that the entry is "'correct as entered', or more fully, "No correction necessary, entry is correct as written".  Can something like that be added, as explanatory or substituted text?

Answer 1

Please edit your post to link a profile and let us know which Suggestion you are referring to and add Suggestions to your tag.

Thank you,

Sheryl, Project Coordinator, Data Doctors Project

Comments

Thanks for the offer.  As you will see from my other comment above, I think my immediate problem is solved.  I think the idea of a Suggestions Table and the work put in is wonderful.

What I found impossible was that my corrections produced no effect on the Suggestions outcome. The comments made by RJ Horace and others have clarified this for me, but I hope that in the longer term the Suggestions Response Box will be rejigged to make this obvious to any user.

Thanks again

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David:

There are videos that explain the suggestions report.  Please check this post and on the playlist, select No. 2 - Suggestions Report.

Data Doctors Project Proudly Presents

You might not have set the status as Deb suggested, and if you have, the reports update weekly, not in real time.

Enjoy the shows!

Answer 2

It's the illogical nature of the suggestion reports that in order to correct a false suggestion, you don't mark it corrected--you mark it false.

Comments

The problem is, you are looking at correcting the suggestion. What you are actually doing is "correcting the data". If you don't make any physical changes to the data, you certainly can't claim you corrected it. However, if the data is ALREADY correct, then the suggestion was "false". That being the case, it will ignore that instance until something changes. Any future edit that affects that particular area may reset the false flag.

This is why we have "corrected" and "false suggestion" as 2 of the choices. We aren't fixing the suggestion, we are fixing what caused the suggestion.

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And if there have been no recent edits, because you haven't touched the profile in ages (and neither has anyone else) yet the error resurfaces?  All you're left with is to set the error as "false" every time it shows up again.

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Unfortunately, modifying how the suggestion itself works will also reset the false suggestion flag. Which means if Ales goes out of his way to add this particular instance to an exception list, it could reset all the false suggestions because the suggestion parameters themselves changed.

This is exactly why we also leave comments.