601 Wrong field in birth location

Question

This used to be seen as a free text field where you could write what seemed appropriate.

There now seems to be a list of forbidden words, which trigger a 601 error.  I missed the discussion on this, and I can't find the list of taboo words.  It doesn't seem to be in the Style Guide.

But evidently "possibly" and "probably" are both no-nos.  But there seems to be a big difference between those two, which is lost if they're both replaced by setting the Uncertain flag.

Answer 1

Location fields should only be a location.  If you are not sure, mark the certainty as uncertain.  You should put 'probably', 'possibly', 'unknown', etc into the biography area of a profile.

Comments

Why is this better?

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How do you, then, enter a location where the documents actually say "near so-and-so placename"?

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The 'certainty' field is used to state if the 'location' is certain or not.  If a location is 'near' some location, then the location can have the closest area to it, possibly a county, or state, if nothing more is known.  

In the Biography or Research Notes, is the correct 'placement' for the 'near' location or the 'possibility'.  Dates are not supposed to have a 'range' of dates, which would be the same thing in a location as 'near a location'.   If you put a date range in a date field, it would come up with an Error / Suggestion, also.

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So, by this reasoning, the totally incorrect placement would be a "town" maybe 200 miles away because it was the nearest such thing to the "near so-and-so brook".

So my pioneer ancestors would be out of place by having someone decide that "near the Diamantina" meant Winton, or Birdsville.  That seems all kinds of wrong.

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You don't have to put any town in the Location fields.  Put the information in the Biography or Research Notes.  If you know a county or a state, as an example, then put that information.  There are towns where people were born that no longer exist, but they are near a town.  

Part of the purpose of the Research Notes is to explain things that you cannot explain somewhere else.  If you have a Birth section, as an example, you can explain the location in that area.

Answer 2

Personally, if you have something to remind yourself of, or pass on to other people, it should be put in a Research Note.  Which reminds me of something I need to do, namely add a Research Note to all my older profiles Maybe I'll go off and do that.