Jack Vinson (jv) writes:
jv: 1) Substitute common nicknames when it cannot find the name given [...]
jv: 2) Ignore middle names/initials when attempting to match names.
I notice that as long as the email addresses match, getting a message
from Abe B. Cee when only Abe Bee Cee doesn't seem to phase bbdb 1.50
(yay!). But I'm not sure exactly what gets done under what
circumstances (Jamie, can you enlighten us?). In any case, this
capability seems rather restricted, and I second the suggestions
above. The most common case seems to be where someone uses two
systems (or moves), and (as is often the case) has differently
formatted names on them. The email addresses don't match, so bbdb
never tries to match the names past identity. Pretty often I run
across people whose records are split in two this way.
If I were doing it, I'd have a variable that chooses one of various
options for the Abe B. Cee - Abe Bee Cee case (or the opposite):
a. Assume different, and create a new record. Currently the only option.
c. Assume same person, do normal new-name-noticed actions.
b. Assume same person, keep preferred version (probably full name).
d. Ask whether it should be considered the same person.
This case can be generalized for the possibility that the name
seems to match more than one bbdb entry (A. Bee Cee and Abe B. Cee).
One should be careful not to make it so clever that it starts making
mistakes, but asking the user is rarely a mistake (as long as you can
turn it off).
Once it works for initials, it shouldn't be much trouble to extend it
to allow an alist of arbitrary rewrite rules, as Jack suggests.
Bng
