On 2012-03-12 16:37, Eric Wiggers wrote: > The number one priority of any genealogy software should be to preserve the > data that the users have input, > representing perhaps years of labor. If that data needs to be changed for > internal or external purposes, > "ideally" the software should inform the users before the fact, and then give > the users a choice based on why > the changes would be necessary (to perform certain specified functions). > Perhaps more ideally, if the user > then does opt to have the data changed, the next step might be to offer a > backup of the effected data in the > existing format, before proceeding with changes. My five cents' worth...
In my case I changed from United States to USA years ago. With the long form, the sentences in reports were much longer and reading them was so tedious and repetitive that even I did not want to do it, much less family members who have no interest in genealogy. If I were going to expand "USA", which I'm not, "United States" would be only my third choice. I would greatly prefer "United States of America" since it makes no logical sense to expand the "U" and the "S" but not the "A". I have never used FamilySearch, but I assume that Legacy interacts with it by passing data back and forth. In that case, Legacy could do the conversion both to and from "USA" and "United States" during the passing of data between Legacy and FamilySearch rather than simply trashing the users' data file. They probably chose the latter because it was a little bit easier for them, no matter how much extra work was created for many users. Having to change "United States" back to "USA" all the time is a task that it is all too easy for forget occasionally and one that users should not be expected to do at all. Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
