My readers are not necessarily Americans. Abbreviations like "Cty" may not be understood. Abbreviations are much too likely to introduce misunderstandings, misreadings, and errors. I'm old enough to remember when "Ia" was a perfectly acceptable abbreviation for Indiana. Then the USPS decided that Indiana should be "IN", and Iowa "IA". So now, according to ancestry.com's census transcribers, thousands of native Indianans who may never have traveled as far west as Illinois are recorded as having been born in Iowa. The location only occurs once per individual; I don't think that makes for overly long reading. Marsha L. Ensminger --- On Fri, 5/25/12, Rick Beitler <rabone@gmail.com> wrote: > From: Rick Beitler <rabone@gmail.com> > Subject: [BK] Number of Characters Allowed > To: "Brothers Keeper List" <BK-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: Friday, May 25, 2012, 10:02 AM > Marsha- > I understand your frustration. You do all this work, and > want it to be just > so, and limited by the space given. > > The only thing I can suggest is cutting out spaces and > abbreviate whenever > you can. And I know it will not look like you want it to on > reports, but if > you are consistently consistent, your reads will understand > your meaning: > > St.Paul Evangelical&Reformed(ie United Church of Christ) > Cemetery(Bluff > Road), Edwardsville, Madison Cty, IL > > Rick Beitler > Springfield, MO > rabone@gmail.com > chertyrock.blogspot.com > > Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words. > ~Saint Francis > of Assisi > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Marsha Ensminger <marshaensminger@yahoo.com> > Date: Fri, May 25, 2012 at 11:35 AM > Subject: Re: [BK] Number of Characters Allowed > To: bk@rootsweb.com > > > Even without a precise grave location, I'm in trouble with > St. Paul Evangelical & Reformed (now United Church of > Christ) Cemetery > (Bluff Road), Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois. > > And yes, I do want all that to print every time.  I'm > still trying to > differentiate among the various "St. Paul" churches in the > neighborhood > referred to by an earlier researcher.  She knew which > one she meant, but > it's not at all clear to me. > > Marsha L. Ensminger > > > --- On Fri, 5/25/12, Carole Edwards Caruso <carolec@stny.rr.com> > wrote: > > > From: Carole Edwards Caruso <carolec@stny.rr.com> > > Subject: [BK] Number of Characters Allowed > > To: bk@rootsweb.com > > Date: Friday, May 25, 2012, 6:43 AM > > I need over the 100 characters > > allowable in Location for > > Events. By the time I put in the name of the church, > town, > > county, country, location, section number, and grave > number, > > > > I have run out of my 100 characters. I see that when a > > report is printed, the allowable 100 characters run > over > > into a second line. > > > > John, can we have the  rest of that line so we > could > > add > > more description? There is all this empty space just > waiting > > > > to be filled. > > > > Is anyone else having this problem? > > > > Thanks for any consideration, John. > > > > Carole > > > >  Remember - Use the Archives at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/search > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BK-request@rootsweb.com > > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the > > subject and the body of the message > > > > Remember - Use the Archives at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/search > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BK-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in > the subject and the body of the message > Remember - Use the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/search > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BK-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the > subject and the body of the message >

On Fri, 25 May 2012 11:07:10 -0700 (PDT), Marsha Ensminger <marshaensminger@yahoo.com> wrote: >My readers are not necessarily Americans. >Abbreviations like "Cty" may not be understood. > >Abbreviations are much too likely to introduce misunderstandings, >misreadings, and errors. I'm old enough to remember when "Ia" was a >perfectly acceptable abbreviation for Indiana. Then the USPS decided >that Indiana should be "IN", and Iowa "IA". So now, according to >ancestry.com's census transcribers, thousands of native Indianans who >may never have traveled as far west as Illinois are recorded as having >been born in Iowa. > >The location only occurs once per individual; I don't think that makes for overly long reading. > Abbreviation can be used without problem if there is a notification to the abbr. in the report. It can be used as I did mention earliger. E.G. we often do this for sources so why not sometimes also for location. It is only a question to find the best way to abbr. and to have the program to take care of both the Abbr. and the completely full name. -- Otto Jørgensen http://www.bkwin.info/ All email is checked by NORTON