Dick, This example will cause two entries to be displayed. This is the correct behaviour because the two entries are different. If the entries had been "MANCHESTER *" and "Manchester 20" then it could be resolved. It isn't at the moment but it will be. The way this will be handled is a manual process to determine why there are difference and to determine how it can be resolved. This decision will then be marked in the database to enable the entries to be matched. You say "this reason alone" but that is from a human logic viewpoint - it seems obvious to us that they are the same but what rule would you devise for a computer? Plainly you *could* say that if one district is valid and the other isn't you discard the one that isn't. But that is a dangerous route to take if you are relying on the double keying to detect errors - what if the the valid one is a transcriber "correcting" the district (i.e. *not* typing what they see) and it is the invalid one that is in the register? One also has to take into account the result of not matching. You talk about "garbage entries" but in reality the researcher will see the two entries and can make their own decision. It will be just as obvious at that point that the two entries are one. Take into account that to be useful any rule must be general enough to cover a large number of cases and must produce few (preferably zero) false positives. Barrie -----Original Message----- From: Dick Bond [mailto:dick@bonds.plus.com] Sent: 22 December 2003 17:56 To: FREEBMD-DISCUSS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: Matching Entries Christopher Richards wrote "I noticed two entries that appeared to be the same and wondered why they hadn't been matched. Further information shows that one transcriber had transcribed the district as "Manchester XX" and the other as "Manchester 20". Clearly transcriber 2 had not typed what he saw. Should these two entries be matched?" This is just the kind of example I have been asking about. IF the the ONLY difference between two entries is a variation in the way the SAME district is shown then will this cause there to be duplicate entries on the database? If duplicates arise from this reason alone then something should be done to modify the database creation such that this does not create garbage entries. Transcribers WILL make mistakes even when shouted at to TWYS Dick Bond