With great trepidation I want to comment on fullstops in the forename column. Entering this vital information has slowed down my input and not made me a happy bunny. So... I have added a fullstop to every name in the bmdname 2 file (accessed through Windows Explorer). This saves me some backspacing and fullstopping! Obviously if there multiple names I lose out, but I do have an overall gain I have install a copy of my BMD system, without my modification, on a separate drive. So if I am lucky enough to get pages without the dreaded fullstops I can get back to normality. Obviously there must be millions of transcribed entries without the stops so surely a bulk entry system is going to be needed. Could I pleaded with the authorities for this to be done sooner rather than later and be made available to necessary evils like myself? John Ellwood

I'm sure this has been said before, and I understand that FreeBMD is doing an EXACT transcription of the indexes, but are FULL STOPS really that important ? Joe Public who is searching the index for a name won't care if there is a full stop or not, and the full stop isn't relevant in the searches. I'm sure the GRO won't care if a full stop is there or not when the someone requests a certificate, so why is there such a big fuss about them ? Andrew -----Original Message----- From: John Ellwood [mailto:john.gw4jlk@tiscali.co.uk] Sent: 06 September 2003 09:49 To: FREEBMD-DISCUSS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Fullstops in the Forename column. With great trepidation I want to comment on fullstops in the forename column. Entering this vital information has slowed down my input and not made me a happy bunny. So... I have added a fullstop to every name in the bmdname 2 file (accessed through Windows Explorer). This saves me some backspacing and fullstopping! Obviously if there multiple names I lose out, but I do have an overall gain I have install a copy of my BMD system, without my modification, on a separate drive. So if I am lucky enough to get pages without the dreaded fullstops I can get back to normality. Obviously there must be millions of transcribed entries without the stops so surely a bulk entry system is going to be needed. Could I pleaded with the authorities for this to be done sooner rather than later and be made available to necessary evils like myself? John Ellwood ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

I can't understand why on one page you get variations David P............... John P. .............. Both of these would be transcribed differently David P and John P. as one has a space after the full stop Andrew -----Original Message----- From: John Ellwood [mailto:john.gw4jlk@tiscali.co.uk] Sent: 06 September 2003 09:49 To: FREEBMD-DISCUSS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Fullstops in the Forename column. With great trepidation I want to comment on fullstops in the forename column. Entering this vital information has slowed down my input and not made me a happy bunny. So... I have added a fullstop to every name in the bmdname 2 file (accessed through Windows Explorer). This saves me some backspacing and fullstopping! Obviously if there multiple names I lose out, but I do have an overall gain I have install a copy of my BMD system, without my modification, on a separate drive. So if I am lucky enough to get pages without the dreaded fullstops I can get back to normality. Obviously there must be millions of transcribed entries without the stops so surely a bulk entry system is going to be needed. Could I pleaded with the authorities for this to be done sooner rather than later and be made available to necessary evils like myself? John Ellwood ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

On Sat, 6 Sep 2003 09:48:55 +0100, you wrote: >Obviously there must be millions of transcribed entries without the stops so >surely a bulk entry system is going to be needed. Could I pleaded with the >authorities for this to be done sooner rather than later and be made >available to necessary evils like myself? How would a bulk system work? If it were simply a case of all forenames needing a full stop, we wouldn't worry about it, and would add them ourselves. However, that ISN'T the case. Forenames that have a full stop in the index should be transcribed with a full stop, forenames that don't should be transcribed without a full stop. As stated previously, files that have already been uploaded with missing full stops should NOT be corrected, as it isn't a sufficiently important error to warrant that amount of rework. Future submissions should however include full stops if they appear in the index. -- Dave Mayall