On Sun, 6 Jun 2004 13:04:02 -0400 (EDT), you wrote: >Hi Mary and John >I am relatively new to this project but what I think I read here disturbs >me not a little. If I'm wrong I apologise right up front and you can stop >reading!! >I get the sense that using the picklists is regarded in some disfavour. >On the contrary, I regard the lists as one of the best tools you can >provide to transcribers. Having one's program read ahead when typing >district names (or first names) reduces the time and tedium enormously >and that's absolutely the best thing to offer transcribers. > >As I see it there are two solutions to this ongoing issue. >The first, and best in my opinion, is to have the main BMD server system >translate all variations of district names into a standard form (or >forms, depending on the year being dealt with). Peter, I fear that you have TOTALLY the wrong end of the stick here. The FreeBMD server *does* link all the variant spellings of districts together (thanks to the efforts of Mary and her team). The problem that we are discussing is transcribers who instead of transcribing EXACTLY what they see in the index pick something from the list which seems to match. People who do this play absolute havoc with the work that we do on districts. If it says "Stoke T", then it *MUST* be transcribed as "Stoke T". Selecting "Stoke on Trent" from the picklist is absolutely, 100% WRONG. There is nothing wrong with using picklists, provided it is done properly. If the picklist has "Stoke on Trent", and the records you are transcribing use "Stoke T", add "Stoke T" to the supplementary list, so that it appears in future. -- Dave Mayall