Stewart, I haven't researched this phenomenon, nor do I know anybody who might "officially" know, but I do have some possible explanations. First of all, as far as I know, with data being submitted on disk, I can't imagine that any person has selectively looked at submissions and altered the place names. It's my understanding that most of the information gets dumped computer to computer and computers aren't going to question these things. One suggestion that occurs to me is that perhaps the field definitions only allow a certain number of spaces. I remember from my days early on with computers and designing a database that there were a finite number of spaces allowed per file, whether they were used as empty spaces or contained information. If I allowed, say, 300 spaces for a file, 50 of which were for a place name (these are random numbers BTW, so don't start doing the math), every file will take up 300 spaces even if 90% of the place names actually took up 15 spaces each. Technology may have made huge strides, I don't know, but back then, you couldn't afford to waste space. We had to juggle around the space allotted to each data field, some such as dates had to be an exact number, the rest we increased or decreased until we found a livable field size. But that did often require routinely truncating some words in order to allow for the more critical. So I'm wondering if the powers that be that handle the IGI and other databases have had to limit the number of characters in some of the fields in order to not waste a lot of empty space, and if the computer now has instructions to truncate according to certain rules. It really probably does not actually change the location--you can still find the place, it has not moved. I understand it might be annoying because that's not how you submitted it, but given the limitations in space it might be the only options available. Again, I don't know, but it seems feasible to me. Your best bet would be to write directly to the Family History Library in Salt Lake, and see if they can get your query to the person who can really answer the question. Linda ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stewart Millar" <sm999@tiscali.co.uk> To: <PAF-5-USERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 6:37 PM Subject: RE: [PAF-5] Source information in IGI >I realise I can be drummed out for continuing this variation on the above > topic as it does not directly impact on PAF - other than, for LDS members > who do submit data from PAF to the IGI (via submissions for temple work), > > I have registered an enquiry with the family search helpdesk but with no > reply yet after a couple of weeks. > > The problem is this ----- PAF recorded data with full British shire county > names (Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire etc.) ---- when > automatically transferred from PAF to TempleReady continue to show the > full > "shire" names on printed cards for the temple --- but when the entries > appear in the IGI, the "shire" suffix has been truncated. > > Perversely, this only occurs in the shire counties that also have a county > town of the same name, creating maximum confusion in the place name as > recorded in the IGI --- for example, does the entry stating "Oxford" refer > to the city of Oxford or the county of Oxfordshire --- similar problems > for > Lincoln/Lincolnshire, Nottingham/Nottinghamshire, Pembroke/Pembrokeshire > etc. This does not happen for shire counties that do not have a similarly > named county town, for example - Hampshire, Wiltshire - which appear in > full > on the IGI. > > I have to say I have only noticed this after 20+ years of using the IGI - > I > used to think of it as merely inattention to detail on the part of mainly > submissions from the US - but this is universal editing on the IGI as far > as > I can see and has happened to my own submissions. > > Anyone got an idea why the IGI has got this apparently so wrong. > > Regards, > > Stewart > > > > > ==== PAF-5-USERS Mailing List ==== > FreeBMD - Free Access to England and Wales Civil Registration Index > Volunteer as a Transcriber Today! > http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ > >