In article <1184788031.775481.5100@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
"the_verminator@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <the_verminator@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
> On Jul 17, 11:39 am, mels...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Robert Melson)
<snip>
>> Out of curiosity, what would you suggest replace the gedcom
>> "standard"? Is the problem so much with the standard or with
>> the programs that implement it? As Micro$oft and Oracle have
>> amply proved, a standard exists as a standard only so long as
>> the players consider themselves bound by it; once the standard
>> is breached it becomes meaningless.
>>
>> Bob Melson
>
> I suggest a narrative text file. That is what I give others to whom I
> provide information. Thus, I am free to give exactly the information I
> want to give complete with cautions and warnings about sources,
> citations, etc.
>
> If I'm provided with a gedcom I'll im****t it to a database and then
> print out an individual re****t on each person to see what exactly I
> want to enter into my main program.
>
> A second benefit is that unless someone wants to do a LOT of typing
> I'm unlikely to see my work spread over the internet willy-nilly
> without crediting me as the source of the information.
>
> I'll gladly provide info on individuals but balk at providing whole
> lines to name collectors.
>
> I'd even go so far as to say that the GEDCOM has done more to hurt
> online genealogy than it has to help it as it allows the almost
> instantanous transmission of unsourced genealogical garbage and does
> too little to encourage sound genealogical research (i.e. mandatory
> entry of standard sources and citations).
>
>
But is that latter a fault of the GEDCOM standard or of its
implementation in, e.g., FTM? Keep in mind that GEDCOM is
a data exchange standard and nothing more and has nothing to do
with how you or I conduct our research or how strictly we adhere
to standards for sourcing, etc. The fact that the data
exchange standard has no provision for "sanitizing" the data
being exchanged is, I think, beyond the scope of the standard.
The failure, if failure it is, is in the programs in use and in
the people using them. While it's not a 100% cure - source info
CAN be "cooked" - wouldn't it be better if the various programs
prevented data entry without sourcing or a statement like "No
source available"?
Bob Melson
--
Robert G. Melson | Rio Grande MicroSolutions | El Paso, Texas
-----
"People unfit for freedom---who cannot do much with it---are
hungry for power." ---Eric Hoffer
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