APG-L Archives

Archiver > APG > 2005-02 > 1107546488


From: "Eileen Polakoff" <>
Subject: Religious wording (was [APG] Beginner's Software)
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 14:48:09 -0500
In-Reply-To: <005f01c50ad5$e06def20$0202a8c0@oemcomputer>


Trevia,

I'm providing my own take on the wording that is inappropriate in PAF and
many other programs. For Jewish genealogists, and for Jews in general, the
act of baptism or christening is offensive. Therefore, seeing it on a
computer screen or report that is about your family is especially difficult.


I believe the point Gladys was trying to make (and I apolgize if it wasn't)
and one which I always look for in genealogical software is if you are able
to turn off or hide the words themselves. Even if you don't use the field
the wording often appears on the screen and may appear on reports even when
the field is not used. This is what is called "hard coded" I believe.
Fortunately most programs today allow you to change the fields so it never
appears anywhere. I am currently using a program to build a website on the
internet for a family and the word Christening was hard coded as a companion
word to the header Born. It said "Born/Christened" and it upset me every
time I looked at it. So I asked the programmer if he could change the hard
code for me on my version. His first response was that I could just ignore
the field. But when I explained it was hard coded as a header he understood
my problem and he was happy to change it for me.

This has nothing to do with LDS events such as sealing since most programs
have allowed hiding that for more than ten years. It is possible PAF has
changed its coding so that you can change the word Baptism or Christening to
something else or delete it entirely. It has been at least ten years since I
looked at the program.

Eileen

(Gladys... Please excuse me for jumping in on this if you meant something
else.)

............... [snip]

Gladys, I believe the appropriate word is [who are not Christians] Mormon.
Genealogy is a vital part of their religious works but others may not be
privy to it. Since I am not Mormon, hopefully someone else can answer ....
-- Trevia

......[snip]

However, for those of us who are not Christians, the inability to delete
certain religious event items from the family group sheet (haven't checked
recent version but assume that is still the case), makes it inappropriate
for some.
-- Gladys

This thread: