Use of ?

[dreams-togo]

Am I right in thinking that we can type "?" if we are unsure of a word? However this symbol has a different meaning in these data fields, so do we no longer use "?" for uncertainty?

[dreams-togo]

stsccfr said: See #58 for the issue about having to use ? to bypass a field that has been flagged as mandatory. Appending a ? to a name or other text to indicate uncertainty is safe, so you can still do that.

[DeniseColbert]

@stsccfr to tell Lou this answer

BUT: there's a wider question... should we remove mandatory fields?

[stsccfr]

I made sure Louise was aware of my answer, and I asked her about what fields should be mandatory. Her feeling was that date and surname were the only ones deserving of this status. That seems reasonable, but the concern I have is whether the ? mark should be explicitly written out to the CSV file. I don't think it should be, because ? would likely be interpreted by FreeREG users as meaning that something was written in the register but it was illegible. What we are trying to convey here is that the field is in fact blank in the register.

[DeniseColbert]

When [a symbol] is in a field, show nothing in the record.