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Archiver > TMG > 2003-01 > 1041443020


From: Linda Gaylord-Kuhn <>
Subject: RE: [TMG] General tags or VERY specific tags?
Date: Wed, 01 Jan 2003 11:43:40 -0600
In-Reply-To: <148.672ca58.2b437d4f@cs.com>


Hi, Teresa.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sounds as if we took similar but opposite paths in our use of tags.
When I first got UFT I went (as they say) "hog wild" with custom tags
and sentences. Like a kid in a candy store, I couldn't get enough. And
I wound up with some very appealing reading. But then one day I began
to realize there was a lot of detail info I couldn't easily find in my
file because it was literally embedded into the sentence structures.
This forced me to either generate a screen view of the individual
narrative or to go digging into the custom sentences (which was just as
time consuming in UFT as it is in TMG ... click this, then click that,
then click the other).

What I do now, when contemplating creation of a new tag, is try to
evaluate it based on (a) how often will I use it, (b) how often might I
want to come back to the info it will hold/will I need to readily "see"
that it's there, (c) will I ever want to run a search for all
individuals with that tag and (d) how likely is it to cause a mess or
misunderstanding in a GEDCOM file. Regarding point (d), if the
importing program is going to throw out anything it doesn't understand
or have a place for, will the loss be critical? If the answer to that
is yes, then I'm better off putting it in a generic Anecdote tag ... I
use that tag extensively, BTW.

As I tell my kids, "Just because you can doesn't mean you should." <g>

Linda

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [mailto:]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 5:08 PM
> To:
> Subject: [TMG] General tags or VERY specific tags?
>
> When I first started using UFT, and tags (events) I used very
general
> tags,
> like PROBATE, CRIMINAL CASE, etc. But as I am using TMG more, I find
> myself
> using VERY specific tags, so that I can construct sentence structures
that
> will allow me to say exactly what I want with little editing post TMG.
> Examples: Instead of Probate, I have Administration, Letters of
Adminis,
> Will, Inventory, Sale of Estate, Appraisement, Codicil, etc.
>
> I was just wondering, do others use specific tags, or very general
tags?
> Are
> your sentences generic, like "[P] was blah blah <[D]> <[L]>. <[M]>" or
> very
> specific tags like "[:CR:][:TAB:][R:Alias Capias] had an alias capias
> issued
> for him by < [L]> <[D]>. An alias capias was the writ or process
> commanding
> the officer to arrest the person named. <[M]>"
>
> I find I am leaning more towards the second type and using the
sentence
> structure to explain why a document was issued, and how it was used.
> Just wondering as they year comes to a close, and I face a new year of
> family
> discovery, how do my researching friends use the sentence and tags in
TMG.
> Teresa Ghee Elliott
> Happy NEW YEAR!
>
>
> ==== TMG Mailing List ====
> The Wholly Genes FAQ page <http://www.whollygenes.com/faq1/fom-
> serve/cache/1.html> has information not only about TMG and how to
obtain
> it, but helpful hints on using it.



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