Names for beta directory

Discussions about the Ward Directory and Map tool on churchofjesuschrist.org.
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aebrown
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Perhaps it's random

#11

Post by aebrown »

I just ran across one more interesting piece of information. I am now thinking that the directory may include either the full name from MLS or the preferred name from MLS. I can't find a single example in my ward that is not one or the other. But the numbers are so high for each case, that I can only conclude that which one is selected is relatively random (or at least determined by some non-obvious factor).

Here's the interesting situation: In one of the wards in my stake, there is a sister who has a different last name in her preferred name than in her full name. This causes the membership list to be sorted oddly. The member will be grouped in a separate group out of sequence. For example, if a person with full name "Jane Baker" had an MLS preferred name of "Jane Smith" then there would be the heading "A" with all the households with names that start with A, but then there would be a heading "S" with only "Jane Baker", then the heading "B" with all the names that start with B, etc.

That leads me to believe that the grouping by starting letter is done based on the preferred name, but the display of at least some of the names is done by full name. That shows that this part of the code is at least somewhat confused as to whether to use the full name or the preferred name. That confusion could easily extend to apparently random use of preferred names vs. full names in the display of member names.

I have reported both the odd grouping and the inconsistent use of preferred vs. full names using the Feedback link.
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russellhltn
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#12

Post by russellhltn »

Alan_Brown wrote:(or at least determined by some non-obvious factor).
Time of last update to the membership record? Old-timers have full name. Move-ins or others who have recently had membership updates get their preferred names added to the data stream.

I'm thinking that a new data stream was added around MLS 3 to support the CDOL, etc. Unless MLS has had a reason to talk to CHQ about you, then CHQ doesn't know your MLS preferred name.
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nutterb
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#13

Post by nutterb »

This is curious, cause I'm not getting quite the same thing.

All of the names in the list appear to be [Legal_Last_Name], [Preferred_First_Name]. Then, in the detail section, I'm seeing [Preferred_Last_Name], [Preferred_First_Name]. Every name is consistent with MLS on these criteria. In my entire directory, only one name shows up with the middle name included.
russellhltn
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#14

Post by russellhltn »

nutterb wrote:This is curious, cause I'm not getting quite the same thing.
By chance have you had a ward split or updated every one's address to standardize the format? (Perhaps to get the beta maps to work?) Something that would have caused the record to be updated since MLS 3.0?
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nutterb
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#15

Post by nutterb »

Come to think of it, yes. When I was called about a year ago, nearly every member in the ward had the first and middle name in the preferred name field. In order to simplify formatting a photo directory, I manually went through and changed every preferred name to format in which I wanted it to appear.

I think I also standardized phone numbers and street abbreviations (St, Rd, Blvd, etc). So it is very likely that every member of my ward has been transmitted to Headquarters. You may be on to something.
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aebrown
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#16

Post by aebrown »

RussellHltn wrote:By chance have you had a ward split or updated every one's address to standardize the format? (Perhaps to get the beta maps to work?) Something that would have caused the record to be updated since MLS 3.0?
You're pursuing an interesting theory, but there are plenty of counterexamples in my ward. For example, I know that my individual phone number was added to my individual membership record in December, yet my full name is used in the beta directory instead of my preferred name.

Perhaps it's related to actual updates to the preferred name, but I find it hard to believe that the roughly 50% of my ward members who are listed with preferred names all had their preferred name updated even in the last year.

So I'm still stumped.
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zaneclark
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#17

Post by zaneclark »

Alan_Brown wrote:You're pursuing an interesting theory, but there are plenty of counterexamples in my ward. For example, I know that my individual phone number was added to my individual membership record in December, yet my full name is used in the beta directory instead of my preferred name.

Perhaps it's related to actual updates to the preferred name, but I find it hard to believe that the roughly 50% of my ward members who are listed with preferred names all had their preferred name updated even in the last year.

So I'm still stumped.
I am definitely not in the same tech league as most of you, but I am wondering that since this is still in beta, could it be that this is an issue that will be resolved before the full release?
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aebrown
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#18

Post by aebrown »

zaneclark wrote:I am definitely not in the same tech league as most of you, but I am wondering that since this is still in beta, could it be that this is an issue that will be resolved before the full release?
Hopefully. I did report it using the feedback link. The developers may not have even been aware of the problem, so there are no guarantees, but it does seem like a big enough problem to warrant a fix before release.
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Mikerowaved
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#19

Post by Mikerowaved »

Interesting... I just logged into the beta site ldsjobs.org using my LDS Account credentials and was greeted as [Legal_First_Name] [Legal_Middle_Name], instead of [First] [Last] as I would expect. Could this be a wide-spread bug with anything using an LDS Account login?
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aebrown
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#20

Post by aebrown »

Mikerowaved wrote:Interesting... I just logged into the beta site ldsjobs.org using my LDS Account credentials and was greeted as [Legal_First_Name] [Legal_Middle_Name], instead of [First] [Last] as I would expect. Could this be a wide-spread bug with anything using an LDS Account login?
Fascinating. However, I would note that when I log into that site, I am greeted simply with my [First_Name], but on the beta directory my name is listed as "Last, First Middle". So it's the reverse of what you are seeing, but since it is so inconsistent, I suppose it could very well be a widespread bug with different manifestations.
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