Thank you for your replies, RonaldF, BenJoeM, and pack1096! I appreciate the help and feedback from all of you.
Ronald, (and please understand that I'm not being flippant or rude with these additional comments.....I'm just honestly trying to grasp why these hundreds of duplicate ordinances are being performed),
Your response gives the impression that most of the duplications happen because of Patron errors. Although I agree that we (as the patrons) have an important responsibility to study, learn and then properly apply the software, it would seem that there should be trained individuals who could make sure these errors/duplications aren't entered or accepted until they've been verified.
You mentioned "GIGO", but my experience with my own ancestors has been that all the names were spelled correctly, birthdates/places, dates of death and locations have been accurate. But still, this information was all accepted, duplicates and all, and then sent out to the temples for the duplicate work to be performed. The dates and locations for many of these ordinances have been different, meaning they've been performed many times after they were actually completed. So there was no "garbage in", it was just accurate information being submitted for people who'd already had their ordinances performed. Also many of my ancestors were BIC, but have still been baptized for the dead many times.
Maybe I'm over simplifying, but how difficult when a name is submitted, is it to type it in (with some accurate identifying facts, ie. birthdate, parent's names, etc.), search, and then show if their ordinances have already been performed? If all of the ordinances have been completed for this name, it should not be accepted for performing new ordinances.
There will always be "human error", I agree. And, I would imagine that there will always be several ancestors submitting duplicate names. But, doing a search verification, and then if seeing the work has been completed previously, the names should not be allowed to be re-submitted.
Again, maybe my lack of computer knowledge is over simplifying this, but I've worked with computers enough to know that doing the above is possible.
It's upsetting to think of all the hours and hours that have been spent by dedicated, sacrificing members of the church in performing unecessary ordinances because they are simply duplicating completed ones. Of course, I know that these members are still blessed in their temple attendance, but much more temple work could be performed.
I also don't understand why when searching Joseph Smith Jr.'s name, there are different dates for his ordinances, he's been baptized by proxy many times, and there are many different dates for his sealing being performed to Emma. These names would definitely be identified as duplicates, wouldn't they?
Just curious.....and trying to figure this system out!
Thanks again for everyone's responses and help!!! I'll keep reading on here and trying to learn more about this!

gb308