Let me preface this remark by stating that I completely understand the rationale for the style guide in terms of generating a uniform approach that can be applied across several million profiles on Wikitree.
That said, parts of the style guide have limitations in specific cases. Case-in-point, my great-grandparents were married in the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sharpsburg in Sharpsburg, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania on June 5, 1890. This particular church has had several different names, denominations and locations from the 1870s to the present. The name of the church and its specific location in 1890 for the marriage is vitally important for so many reasons (locating records, placing the couple's activities and their families, etc.).
Recently another member removed the name of the church (which I went back and put in again) in their profiles, and sent me this message reminding me that including a church name in the marriage location field violates the style guide "The name of the church does - according to the Location Field Guidelines (paragraph "Street Names, Building Numbers etc.) not belong in the location field but in the Biography. Please remove it."
Here is my concern with this. My great-grandparents are not notable or from a high profile group like Euroaristo or DAR, etc. As such, the people who are likely to be looking for information on them will be their descendants. Knowing these descendants, a large number of their descendants (i.e. my relatives) have little interest/experience in genealogy. A few of them have found the Wikitree profiles for my great-grandparents, and in my opinion, it is incredibly valuable to novices in particular to see that this couple married on 5 Jun 1890 in "First German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sharpsburg, Sharpsburg, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States". A novice can come upon a profile and immediately see the specific location of their marriage, since the marriage location field is featured so prominently on Wikitree profiles.
The Style Guide version of this is married on 5 Jun 1890 in "Sharpsburg, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States" with a reference to the church name in the biography. For this particular couple (and the very high likelihood that into the forseeable future, novices will be reading the profiles). I can tell you with great confidence that very few (if any) of my relatives would take the time to read my bios, much less read it at a level to grasp the significance of the church name and location.
Again, while I understand and appreciate the need to have a style guide (and I have changed the way I do things in many ways over the years to conform with various style guide standards), there are instances like this in which we should be permitted to make judgment calls on providing critical information that doesn't conform with style guide standards.
Similarly, on the other side of my family, there have been more than ten Catholic churches in Pittsburgh over the years that have had some version of the name "St. Mary's" in the church name. The specific name and specific location of the St. Mary's Church in question is often one of the most important factors in being able to find out more information on the marriage. In fact, Catholic church records in Allegheny County are held at the Archives of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. In order to do a record search, you have to know the specific church name and location ("St. Mary's of the Assumption in Glenshaw" versus "St. Mary's of Lawrenceville" for example) in order to find the correct record. In cases like this, having the name of the church in the marriage location field is arguably the most critical detail. I just don't feel comfortable leaving this information only in the bio, and hoping that a novice relative will make the effort to read the bio.
Thanks.
