Question

Use of double commas??? One user when they created profile [[Triplett-2409]] used multiple times throughout the profile ",,".  I am working to fix missing <ref> errors 861 (inline citations) and don't want to "fix" those unless they are confirmed to be incorrect.  Can you please advise me?

Comments

Looks like that's the way FamilySearch formatted the citation. I don't think removing the double commas would affect the usefulness of the citation as it is. But the WikiTree Sourcer Extension creates a better citation which includes both a link to the record page and a link to the image page.

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You mention 861 Suggestions.  That profile does not have that suggestion.  Commas would have nothing to do with the Suggestion.

Answer 1

Ignore them.  They are there to indicate a seperate field but with no information in it, like (for example):
London, Kent County, California, France appearing as
London,,California, France.

The double-comma is created by an external site.

Comments

My home Legacy Family Tree, location database, which I find extremely useful to use.  However it uses double comma's in locations, which is frustrating.

I usually use the drop downs for locations, but I may have missed some in the earliest profiles I created.

Eventually I will finish, re-editing them all.

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This is also the reason I see double commas in Virginia locations where the cities are independent from the surrounding counties.  So for example, Family Search will format "Richmond,,Virginia, United States" and sometimes it will be formatted "Richmond, Richmond CIty, Virginia, United States" when people don't want to leave the field blank.

Answer 2

I would not say it is wrong or right. The double commas are not standard punctuation in a citation. The only reason I can think of someone might include it is as a placeholder for missing information. Looking at the citation, I don't know what that might be.

Answer 3

The double commas indicate the Title of the information being cited. Its not wrong, but its not incorrect if they are not included. I wouldn't remove them as its not an error.  FamilySearch citations come with them, some citations that people manually write up do not, for whatever reason.

Comments

The double commas do not indicate the title.  Double quotes do.  Double commas indicate missing information, as in my answer above.

Answer 4

This is the standard FamilySearch citiation format.

For example: 

"United States Census, 1870", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXWM-2ZG : Tue Mar 05 08:50:20 UTC 2024), Entry for Lee Triplett and Rhoda Triplett, 1870.

When reformatted by WikiTree Sourcer, it becomes:

* '''1870 Census''': "United States Census, 1870"<br/>citing Page: 25; Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Affiliate Publication Number: M593; Line: 15; Digital film/folder number: 004269312_002_M9CF-1FH; FHL microfilm: 000545960; Image number: 45; Packet letter: A; Indexing batch: N01517-8<br/>{{FamilySearch Record|MXWM-2ZG}} (accessed 17 April 2024)<br/>{{FamilySearch Image|S3HT-DTGS-GPD}}<br/>Lee Triplett (25) head of household in Floyd, Kentucky, United States. Born in Kentucky.

You can see that the two commas stand for missing information, as also seen in their Findagrave index citations,

"Find a Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV2G-7R2G : 10 June 2020), Lee Triplett, 1929; Burial, , ; citing record ID , Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

Answer 5

They can be left alone. I use the double commas to insert census information (city or district, county, state). That way, when I copy the information to a family member, I don't have to look anywhere else. Basically, it's a placeholder for information and can be left as is.