Are there plans to add "circa" as an optional date indicator?

+14 votes
159 views
Many of us use "circa" to indicate a ballpark guess, for example subtracting about 20 years per generation just to place people in rough time frame context until more is known. In contrast, "about" can indicate we have some info (for example a self-reported age on a census) yet no vital record yet.

Any plans or thoughts about allowing 'circa' as an additional date indicator?
in Policy and Style by Ellen P G2G Crew (550 points)
retagged by Living Sälgö
Add a Research note section and explain what evidences you have for the estimate of the fact and why you used about/before... is my advice
We often say "say" when we've got no information, we just want to show that the chronology is reasonable.

WikiTree has another good reason for "say" dates - the search system can't do anything with undated profiles.  This forces me to put dates in that I don't want to.

I usually flag them with a {{DateGuess}}, which I leave out when there's specific but approximate evidence.

But other people don't like the templates and remove them.  They figure, if they just state the unsupported assumptions behind a "say" date, or cite somebody else's guess, it's not a guess any more.
When entering a date, WikiTree has the option for you to mark it as 'about' or 'uncertain'. This allows you to indicate it is just an estimate and invites others to add a more accurate date when a source can be found.
It seems to me that "about/uncertain" is sufficient for the data fields in a profile. (Also, "before" and "after" are available.) And contributors should remember that the profile data are basically just index information. The meat of the profile is the biography and sources. The biography text that you provide should include a discussion of the basis for the dates listed on the profile.

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