[Babase] Re: Correction for consorts data, and valinter for M/C/Es

Karl O. Pinc babase@www.eco.princeton.edu
Wed, 18 Feb 2004 13:22:19 -0600


On 2004.02.18 09:55 Daphne Onderdonk wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> Jeanne and I just talked about this.  My first reaction was that for
> something
> specific like this, maybe we didn't need to have a permanent record of
> it, and
> that we could just use the Babase list for more general decisions.
> But obviously
> that is not a black and white distinction, and as Jeanne pointed out,
> sometimes
> these specific things bring up more general questions.  So I think our
> thoughts
> were to go through the mailing list even for things like this.

I think it's a good idea to put these sorts of messages on the list.  
If there
gets to be too much traffic, we can have two lists; one for messages
related to babase usage and the database content and one for technical/
program development discussion.

> 
> And this specific thing does bring up a more general thing - Karl, is
> there no
> check in the valinter program that checks that the actor is not a
> female?  It
> seems that could be in there, unless valinter checks all the
> interaction types
> the same way (this would obviously only apply to M/C/Es - agonisms and
> grooming
> can have either sex as the actor and actee, but M/C/Es should always
> be male
> M/C/E female).  Can it check the different interaction types
> differently?  Is
> this a check that we want to put in there?

The current database does not check this.  (I don't think.)  We can
put something like this into the new database.

I need to think about the right way to do this.  Are there other sorts 
of
interactions that might need a 'opposite sex' flag, even if we're not
recording such interactions at the moment?

> I will do some querying in Interact/Parts to see if there are more
> cases like
> this.

Please write back with the number of problems found.


Karl <kop@meme.com>
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                  -- Robert A. Heinlein