Better default date for null dates on legal resource documents

noahmanger commented 7 years ago

When a legal resource doc doesn't have a date, it defaults to 01/01/1900, which is weird:

We should have a better default for this.

jenniferthibault commented 7 years ago

Research into why this is happening

@anthonygarvan found that there are there are 157 such documents out of many thousands displaying date 01/01/1900.

Broken down by document category:

Final Opinion | 65 Draft Documents | 11 AO Request, Supplemental Material, and Extensions of Time | 5 Commissioner Statements | 76

Tony made a CSV of all of those documents. Here's a sample pulled from them:

We had originally thought that a long-term solution would be to manually update the dates for these 157 docs in the database, but looking at these reveals that there is no date on the document itself, so that option is off the table.

Further, Jason from FEC confirmed in slack:

if there is no date present on the document, then I or whomever is dating and titling, unchecks the date box. This has been standard operating procedure for all published MURs, ADRs, and AOs. If you were do to the same search on the MURs and ADRs, you will generate a much larger list...

So confirmed that there is no date on the document, and we are unable to date it. Therefore, the date wasn't recorded/is unknown.

This gives us solid logic for writing microcopy for this field, which is the permanent solution.

Possible solutions

Task: Figure out copy for the date field when no date is entered in the database

Options:

Not recorded Unknown Undated

@emileighoutlaw @nickykrause what do you think of the above options?

anthonygarvan commented 7 years ago

Tentatively using 'Unknown', feel free to update PR with latest copy: https://github.com/18F/openFEC-web-app/pull/2010

nickykrause commented 7 years ago

I personally prefer "not recorded." It seems the most accurate/specific. "Undated" is similar but might be an awkward word? Although, it has the benefit of including "date" right in the word, which makes it clear what is missing, as compared to "Not recorded," which might add a slight effort for the user who has to ask "what wasn't recorded? oh yeah, the date"

Minor details, I suppose...but I am curious what emileigh thinks!

jenniferthibault commented 7 years ago

Undated = Not dated ?

nickykrause commented 7 years ago

Yes, sure - I like Not dated 👍

emileighoutlaw commented 7 years ago

I love Not dated

jenniferthibault commented 7 years ago

Thanks all! Updated in https://github.com/18F/openFEC-web-app/pull/2010/commits/c2d9e4c371c7f3e7e69c00cd86ad25bb7e1abce3

noahmanger commented 7 years ago

Resolved by https://github.com/18F/openFEC-web-app/issues/2010

fecgov / openFEC

Better default date for null dates on legal resource documents #2345

Research into why this is happening

Possible solutions