SF...

"I certainly don't wish to hijack your post,..."

Your inquiry is one that would naturally arise in this discussion and I "drifted" a bit myself. In fact, once the dust settles on the issue I'm trying to focus on, the mechanics are most certainly to be a subject of their own. Thank you tho for the courtesy and consideration of your out-of-topic PM and post here.

"What was the original transcription, how/why/who changed or added alternates and has index data been irreversibly changed or deleted?"

Your point is valid and I don't have a clue. My educated guess would be "[Thomas Griffie]" since that was the transcription error correction submitted. Where "[Griffis]" came from I've no idea but I often see those unexplained (and often inexplicable) alternates in ACOM indexes. I twice noted, in the other thread, that "James Craddock Daggs" was now listed in the hyperlinked "household members" block in the index rather than the enumerator recorded "J. C. Daggs"...something I don't EVER recall having seen before. I believe that is both significant and relevant to the issue you are addressing.

However, there's so much going on here that it is difficult to get one's arms around it all...so I think it's beneficial to try and remain focused on the most basic of changes...this new concept of injecting "alternate" data into the source citation process. My instincts recoil at the very notion and I will be most interested to see ACOM's defense of the concept.