http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/noplate.asp
This is an urban legend I would have expected to be false, but apparently happened several times. Someone had a vanity license plate with "NO PLATE" on. Every traffic ticket issued to a car with no plate had "NO PLATE" written in the space for the license plate. Every (or many) tickets were sent to the holder of the "no plate" plate.
I realise, before databases were common, it was a lot more common to expect people reading a form to use common sense (whether or not that was justified or not, I don't know :)).
But if possible, when designing a form, have a SEPARATE way of marking exceptions. (See also "John No Middle Initial Smith") Also, when designing an automated database process, have some way of noticing when one entry suddenly spikes to thousands of times what the others get.
Conversely, recognise in advance when you're letting yourself in for a world of grief, and decide if this is the battle you want to dedicate your life to or not :)
This is an urban legend I would have expected to be false, but apparently happened several times. Someone had a vanity license plate with "NO PLATE" on. Every traffic ticket issued to a car with no plate had "NO PLATE" written in the space for the license plate. Every (or many) tickets were sent to the holder of the "no plate" plate.
I realise, before databases were common, it was a lot more common to expect people reading a form to use common sense (whether or not that was justified or not, I don't know :)).
But if possible, when designing a form, have a SEPARATE way of marking exceptions. (See also "John No Middle Initial Smith") Also, when designing an automated database process, have some way of noticing when one entry suddenly spikes to thousands of times what the others get.
Conversely, recognise in advance when you're letting yourself in for a world of grief, and decide if this is the battle you want to dedicate your life to or not :)