@thetrivialstuff said:
The problem was that there was no spec -- the instructions next to that text box just said "type your addresses here" or something like that. Can't really blame the users for once (except the ones that decided to change their format midway through their own file...)
There is a special place in hell for people that make forms like this.
I used to do inventory and asset management for a large Department of Defense contractor. The system of record used a data dump of HR's people soft data so I would know who was who. That dump had phone numbers in about 40 different formats due to phone numbers being entered in a free-form field with no validation:
555-555-5555
1-555-555-5555
9-1-555-555-5555
55/5-5:55555
bob's cell phone: 555 555 5555
555-5555 but call my cell at 555-444-5555-12345
This got dumped into my tool which would only let me dispatch tickets in a 555-555-5555. I had no control over how the data was shoveled into my tool, the data could only be fixed through a tool that took 6 minutes to load and all of my crys, threats and blackmails to get the format fixed was answered with "Can't you just deal with it? It's only a few hundred thousand records. And we only destroy all of your changes once a week."
But I guess I'm just getting bitter at my old age of 30.