Here is a list of standards I try to use whenever possible in the recording of genealogical information. I have picked them up from various sources, including Brother's Keeper documentation, and some family history books.

A general principle I have as far as what information to look for is this: My goal is to collect information that can help the most people. I'll take whatever information people want to give to me on descendants of my (or my close relatives') ancestors. Rather than a straight line to a cousin, I like to fill in details on the families along that line (sibling details). That way the chances are increased that someone who has ancestor information close to data I have might be reached. But then to limit the scope of my involvement, I try to draw the line at parents of spouses of remote cousins -- enough to get someone started on a search, but not too much on someone who's not a blood relative for me or my close relatives.

I'm not a strict genealogist. I'll record information into my program just because someone out there has something I didn't. It can at least serve as a lead to nailing down some sources to back up the information. Documenting sources is for me an evolving skill. To be sure of anything, we need sources. So where I don't have sources, I'll either get to it eventually, or leave it up to someone with ancestral interests. Right now I have a lot of saved mail messages (sorted by surname) and hard copy that people have sent to me. Getting all of that information organized is what I see as the biggest challenge that just has to wait.

• Use maiden names for females. Don't use married names in place of maiden names.
• Use _____ (5 underscores) for parts of names you don't know. They serve as place holders so that there is no confusion about whether a word is a first or last name, and also, unknown maiden names get alphabetized together. Use _____ _____ for an unknown mother and _____ LASTNAME for an unknown father of children whose surname is known. That makes the sibling relationship last even when data is exported GEDCOM files. Many genealogy programs flag it as an error when importing GEDCOMs if an individual doesn't have a name, so if you hang information on an individual, it's best to use something for the name. Recently I've even run accross totally unknown female names that were given by prepending a Mrs. in front of the husbands name, which has the effect of making you think you've got a name if you were just scanning a list -- I've changed these to the two blanks form.
• Date format: DD MMM YYYY, e.g. 11 Jan 1968.
  This helps to keep the month and date from being misinterpreted. It is very clear which is the month in this format.
• Record places from most specific to least specific, separated by commas, e.g. Haywood Cemetery, West Middlesex, PA. This is because some genealogy programs allow place names to be abbreviated by using only the first or first two parts of place names.
• Since I have found some individuals at the Family History Centers of the LDS Church, I have indicated the code numbers found on the Ancestral File CD ROM database in the NOTEs of such individuals. Hopefully this will help guard against multiple entries for the same individuals in the LDS database when anyone submits their data to the LDS FHC.
• I have recently changed the date modifiers CIR, BEF, and AFT to lowercase so that they don't dominate listings that include dates.
• Spelling:
  genealogy
  
  • cemetery (not cemetary)
    
  • descendant (prefered over descendent)
    
  • LifeLines
    
  • Brother's Keeper (not Brothers Keeper)
    
  • GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data COMmunication)