Random said

Tea database questions. What's the best practice?

I’ve recently run into a couple of situations where I am unsure on the correct path for me to take.

1) I recently made an August Uncommon order and discovered that my favorite Leatherbound has been renamed to The Library. Same tea, just a different name.

Another example of this is Harney and Sons renaming Mother’s Bouquet to mother’s Day.

What is the correct procedure? Do we create a new entry in the database, making a note of the name change (I’m leaning this way), or to rename the previous one?

2) I recently purchased Wild Wuyi from Harney and Sons. When I looked for it in the database here, I can only find
https://steepster.com/teas/harney-and-sons/20540-wild-wuyi-black-out-of-stock
Which not only specifically states that its out of stock, but the most recent review was a decade ago.

What’s the correct procedure here? Do I make a new record or modify the existing one?

3 Replies

Hi Random,

There aren’t enforced rules on how to handle this but, personally, I would modify the existing entries instead of making new ones.

Here’s an example of an entry where the tea was renamed:

https://steepster.com/teas/davidstea/92981-blueberry-vanilla-formerly-berries-and-cream

I’ve also seen people make the name change (without the formerly portion) and just add a bolded note into the body of the entry about the name change. Example:

This tea was formerly called XXX

The reason I like having it in the name, however, is because that keeps it searchable in the database for people who may not know the name has been changed.

For the Wild Wuyi, I’d just remove the “out of stock” from the name and call it a day ;)

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I agree with Ros, I would just update the existing entries, and name the one that was renamed something like “The Library (formerly Leatherbound)”. That way if someone searches for the old name they’re still able to find it.

The “[Out of stock]” thing is just weird to begin with, and I’ve half a mind to just go through and remove it from all of the other Harney teas that seem to be using the same convention… Not sure if they meant it as way to indicate the tea was discontinued…?

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Random said

Thanks to you both for your answers.

I got rid of the Out of Stock and looks like someone else already updated Leatherbound and Mother’s Bouquet.

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