It is astounding how a phrase spoken only once by a fictional robot/guardian on a “B” (at best) television series from the 1960s has entered the English language as a way to call people’s attention to potential mistakes. If you would like the full history of the phrase, and a description of the appropriate arm movements to use when saying it in person, you can visit Wikipedia.
The danger I want to warn you about is much more common than an encounter with hostile extraterrestrials. I hope you will hear the Robot (the character was never given a name) every time you consider making copies of data. This is particularly true of data about people, because of all the things you may keep computerized information about, people are the most likely to change their information in ways that can cause problems if that information is not updated thoroughly and properly. People change their phone numbers. They change their physical and e mail addresses. They change their socks, but that is a good thing and won’t cause problems with your data. Sometimes they even change their name. Get that one wrong and you will wish you had heard the Robot and chosen not to duplicate the data.
We store data about people in many places, but the dangers of duplication are highest in databases (such as in Access) and contact management programs (such as Outlook). The trick to avoiding data duplication is this: these programs have facilities that give you the convenience that duplicating data would provide without actually duplicating the data, but these facilities are often well-hidden and can be very frustrating to the uninitiated. My friends at PC Helps can help you understand how to avoid dangerous data duplication. All the Taskmaster needs to do is warn you about your peril by saying, “Danger, Will Robinson!”
