Subsection 4.1
Placeholders are not data
Reading
A placeholder is a value that looks like data but is not. (000) - is the most common. N/A is the second most common. TBD, unknown, none, and ? round out the list.
Placeholders are dangerous because they pass every basic validity check. LEN("(000) -") returns 8. ISBLANK returns FALSE. The cell looks filled. But the data inside is meaningless.
The eight most common placeholder values in union rosters
| Placeholder | Where it comes from | What it lies about |
|---|---|---|
(000) - | A form’s default phone mask the worker never edited. | That you have a phone number. |
N/A | A field rep marking “not applicable.” | That you have a value at all. |
TBD | Staff marking “to be determined.” | That the value is known. |
unknown | Auto-import default. | That the worker has been contacted. |
none | Worker said “no email.” | That the email is missing for a system reason. |
? | Field rep was unsure. | That the cell is filled. |
test | Form testing leaked into production. | That the row is real. |
Empty string "" | Form submitted with the field skipped. | Looks blank but is not ISBLANK. |
The cost of leaving placeholders in your denominator
If 12 of your 142 phone numbers are (000) - and you calculate card-support % using the full 142, you are reporting a number that is 13 percentage points lower than the truth. That number gets used to decide whether to file the petition. Always clean the denominator.
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