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I'm a software/database developer and struggling to find the correct term for what we are currently referring to in our software as "profile". Of all the definitions I found for the word profile, these two are the closest but still inaccurate for our use:

  • a user's summary of their personal details or current situation.
  • a record of a person's psychological or behavioral characteristics, preferences, etc.

These seem to relate more directly to people. I'm happy to continue using the term in relation to people, such as Person profile or User profile. However, we are using the term for many more things in our software. Whenever we are editing basic information on an entity in our database we refer to it as "updating the [fill-in-the-blank] profile" (ie. school profile, team profile, game profile, etc.). What's a more appropriate alternative for these types of record keeping chunks of basic data?

Edit: The word record would not be a good fit since we are involved in school sports. (ie. team record would be confusing). The term would preferably be used internally (in code) and also on user-interface screens for editing and viewing.

Update: It was a tough choice between details and info, but we decided to go with details. It seems to have a bit more appeal since it is not a short-form of a word. I also feel it gives a little more attraction for users to click on and pairs nicely with the word view (as in "view details"). The word details also pulled up a whole new set of synonyms that were good candidates. There are two things in computer programming that are generally considered to be the hardest. One of those things is "naming things".

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    Programmatically that would depend on what the profile is. If it's a schema, you would update the table, if it's a table, you would update a record, if it's a record, you would update the field.
    – Ajaypayne
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 20:23
  • It's a set of fields that you would find on a row in a database table (but not necessarily all fields on that row). Some times I find myself thinking of using "basic details". But I don't like the two words. "Details" by itself seems too generic (although I'm looking for something generic I suppose).
    – David Graham
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 20:27
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    Okay, how does attributes work for you? I actually think that would fit quite well based on what you've said so far?
    – Ajaypayne
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 20:36
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    I'm leaning towards just the word "details". It's generic, but at least it's not incorrect like profile (which relates to people/users).
    – David Graham
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 20:41
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    Info is so simple that it hadn't even entered my mind once! Lol
    – Ajaypayne
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 21:01

3 Answers 3

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Without seeing the data and knowing the spec, all I can offer are generic words. 'Details' as you have suggested will cover it and be clear in the meaning for all of your users. As well as my suggestions in the comments on you question, I would also say 'chronicle', 'particulars', and 'specifics' could work well.

I personally would go with 'profile' or 'details' like you have said, if it wasn't for the fact that 'record' was a reserved word, that would have been the one for me :)

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I find that in these situations, simpler is often better. You could try just using "Information" or "Account." Neither is jargon-y and both convey the general meaning. Another more technical-sounding alternative might be "Data."

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  • Ah, nice. Also "info" for short as well.
    – David Graham
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 21:00
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Statistics/stats -- MW definition: a collection of quantitative data. or At my company we use the word Demographics for our assorted member data, but the dictionary only had demographic which has a slightly different meaning. For us, member demographics include where they are, contact information, licensure, relationships etc.

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