Green Check mark

It used to be that some entries had asterisks, and that meant that they were MFP entered. Generally they were USDA entries. But then they changed the database, and the green check mark replaced the asterisk but now instead of just being the MFP entered items they're also entries which have a) been 'verified' by a certain number of users (as users can confirm entries are correct) and b) have macros which add up correctly given the calorie total.

It seems ok in theory, but people seem to 'verify' any number of whacky entries (there is a green checked verified entry for "Chinese Buffet - 1 plate - 1000 calories" for goodness sake) so you have to take even the green checked entries with a measure of suspicion.

It's just an example of MFP thinking they're improving a system when really, they've made it pretty useless.

CyberTone wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

It used to be that some entries had asterisks, and that meant that they were MFP entered. Generally they were USDA entries. But then they changed the database, and the green check mark replaced the asterisk but now instead of just being the MFP entered items they're also entries which have a) been 'verified' by a certain number of users (as users can confirm entries are correct) and b) have macros which add up correctly given the calorie total.

It seems ok in theory, but people seem to 'verify' any number of whacky entries (there is a green checked verified entry for "Chinese Buffet - 1 plate - 1000 calories" for goodness sake) so you have to take even the green checked entries with a measure of suspicion.

It's just an example of MFP thinking they're improving a system when really, they've made it pretty useless.

^^ This, with one slight correction. The items without asterisks were entered by MFP staff. The asterisks denoted user-entered items. You can still see the remnants of this when using the Old Recipe Calculator on the web version. For example, in the image below, all of the peppers, raw entries without asterisks were imported by MFP staff from the USDA database.

I use the Old Recipe Calculator search to find those non-asterisk items frequently. Sometimes I can then pull them up in the Add Food to Diary, sometimes not.

Ahhh you're right, thanks! I had that around the wrong way.

I just found a green check marked entry for "Flour - 1 ea" 100 calories.

Worse - it's the first thing that comes up when you simply search "flour". If that doesn't indicate what a hopeless system the green checks are, nothing will.