I'm not sure there really is a way to have universal good practices, since it really depends on what you're using the information for. For ex - why are you col

I'm not sure there really is a way to have universal good practices, since it really depends on what you're using the information for. For ex - why are you collecting gender? If it's for some kind of medical process, the requirements of that will tell you what you actually need to know. If it's for some kind of dating thing, you can also figure out from that what you really need to know. If you don't actually know what you need it for, then maybe just don't collect it at all, and you have nothing to worry about. Ditto most other requirements. Do you need a name for a user in order to meet some kind of legal requirement, or do you just want to be able to put "Hello Username" on the page somewhere? Things tend to get sticky when you might have to interact with multiple external systems with different requirements. Maybe you help run people through some kind of legal process in various countries, and country A's system doesn't support people having a middle name, but in country B this is common and necessary and their systems require it.