title: how to handle rest api post data
body: <p>Currently building out a RESTful web api and wondering the best way to handle POST data. Under normal circumstances i would not think twice about using multiple lookup tables. But in this case I do not want to take away from speed what so ever. What is the best way to handle incoming POST requests... Use multiple lookup tables?</p>
  
  <pre><code>Post Table:
  id, user_id, game_id, job_id, etc
  1, 20, 30, 45, 
  
  Game Table:
  id, name
  1, game1
  2, game2
  3, game3 etc
  
  Job Table:
  id, name
  1, Job1
  2, Job2
  3, Job3 etc
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>or do i just validate all incoming requests via the code and not accept any values that do not = Job1, Job2, Job3 etc? </p>
  
  <p>Is there a best practice on how to handle all different types of incoming data? </p>
  
  <p>Citti</p>