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Vincent_Fournols

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Sat, Oct 17, 2020 9:55 PM

Solved

Alternative title policy

Good evening,

 

This is the third and last time I am requesting from IMDb clarifications about the current policy around alternative titles, which has become confusing and puzzling at the least.

A simple example will tell it all: For Bad Boys For Life (2020), 13 (!) countries have duplicate entries, each of them with a second meaningless attribute (I leave Canada, or even India aside, where an interpretation could be derived from the information given for distinct local language markets).

Just a mere example to show how readers or contributors may be left bewildered:

 

To a lesser extent, the same observation can be made for the Australian movie Relic (2020);

 

How are these different entries to be understood?

Moreover, the attribute (e.g. Austria (German title) is not available when updating manually.

 

I also want to point out that the relevant help page is of no use, and that the dynamic help on the update page (by clicking "?")

is outdated (it still mentions the need to enter the year as part of the alternative title, which was deprecated a few months back).

 

So once again, what does IMDb suggest to help users and contributors to make the best from this confusing information?

 

Thank you in advance for any feedback.

 

Problem

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Updated 

4 hours ago

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3

Responses

bderoes

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7 days ago

Vincent, 

I'm confused by the fact that the same title is listed so many times.

Is it necessary to have the same (English) title listed for so many countries?

You seem "only" to be questioning the dual (identical) listing for a single country (one with an extra attribute). 

I don't know why a country needs its own title when it's the same as the "worldwide release" title.

1

jeorj_euler

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I wonder if it is for technical reasons pertaining to how IMDb displays titles tailored to specific geographical locations.

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7 days ago

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Michelle

Employee

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5 days ago

Hi Vincent -

 

Thanks for providing this example title, I have now removed the duplicate, unnecessary Alternate title listings and the changes should be live on the site shortly.

 

Regarding our policy for listing Alternate titles, there generally should not be duplicate same title/country listings, in cases where we would accept several listings for a country is where different language titles have specifically been released for a specified region, such as Canada, where there are French speaking and English speaking regions).

 

Cheers!

(edited)

3

bderoes

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Michele,

Vincent provided 2 titles. It seems you cleaned up (most of) 1 of them. The other is Relic (2020)

I still don't understand why an original title would be repeated attached to any country. In the case of  Bad Boys For Life (2020), why does Australia need its own title, which is identical to the original? Does the film need a "world-wide English title" which is the same as the original, already in English?

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5 days ago

Vincent_Fournols

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@Michelle 

I have to say I am extremely disappointed by your answer: my topic was about policy setting, and you are focusing only on corrections, without bringing any answer to the raised questions, and therefore without lifting the confusion on how alternative titles are processed and considered by IMDb.

In the mean time, I submitted another correction for Adieu les cons (2020).

Before my correction #201021-151317-135000, there was:

Adieu les cons (original title)

Adieu les cons (France)(imdb display title)

Adieu Les Cons (France)(imdb display title)

Please note that in French typography, the last entry is incorrect: you never capitalize initial letters, except for proper nouns.

Since both "imdb display title" are redundant for a French film with a French title, I submitted their deletion. The result is that the deletion of the first one, with the correct typography, was accepted, but the second one, with the incorrect typography was declined...

The reason provided is:

We were unable to approve this contribution.We have been unable to verify your contribution. Unfortunately we were unable to accept your submission as we were unable to verify the information provided. If your submission was placed via the IMDb.com Desktop title or name page submission form, you now have an option to provide evidence with your additions, as well as corrections or deletions. (etc.)

What evidence are to be submitted when it is a mere linguistic rule to apply, and that the almost identical title was deleted alright?

All in all, I feel being exploited as free labor to correct the weaknesses of the database (and adding money value to IMDb and Amazon) without being given the means to to it properly. I have therefore decided to stop wasting my time to strugle with incompetent and unreachable editors and policy setters, trying to fathom what IMSb has in mind regarding alternative titles, and let it keeping on making a fool of itelf when it comes to non US production.

V.

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4 hours ago

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Peter_pbn

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Regarding "Adieu les cons", only the correctly capitalized title is still there now.

The correct French display title for a French film does not need to be deleted just for being redundant. Guideline: "We are now encouraging the submission of an imdb display title for all known countries, including the country of origin." 

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4 hours ago

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Vincent_Fournols

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4 hours ago

I just discover that the problem I raised with this original post is now tagged as "solved".

What contempt for contributors...

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