Marco's profile

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Thursday, August 9th, 2018 9:32 PM

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Blocking TV shows that can't be that old

I'm starting this thread, because of all the wrong tv series that turned up in this thread: https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/tv-series-looney-tunes-1930-ongoing-part-2.

First of all, in the alternate title section, there is a yellow warning if you want to enter an alternate title for the year 1900 with the attribute (dvd title) or (video title). The first yellow warning states "DVD AKA titles are not valid before 1996 - The year in this DVD AKA title (1900) is before the time DVD releases became widely available (1996). Please use the year this DVD AKA title was first used and not the original year of release of this title." The second yellow warning (for videos) reads the exact same, but with the year 1975. So my first question is, can a staffer also add such a warning for the attribute (TV title) and the year 1924?

But my main question is, can a staffer add warnings to the New Title form as well? For the type "Made for Video", the yellow warning and year from the alternate title section can be used. For the title type Made for TV, the year 1924 can be used I think. For a video game, I believe the year should be 1948.

Note that I am not an expert on the history of television or video games and if someone can show that another year would be (even) better, I'll very probably agree. My main issue is simply that I don't think lists such as this should be able to exist: https://www.imdb.com/search/title?title_type=tv_series&release_date=,1924-01-01.




Champion

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6 years ago

I fully agree with what Marco said in regard to prohibiting "TV shows" from before television broadcasting began and "videogames" from before when videogames were invented.

I also think that any TV shows from, say, 1924 to 1945 or videogames from 1948 to 1969 should get an additional level of scrutiny by a staffer before being allowed into the database, because the chance that any such submission is erroneous is likely to be quite high.

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6 years ago

Good initiative, Marco.
Just for the record, I remember reading that the first public TV broadcasting was in Germany for the 1936 Olympics. But like you, I am no TV history expert and do not know to what extent there were a lot of (experimental) programs produced between 1924 and 1936.

Employee

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6 years ago

Hi Marco -

Thanks for posting this suggestion, I have forwarded your request to our editors who will take a look shortly.  Cheers!

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Thank Michelle!

I've done a bit of research and found the following regarding first years:
For video games: The oldest video game currently in IMDb is OXO from 1952 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4036822/reference), but it appears the first video game dates back to 1950, when Bertie the Brain was shown to the public, according to http://www.vgchartz.com/article/262989/history-of-video-games-the-early-years-1940-1972/. My earlier mentioning of the year 1948 was based on a game thought up and created by Alan Turing, but - also according to this article - was never actually implemented on a computer.

For TV, things are a little more complicated because there is a difference between a standalone title for TV (such as a TV movie or TV special) and a TV series (which started this whole thread in the first place). We don't have to look to IMDb for information on this, because currently, the oldest TV series on IMDb is 1897's (!) Palm Beach Daily News (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5987568/reference).
For a TV movie/TV special, it appears the year 1924 is right: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6305166/trivia?item=tr3176957 and http://madeupinbritain.uk/Television.
For a TV series, it seems the year of the first one(s) should be 1931: https://books.google.nl/books?id=CfKeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR11&lpg=PR11&dq=the+television+ghost+f... and https://books.google.nl/books?id=YX_daEhlnbsC&pg=PA317&lpg=PA317&dq=the+television+ghost...

This all being said, I do agree with Gromit that it would be a good idea to have a very close look at titles entered within the period in which a medium was still in its infancy.

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I have forwarded your request to our editors who will take a look shortly.

Any word on the look they took?

Employee

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6 years ago

Hi Marco -

The ticket is still open, unfortunately there are many other existing tasks that have taken priority to this issue, however, I have made a note on the ticket for a status push.  As soon as I have an update on the status to fix I will let you know here.

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Thanks for the reply, even though it's not exactly what one would call "good news".

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Five months later, is there anything that can be said about this?

Champion

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Hi Marco,

The ticket is yet to be prioritized given other existing issues.

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Well, I'll check back in five months or so.

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I consider this something very basic for a database about podcasts, films and tv series, so hopefully, some progress has been made.

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I guess no progress has been made on this very basic issue for a DATAbase.

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3 years ago

A bump of this thread is apparently in order, which is extremely disappointing. Priorities for a database should be to try and block wrong data. Apparently, blocking wrong data is not very high on the list of priorities. Case in point: https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/no-betty-boop-was-not-a-tv-series-in-1930/61417e5e7999fd0798c634a5 

Threads like this are (part of) the reason contributors sometimes wonder why they keep contributing. For me, threads like these are the reason I won't be in the Top Contributor list of 2021, after having made the list 17 (!) years in a row before that. 

Also, why is this thread marked Solved? The issue in this 2018 (!) thread is, very obviously, not solved. Can someone remove this silly and not very respectful mark please?

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Can someone remove this silly and not very respectful mark please?

Thanks to whoever changed the tag to "No Status". (it seems that once a tag has been assigned to a thread, it's not possible to go back to no tag at all)

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Apparently, blocking wrong data is not very high on the list of priorities. Case in point: https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/no-betty-boop-was-not-a-tv-series-in-1930/61417e5e7999fd0798c634a5

This situation hasn't changed, so I'm afraid a bump is in order.

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3 years ago

Hi Marco -

I'm not certain why this thread was marked "Solved", however, I have now set the status to "In Progress" as there is a pending ticket to address the issue. 

I appreciate your feedback, and I understand the frustration for longstanding issues like this that impact your contributions.  I just reviewed the ticket and unfortunately, this specific issue is still pending prioritization.  I have made a note on the ticket to help give traction, however, I don't have a timeframe on a resolution.   In the meantime, any updates I see I will be sure to post them on this thread.

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@Michelle Thanks for the answer and changing the tag of this thread at least. And a good (and healthy!) 2022!

Employee

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Hi @Marco​ -

My apologies for the delayed response to this request.  I can confirm that we do now have front-checks within the contribution form to protect bad title data from being added to the site.  For Podcasts specifically we have guardrails for anything pre-2004:

I hope this helps!

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@Michelle​ Thanks a bunch! This is very good to hear. I've just checked and there are indeed also guardrails for video games, tv (mini) series and tv movies/tv specials. Splendid!

I do note that for Music Video, no such guardrails have been created, although I have to admit, I didn't ask for them in this thread (because at the time, Music Videos weren't a title type in IMDb). Can a year be added for Music Videos as well please? I don't know what year would be good choice though. A quick search on the internet didn't help me out the way I had hoped.

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Hi @Marco​ -

Thanks for this call out, I'm not certain why the Music Video title type was missed.  I filed a new request for the applicable team to review and consider adding the same contribution form guardrails.

Cheers!

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Hi @Marco -

I'm just circling back to confirm that we actually do have guardrails in place for the Music Video title type prior to the year "1894", which was determined by our policy team. 

Let me know if you have any questions!

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@Michelle​ Good to hear. And I didn't know music videos were that old. You learn something everyday I guess. :)

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@Marco​ Exceptions also apply to television as a medium.