Changes to formats supported for creating links within contributions

Now that the new format of linking names and titles is fully implemented, some tools that would be nice might be (they probably would have been nice in the past, but, better now than never): 1. Add a button on all name and title pages to write the appropriate format link to the clipboard (or similar location) that could then be pasted into an appropriate place in a submission. 2. Add a button to all appropriate submission pages that pops up a search box over the page so a submitter can search for the name or title they want. Once the name or title is found, a button in the pop-up box would write the link in the correct format to the clipboard (or similar location) so all the submitter need do is paste the link in at the desired point in the submission. My point is that, by providing simple tools that take a lot of the manual work out of building the link (and hiding the actual mechanics of the link itself), I think many of the complaints I see above would fade away. Also, by having the tools create the link in the appropriate format, any time links are changed/enhanced in the future, changing the tools would automatically provide the new format without changing the way a submitter creates the link.

I haven't had a chance to fully digest this change yet, but have had some thoughts about it so far. I mostly live within the Soundtrack space, so my comments refer to that section, but obvously cross over to the others. Complaint: Readability has been eliminated during editing. Previously: Written by 'Justin Timberlake' (qv), 'Tim Mosley (I)' (qv) and 'Scott Storch' (qv) Performed by 'Justin Timberlake' (qv) Produced by 'Tim Mosley (I)' (qv) Currently: Written by [link=nm0005493], [link=nm0608856] and [link=nm1395028] Performed by [link=nm0005493] Produced by [link=nm0608856] The enhancements Owen suggests would greatly improve this, and should be the highest priority fix. Suggestion: Putting in something like this should be allowed: Performed by [link=Justin Timberlake] and the system would make the conversion automagically. Putting in something liks this, would bring up the name picker, where we select the correct name (roman numeral), and the system auto-converts it to the name const. Produced by [link=Tim Mosley] To-Do item: The back-end needs to update links when name merges happen. Example from soundtracks: Music by [link=nm2228215] Name/page doesn't exist under that const anymore. To-Do item: Links to companies need to be disallowed at submission, and lists scrubbed for them. Example from soundtracks: Courtesy [link=co0508645] Typing the new syntax on a virtual keyboard (phone/tablet, etc...) is very time comsuming because the square brackets are not part of the standard virtual keyboard layout. The old (qv) system was much easier to type because single ticks and parens were easy to get to from a virtual keyboard.

Apparently, using this method on a mobile phone is a real pain. Just getting a person’s or a title’s number copied to the clipboard is a nightmare. Seems like nobody bothered to consider that some people use phones to enter contributions while sitting on the couch and watching TV. As things stand now, I’ll be passing on anything that involves this tedious procedure - too much work for me, sorry. I’ll gladly reconsider this decision if and when the system is improved.

I realise this when it comes to linking, they won't do so if you use Capital Letters.

I notice just now that you can't put in Full Links when linking pages, it can only be the stuff at the end. When doing so on the IMDB App, sometimes when I select on something so I can delete it, it can select a whole thing, making it harded to only include the starting point of the links. Things have gotten harder I'll say.

I'm adding to a Soundtrack listing today, and when I clicked on the little blue ? to the right of the item, the help text that comes up still talks about qv's, not about [link=...]. Also, we need a preview function to make sure we've put in the correct links. You don't want to process a bunch of corrections because we can't see what we did. My item has 8 names in it. It's a BIG shame that you won't let us put in the whole URL instead of just nmXXX or ttXXXX. It takes a lot more effort to extract the code from the url. (To get URL: right click on name and Copy. To get code, either Paste that and remove the excess, or instead Open the link and extract the code. So either it's time to copy/paste/extract or time to open page/extract. Much better to copy alone.) So the new process is very tedious, especially compared with the old way, and doing it blind is downright exhausting. Fortunately I'm working on a laptop, and opened a list of mine, and set up the links in the comments section of an item, and verified it there before putting it in the Contribution. But please make it friendlier!

While it's one thing to use the [link=nmXXXXXXX] for submitting data, it needs to be made more user-friendly for purposes of editing the data. If there is an error in the trivia for a title, a human being shouldn't be expected to edit a number of trivia items that look like this: [link=nm1876497] cites [link=tt0047478] as an influence on the film. [link=nm0000255] and [link=nm0001354] appeared in [link=tt0164184]. The second time [link=nm3009232] and [link=nm0001082] have worked together. The first was [link=tt0420293]. I don't know what can be done to make the display of trivia items in edit mode more user-friendly, but I think that something needs to be done about it.

I had to go back on fourth between pages for a lot of web links while I was editing submissions for this today: www.imdb.com/title/tt3606756/trivia It certainly would seem easier to simply type in the names than searching for weblinks.

I find it pretty easy. I have 5-6 pages open when I add info/titles/etc. And I often have to double check some names from IMDb anyway (I want to make sure that I have the ”correct” person and correct numeral). I’m sure people get used to this very quickly. But sure, Gromit has a good point also. Updating (existing) names (well, numbers now) can take some time since you have to double check what number belongs to what person etc.

When you click on a weblink to use for linking on the IMDB App, it selects the whole thing highlighted in red, making me unable to make adjustments if need be such as removing the /s and making sure there's a link= in front of it and []s around it. So I end up having to put in the [link=] before I submit the weblink, which for now has seemed a slight bit easier.

At the minimum, the back-end system should be looking for links to name and title constants that are not correctly formed. This should be an easy regex. When found, the staff should be alerted so that the problems can be addressed before being published to the site. (ideally the error should be noted at time of submission) Here are some examples from the Soundtrack section: Raw data: Written by [link=nm0005153] (as Richard Penniman), [nm8991191], and [link=nm0187685] Display: Written by [link=nm0005153] (as Richard Penniman), [ You can see how the mistake not only messes up the one name, but the entire line of text on the display side. Raw data (same thing is displayed) Written by nm0113768, nm0090303 & nm0921739 Performed by nm0113768 & nm8851569 tt0069792 Motion Picture Soundtrack Courtesy of co0135933 1973 Raw data: Written by Cailee Spaeny (nm8314228) Written by Jackson Tyler Hunt (nm4942699) Written by Nathan Samuel Langford Written by Jordan Adelberger Courtesy of Future Town Music Group Performed by [link=nm8314228] (nm8314228) Display: Written by Cailee Spaeny (nm8314228) Written by Jackson Tyler Hunt (nm4942699) Written by Nathan Samuel Langford Written by Jordan Adelberger Courtesy of Future Town Music Group Performed by Cailee Spaeny (nm8314228) Raw data (same thing is displayed) Performed by https://pro-labs.imdb.com/name/nm6855911?s=36b00a3b-82c6-bba1-0262-c817c45cff79 & https://pro-labs.imdb.com/name/nm7214498?s=84b00a3b-af7f-aaaa-3425-68e5a5168557 Raw data: Performed by [ink=nm5326567] and 'Skylar Grey (I)' (qv) Display: Performed by [ink=nm5326567] and Skylar Grey etc... you get the idea.

Don't know if this applies to other sections of the database, but it seems there is a problem somewhere. The text [error] is replacing linked names in the soundtrack section. Examples: http://imdb.com/title/tt7657426/soundtrack Song "Run to You" http://imdb.com/title/tt0492784/soundtrack First two songs http://imdb.com/title/tt0043783/soundtrack Only song The problem is very bad in titles that have been {{SUSPENDED}}, which you can find in the raw data on the FTP site. Example: # "Pequeñeces" (2010) {(#1.1)} {{SUSPENDED}} - "Pequeñeces" Written by [error], [error], [error], [error] and [error] Performed by [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], 'Eugenia García' (qv), [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error] and [error] Recorded by [error] Published by ACN Music Records I would suspect that if a title were to no longer be {{SUSPENDED}}, that all the original linked data is lost. This problem appears more than 350 times in the soundtrack.list file on the FTP site.

A Petition of mine that should be signed which is in regards to linking pages in trivia submissions: https://www.change.org/p/imdb-let-us-have-an-easier-way-of-linking-pages-in-trivia-pieces

One thing that should be fixed is the auto highlighting whenever I click near a title when using the IMDB App. It highlights in red and doesn't go with the 2 ts. This doesn't happen with actor names though thankfully.

After the advanced search tool for Soundtracks was made available again, I had submitted about 100 corrections to tidy up the mal-formed [link=xxxxxxx] links in that data that I found. A couple more months have passed, and I just submitted another 45+ corrections to clean up more mal-formed links. What is the status of the submission system being able to detect this mal-formed data at submission time, and forcing the contribors to fix the issue before the submission can be made? (like it did with mal-formed (qv) links)Thanks.