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@eboy This is working as designed. Please follow the instructions in the error message and provide a description of the uncredited person’s role / position.  For example, “Self - Curator of Museum” 

Such design is understood, and it was previously acceptable when combined in one field with acting cast, but there are thousands of documentaries with persons talking into the camera, who is not credited on screen and not announced vocally. In such cases, contributors could go out of the submission form to make searches on what the person was when filmed, but this is abnormal and why the data from external sites should be so influential for simply pointing that a person is filmed as Self?

It doesn't have to be information from external sources. For example, one of the suggested descriptions is "Interviewee".

Perhaps the error message could be adjusted so it doesn't refer to "character name" and "cast" in the Self section. Similarly, the guidelines about this also use words that are specific to the Cast section:

"For acting credits, this must include a character name or some kind of description"

https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/filmography-credits/cast-acting-credits-guidelines/GH3JZC74FVYKKFMD?ref_=helpms_helpart_inline#validat

https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/filmography-credits/attributes/GJNF5SNFE43G4S22?ref_=helpart_nav_5

"The following are likely to be discarded:

Uncredited submissions with an empty character field ..."

https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/filmography-credits/cast-acting-credits-guidelines/GH3JZC74FVYKKFMD?ref_=helpms_helpart_inline#uncredited

Another common case is where the camera cuts to the audience of a show because a well known person is there. ‘Audience member’ is a description I have seen used for that.

Interviewees are mostly announced or credited.

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"Audience member" is a good example of proper use of general description, but such can cover not all cases.

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If used to Self credits, the help guides for acting cast can result into rediculous cases, such as "George Clooney: A Retired Guy"

While I can understand the change, to make 'self' more like 'cast' where you can't have an uncredited person without a 'role' description, this change seems to have been made without consideration to:

a) Past 'uncredited' roles that were empty before the change continue to remain empty after having been moved from 'cast' to 'self' even though you can't add any credits like that any longer.

b) You are forcing people to make up 'role' names in order to get people that were seen on-screen into the database.  Here's an example.

Many of the credits I add are for reality shows.  On some shows, the people are credited with just their name on the screen.  If a person has been credited on-screen with their name dozens of times in the past, and then one episode they are uncredited but seen in one scene driving a bulldozer, and in another sitting at a table, IMDb now requires me to make something up for a 'role' when for all previous times the role field is left empty (because they aren't credited with a role).  Does that make sense?

The end result is a name page that will start to fill up with made-up roles for people in longer running shows.

Bulldozer Driver

Dinner Table Attendee

Meeting Attendee

Car Driver

Joe's Wife

Mary's Sister

...

@ron3​ If you add a person in the "self" category, are you required to put anything in role? Last time I added someone I could just leave the field with no input and credit will say "Self" ?

@kristin​ if you add someone to the 'self' category with an attribute of 'uncredited' you will be prompted to fill in the 'role' field. - which is a change from past behavior.

@ron3​ Hmm, ok, so it's the "uncredited" attribute that result in that "demand", thanks for explaining.

If it is regarding Reality shows can't you just then add "Partisipant" or "contestant", instead of different "roles" for each episode? 

To the staff at IMDb:

Help page says; "

"

Someone should update this then, if it is supposed to be a demand for "self" credits also and not just "acting" credits.

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