Contribution: Name Suggestion Search

We are pleased to announce, starting today we have added Name Suggestion Search to IMDb’s Filmography contribution form. As you begin entering a name, we will now provide suggestions based on what you’ve typed and the context of the submission (for example, for the TV Show “Game of Thrones”, as you type “Emilia” as a cast member, “Emilia Clarke” will show up first). Knowing the context of the submission helps provide suggestions beyond just popularity.

We are excited to announce this new feature, but it won’t be available to everyone immediately. In the coming weeks we will gradually release this new functionality, but we wanted to let you know, since it will soon begin appearing for many of you. This initial release is limited to Cast and Crew, but over time we plan to improve and extend this functionality.

Also, while we believe this new functionality simplifies the process of adding Cast and Crew, if you choose to ignore the suggested search value, the submission form will continue to functions as it has in the past. After pressing “Check these updates” you will receive the old search results.

We hope this new feature will both simplify and reduce the number of steps needed to contribute to IMDb. You all make IMDb great and we hope you like this new feature.

Image https//d2r1vs3d9006apcloudfrontnet/s3_images/1486990/12824-1k1qtz6_inlinejpg1474490999

Image https//d2r1vs3d9006apcloudfrontnet/s3_images/1486990/12824-1k1qtz6_inlinejpg1474490999

Thanks,
Nic

Responses

vhavnal

226 Messages

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11.3K Points

8 years ago

This is where having images (good headshot images) for celebrities becomes that more important as knowing what a person looks like can be useful when adding a cast member who shares a name with a few other actors...

kaisic_king

43 Messages

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876 Points

8 years ago

It would be better of supporting unique IMDb name no. with suggestion.

farhad_karimi_ghasemi

1 Message

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60 Points

vpn free

8 years ago

gromit82

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7.4K Messages

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276K Points

8 years ago

Nic: There is a way that I think this feature ought to be improved.

If you are in the Cast section and you select a woman from the suggestion list, the radio button below doesn't automatically change from "actor" to "actress". I think it should change automatically in that case.

nic_b

Employee

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59 Messages

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2.5K Points

8 years ago

Hi gromit82,
The suggestion you list above (automatically switching actor/actress based on who you picked), is how its supposed to work. When I try, it works as expected (Brad Pitt, Betty White etc). Can you provide more detail? Also, please include the browser you are using. I just tested on Firefox, Chrome and IE.

gromit82

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7.4K Messages

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Nic: First of all, thanks for looking at this. I have since tested this again and found that for most actresses, it works properly.

But from what I can find, if a woman has as her primary occupation on IMDb something other than Actress -- like Director or Miscellaneous Crew or Editor or Self -- then the radio button doesn't automatically change from Actor to Actress. (This is for the person's cast appearances; someone who doesn't primarily work as an actress can have an acting role, or appear as herself, and so she would need to be listed in the Cast section and have the radio button for "actress" selected.) Most of the Cast credits I submit are in game shows and other nonfiction titles, so I hadn't remembered seeing the radio button change for women whose primary occupation is Actress before.

So, for example, if I select Marshall, Penny (I) for a Cast listing, the radio button will automatically change from actor to actress, because her primary credit is "Actress, Laverne & Shirley (1976)". But if I select Bigelow, Kathryn, it won't change, because her primary credit is "Director, The Hurt Locker (2008)".

This problem arises for women whose primary credit is a Self credit, too. The radio button doesn't change for Clinton, Hillary (Self, By the People: The Election of Barack Obama (2009)) or Sawyer, Diane (Self, ABC Evening News (1953)) either.

Can you please check out whether you also see this issue for women whose primary occupation is anything other than Actress? (In case it matters, I'm using Chrome Version 55.0.2883.87 m as my browser.)

8 years ago

nic_b

Employee

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59 Messages

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2.5K Points

Hi Gromit,
Sorry for the late reply. You are correct, right now auto selection is limited to only the primary occupation class (so it works for "actress" but not "self"). Unfortunately there are some complexities making this harder than you would expect. I don't have a firm date on when this can be fixed. I'll work with the team to see if we can come up with a more complete solution.

Thanks
Nic

8 years ago

gromit82

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7.4K Messages

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276K Points

8 years ago

I'm bumping this thread in hopes of getting a response to the problem above.

jeorj_euler

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

7 years ago

This is a wonderful feature, but it is important for a user to not forget that the dropdown menu will open after a name is entered and often before his/her cursor reaches an item below the one just altered. If ever there is a delay in the menu mechanism, the user can wind up accidentally clicking a name in the menu that he/she did not intend to select.

gromit82

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7.4K Messages

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276K Points

7 years ago

I'm bumping this thread because I was once again noting the problem with the radio button not automatically selecting "actress" for women who are in the database and appear in the cast of a title, but whose primary occupation is something other than Actress. The software doesn't auto-select their gender even though it is known to the database.

adrian

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3K Messages

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72.5K Points

I've noticed that I don't always get actress but was never aware why that happened. Glad to know the root cause. Seems like it would be an easy fix (and I say this as a software engineer).

7 years ago

adrian

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3K Messages

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72.5K Points

7 years ago

Since Gromit bumped this thread, can I suggest an improvement I would really like to see? When suggesting an actor/actress for TV shows, can the actor/actress that has previously appeared in the show be the first suggestion? I'm not sure how it is currently sorted but I assume it is Starmeter or something similar but it makes much more sense that if an actor appeared in a previous episode to suggest that name as it would be extremely rare to have 2 actors/actresses with the same name appear in the same TV show. (Yes, I'm sure it happens.)

Vande

234 Messages

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4.5K Points

7 years ago

This has stopped working for me in the last week or so. Now when I start typing a cast or crew member, it makes suggestions from the ENTIRE site, rather than just relevant or previously used names. That renders the suggestions useless, as it is very unlikely to pick the right one from searching the whole database.
This means I now either have to type the full name for every cast and crew member, or go back to the copy existing credits from the series or other episodes drop-down (which admittedly seems to load faster lately).

Vande

234 Messages

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4.5K Points

I havn't been using these boards, but do staff not respond on them when contributors face a major problem, in the way that they used to on the actual IMDb boards?

7 years ago

jeorj_euler

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Hi, Vande. The staff is less responsive than usual, at the moment, because of all platform migrations going on right now.

— Jeorj Euler, an IMDb regular registrant

7 years ago

Vande

234 Messages

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4.5K Points

Oh okay thanks. It is just that it is harder than ever to add a complete crew now, because in the old days the browser's own memory would make a suggestion when you started typing a name, and this new system overrode that. This was good when it worked, but laborious now it doesn't.

7 years ago

Col_Needham

Employee

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

Thanks for the feedback. Do you have some specific examples of this?

BTW we have recently improved the speed of the "copy existing credits" feature and this sounds like it might be the best option here in any case.

7 years ago

Vande

234 Messages

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4.5K Points

Well, specific examples may not help, as, as I say, it is happening with every title for me now. But try adding Paul Knight as the producer on this episode:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0894370/reference
Before, I only had to type "Pau" and he would immediately come up as the first suggestion, being the producer of so many other episodes of the series. Not only that, but working as a produer generally. But now, everybody on the database with Pau as a name comes up . . .
Marina Pau
Pau Brunet
Pau Calpe
Pau Dura
Pau Galan
Pau Javier
As I continue typing, the next suggestion is Paul (I)!
Not much help is it?

7 years ago

Col_Needham

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

Thanks (and sorry for the problems). We have opened a ticket with the appropriate team.

7 years ago

Vande

234 Messages

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4.5K Points

Thank you, Col. Merry Christmas!

7 years ago

Col_Needham

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7.3K Messages

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179.2K Points

Sorry for the delay. This took some time to trace but it should be fixed now. Thanks again for the problem report.

7 years ago

Marco

2.7K Messages

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83K Points

7 years ago

When entering Eva Jinek (www.imdb.com/name/nm3189286/) to a new episode of her talk show Jinek (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3175372/reference), the suggestion says Eva Jinek is known for Toon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5698140/reference). She was in over 300 episodes of Jinek ánd I try to add her to a new episode of Jinek, shouldn't the title after her name be Jinek?

Another example is Alexander Pechtold (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2179698/). When I add him to an episode of Jinek, the title after his name isn't Jinek (although he was a guest in 27 episodes).

Can you fix the titles after people's names so that the system takes into account the title you're currently adding names to?

Marco

2.7K Messages

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83K Points

7 years ago

Another issue: Can you take alternate names into account in the suggestion list as well? If I enter the name Menno de Bruyne to a title, there are 20 suggestions, none of which is Menno de Bruijne (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4222320/), even though Menno de Bruijne has Menno de Bruyne as an alternative name!

gromit82

Champion

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7.4K Messages

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276K Points

5 years ago

I'm bumping this thread, because it has been over 3 years since I raised a problem and it has not been fixed yet.

Specifically, the problem is that when adding a person to the Cast of a title ...

The radio button will default to "actor" if the person is male.
The radio button will default to "actress" if the person is female and has her primary occupation as Actress.
But if the person is female and her primary occupation is anything other than actress, the radio button will default to "actor" for her, even if her gender is already correctly entered in the database as female and even if she already also has credits as an actress.

nic_b

Contribution: Name Suggestion Search

vhavnal

kaisic_king

farhad_karimi_ghasemi

gromit82

nic_b

gromit82

nic_b

gromit82

jeorj_euler

gromit82

adrian

adrian

Vande

Vande

jeorj_euler

Vande

Col_Needham

Vande

Col_Needham

Vande

Col_Needham

Marco

Marco

gromit82

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