Duplicate Keywords - List #76 (one-word keywords pt. 5) (Proposals for Permanent Merger and Auto-Conversion)

@scgary66​ 

The problem with shifting controversial to controversy is that the latter suggests that the title features a controversy as a plot point, while the former generally applies to films, etc. whose mere creation/production was widely viewed as controversial in some way. If a change is to be made, I would suggest instead revising to controversial-film.

Can you identify any titles that currently have the keyword "controversial" where "controversial-film" was intended? I skimmed those titles before posting this list and could not identify any such titles. It looks to me like "controversial" has been a synonym for "controversy" as actually used on IMDb, in which case it would be a mistake to merge either keyword into "controversial-film."

Tardiness suggests being late to school, work or some other ongoing obligation; lateness might be more widely interpreted in various ways, such as lateness in a day, lateness in life, etc.

I am not sure I understand or agree with your point that people are using or might interpret the keyword "lateness" by itself to indicate "lateness in life" or "lateness in a day." If that meaning were intended, people would just write keywords like "lateness-in-life," etc. But people are much more likely to use the word "late" in this context, anyway, as in "late in life," "late in the day," etc. 

My dictionary defines "lateness" as "tardy; slow, dilatory; delayed, belated," which sounds to me like exactly a synonym of "tardiness."

And even accepting for the sake of argument that "lateness" does have many more meanings and is broader than "tardiness," merging "tardiness" into "lateness" therefore would not result in any errors (i.e., there would be no instances of the wrong keyword being applied to any titles).

I'm pretty sure skydiving is usually unhyphenated, and that's the far more common form here.

You are correct about this one. I checked before posting it, but I misinterpreted my dictionary -- the dots in between syllables in dictionaries often throw me off regarding whether a space should be included in the word, unless I really stop and think about it. Thank you.  I will correct this in the list. 

@keyword_expert​ Can you identify any titles that currently have the keyword "controversial" where "controversial-film" was intended?

A few would include: Lolita, Salò, The Last Temptation of Christ, Pink Flamingos. It appears to me that a lot of titles that used to have this keyword don't anymore, perhaps because they've already been converted to controversy (Cannibal Holocaust, Triumph des Willens), and that a lot of titles and episodes with it now are odd inclusions.

My dictionary defines "lateness" as "tardy; slow, dilatory; delayed, belated," which sounds to me like exactly a synonym of "tardiness."

The only means that lateness can mean either tardy or belated, not that the two are always necessarily synonymous. An airplane flight or birthday card might be late in arriving, but I wouldn't apply the word tardiness in those situations.

@scgary66​ 

I would agree for Salò, Lolita, and The Last Temptation of Christ (and probably a few others on the list) that "controversial-film" was intended. As for Pink Flamingos, controversy is also part of the plot itself, so both keywords would be appropriate. 

It does still seem to me that most instances of "controversial" were meant to indicate "controversy" (the noun form) as a plot point.

I think probably the best approach here is to "audit" the list to manually change "controversial" to "controversial-film" wherever appropriate, but then to mass merge the remaining instances of "controversial" to "controversy." I am willing to get that manual audit started, and would appreciate any further insight regarding which titles currently have the "controversy" and/or "controversial" keywords but where "controversial-film" was likely intended instead. 

And yeah, I think we are in agreement that "lateness" is broader than "tardiness." That point is exactly why I am proposing to merge the latter into the former, rather than the other way around.

@scgary66​

p.s. As I work my way through a manual "audit" of the controversial  keyword, I am realizing that you are indeed correct -- quite a few of the ~190 titles that had that keyword were intended to be keywords like "controversial-film," "controversial-episode," "controversial-video-game," "controversial-music-video," etc.

Given that fact, I have removed the "controversial" keyword from this list. It can be included later following a full manual audit. 

I do still think "controversial" should ultimately be merged into "controversy," but it's just not ready at this time.

intended to be keywords like "controversial-film," "controversial-episode," "controversial-video-game," "controversial-music-video," etc.

Presumably it is because the keyword can apply to multiple titlte types that it was just phrased controversial. And with the new categorization, you can even distinguish when the keyword applies to the plot or not.

Some other uses probably describe a controversial person.

@Peter_pbn​ 

And with the new categorization, you can even distinguish when the keyword applies to the plot or not.

Until it's possible to incorporate the keyword categorizations like "Plot Detail" and "Other" into title searches, I wouldn't recommend allowing for a lot of adjectival keywords like "controversial" that are intended to describe content but also have the appearance (within searches) of being bifurcated from and/or duplicates of the noun form of the keywords, like "controversy." 

There are a few exceptions to that sentiment. Certain adjectival keywords like "experimental," "psychotronic," "surrealistic," etc. clearly describe content and therefore are okay to be applied in their solitary, adjectival form, and should not be bifurcated into keywords like "psychotronic-short," "experimental-film," etc. (Unfortunately, one IMDb Top Contributor has taken it upon himself to manually bifurcate all these keywords in exactly the manner I believe should not occur.)

Anyway, "controversial" is different from those other keywords like "experimental" because it does not, on its face, clearly describe the content. I can confirm that much of the usage of the "controversial" keyword does indeed describe a character or plot device within the film or show.

@Peter_pbn​ 

And with the new categorization, you can even distinguish when the keyword applies to the plot or not.

p.s. I do acknowledge that this helps quite a bit with reducing confusion over how keywords like this should be interpreted. But that's mainly only when you are on a specific title's keyword page and can view the categories for the keywords on that title. It doesn't really help much at all for keyword searches. (My prediction is that one day, maybe years from now, it will be possible to include keyword categorizations as title search filters.)