Plural vs singular keywords

In this thread (https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/keyword-parents-vs-parent) I asked a staffer to merge the keyword 'parents' (https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=parents) into the keyword 'parent' (https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=parent) based on the guide (https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/titles/keywords/GXQ22G5Y72TH8MJ5?ref_=helpms_helpart_inli...#).

A staffer asked me to send an e-mail about it. I did. (I also asked for the keyword 'students' to be merged into 'student' and to merge 'flesh-eating-zombies' into 'flesh-eating-zombie'.) The response stated that IMDb wouldn't do this and that I had to it myself. There are over 450 titles with the keyword 'parents' attached to it. To me, this response suggests my mail hasn't been read properly. Something that seems to happen with regular intervals I'm afraid. I think it's because of your workload/IMDb being undermanned.

Also, in this thread (https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/keywords-scenes-scene-and-one-scene) about the keywords 'scene', 'scenes' and 'one-scene', a staffer liked a post stating "As for "one-scene" and "scenes" these should probably be merged and deleted."

So, once again I'd like to ask to merge 'scenes' and 'one-scene' into 'scene', to merge 'parents' into 'parent', to merge 'students' into 'student' and to merge 'flesh-eating-zombies' into 'flesh-eating-zombie'? And if they won't be merged, I'd like to know why IMDb won't do this.

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Jaime

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20.4K Points

5 years ago

Hi Marco,
I can see you have been in contact with our staff via the Help Site.
If you can send a full email of all keywords you are concerned about merging and the quantity of them we will have a better idea of whether we have capacity to help.
Thank you in advance.

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Marco

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82.6K Points

No.

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5 years ago

keyword_expert

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47K Points

2 years ago

My thoughts on a couple of these topics:

I believe that the keywords "parents" and "parent" should be kept separate. Although of course the general rule is that plural keywords should not be used, there are occasionally exceptions where a pair (or multiples) of things has a different meaning than the singular of that thing. Some examples are "shoes" vs. "shoe," "gloves" vs. "glove," "hands" vs. "hand," "eyes" vs. "eye," "lovers" vs. "lover," "siblings" vs. "sibling," "twins" vs. "twin," "children" vs. "child," and "parents" vs. "parent." I tend to leave keywords like that alone.

I also believe that "scene" and "one-scene" are not duplicates. With that said, "scene" is a terrible keyword because it is so vague and generic as to be completely un-useful. I will ask in a future post for the keywords "scene" and "scenes" to be permanently deleted and blocked.

(edited)

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Marco

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@keyword_expert

there are occasionally exceptions where a pair (or multiples) of things has a different meaning than the singular of that thing.

Currently, AFAIK the guide doesn't seem to recognize this, so plural keywords are not allowed, whether we like it or not.

With that said, "scene" is a terrible keyword because it is so vague and generic as to be completely un-useful. I will ask in a future post for the keywords "scene" and "scenes" to be permanently deleted and blocked.

Thanks.

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2 years ago

keyword_expert

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@Marco

You are correct about the guidelines, and I believe this is a deficiency in the guidelines to not recognize a few narrow exceptions allowing plurals, such as the keywords "twins" and "parents" and "shoes" and "boots" and "feet" and "teeth" and "stars" and "keys" and "car keys" and "eyes" and possibly even common plural words like "founding fathers" and "dishes."

With that said, I don't even know how such an exception might be articulated within the guidelines. It's sort of like "I know it when I see it." For there to be an exception added to the guidelines, it might actually make things worse, because then everyone will think their own favorite plural keywords meets the exception.

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2 years ago

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Marco

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@keyword_expert "I don't even know how such an exception might be articulated within the guidelines"

Neither do I. If the list was short enough, it could simply be added to the guidelines, but I'm afraid it might not be short enough.

That said, as long as the guidelines are what they are, I would advice against adding plural keywords. It might lead to the keywords getting removed, getting a lower contributor score and to other contributors thinking plural keywords are (always) allowed. (I'm not saying you are adding plural keywords,. Just sharing my view on this :))

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2 years ago

keyword_expert

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@Marco

What do you think about the keyword "family-relationships?"

family-relationships (14045 titles)

This is one of the most popular keywords on IMDb. But shouldn't it be "family-relationship" (singular)?

It has always struck me as a bit odd that a plural keyword got so popular.

But then again, unless a family is limited to only two people, there will always be more than one relationship within the family, and it is relatively rare to see a family of only two people (one family relationship) in a movie or show.

(edited)

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2 years ago

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Marco

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@keyword_expert I agree the singular would be better. In a way, it's very singular in that it can be seen as the relationship that a certain family has with itself. To specify this relationship, keywords like 'grandfather-grandson-relationship' can be added.

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2 years ago

Marco

Plural vs singular keywords

Jaime

Marco

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Marco

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Marco

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Marco

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