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bradley_kent's profile

Wed, Mar 31, 2021 1:50 AM

Genres Should Not Be Keywords

The guidelines are very clear in stating that genres should not be repeated as keywords.  Yet, this problem continues to happen.

Recently, I have audited and corrected 96 "thrilller" (Yes, three l's) keywords and 80 "mistery" (yes, with an "i" instead of a "y) keywords as well as many, many other keywords that duplicate genres.  I have yet to get to over 200 titles tat have "dramas" as a keyword.  (A genre, as well as an unacceptable plural.) There were a few 2018-and-before titles with these mistakes, but almost all were 2019-2020-2021 titles, many of them Shorts.  I can only surmise that, in recent years, contributors and keyword list managers do not know and/or do not enforce the guidelines.  

To help control this problem, contributors must be informed of their mistakes and keyword list managers should review and enforce the guidelines.

There is also something else that seems to contribute to this problem.  Genres are processed later that keywords.  But, since genres and keywords are so closely related, it seems that they should be on the same processing schedule.

Responses

500 Messages

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13.6K Points

15 d ago

Just also audited and corrected incorrect generic keywords "si-fi" (13 titles) and "si-fi-movie" (3 title). (Yes, "si" instead of "sci.") Thank God, there was NO "sigh-fie (-on-goodness-fie)" incorrect keyword!  Or, maybe it's a Spaniard saying yes to a Frenchwoman "si-fifi!"

P.S. I couldn't resist!

(edited)

Employee

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9.5K Messages

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231.2K Points

7 d ago

Hi bradley_kent -

 

It is correct that main genre's should not be listed as Keywords, however, we are flexible in allowing sub-plot genres to be displayed as Keywords, such as: "dark-comedy", "supernatural-horror", "psychological-thriller", etc.

 

In instances where you are seeing primary genres that are not eligible (sci-fi, drama, thriller, documentary) please continue to report these for removal and our editors will take the applicable actions to remove.

 

Cheers!

 

 

500 Messages

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13.6K Points

Yes, I understand that, Michele.  I am well aware that there are sub-genres that are acceptable keywords. 

I am concerned with incorrect keywords like musical-comedy, thriller-drama, etc., that duplicate genres in keywords by combining one or two or three or four (yes, I've seen that many) into a supposedly single keyword.

While we're at it, standalone keywords like "psychological" and "emotional" (even "emotions") should not be allowed as keywords.  Isn't EVERY title, in more or less degrees, "psychological" and "emotional"?

It also seems dubious to use "psychological" as a keyword antecedent.  Is not EVERY thriller "psychological"?

Also, why would one need "supernatural-horror" as a keyword IF one has "supernatural-powers" as a keyword with "Horror" as a genre?  Does that not make that title automatically a "supernatural-horror"?

Most problematic of all are "dark-comedy" and "back comedy."  These really need to be defined, especially "black-comedy."  Some seem to think that this applies to a comedy that has characters of African descent, while others know that it is a comedy that touches on the macabre and absurd.  

And then, of course, there's good ole "dramedy," which should NOT be a keyword, but should be acknowledged with both Drama and Comedy genres.  And, instead of "romcom," it should be Romance and Comedy as genres.

As you know, I do report incorrect primary genre keywords.  I just wish that contributors would not submit them, and that keyword list managers would intercept them.

(edited)

Champion

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8.4K Messages

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265.2K Points

7 d ago

In some cases, the genre guidelines direct contributors to submit genres as keywords:

Under Romance:

Note: Reminder, as with all genres if this does not describe the movie wholly, but only certain scenes or a subplot, then it should be submitted as a keyword instead.

Under War:

Note: for titles that portray fictional war, please submit it as a keyword only.

This is not "repeating genres" as only the keywords and not the genres would be listed for such titles.

Yesterday Michelle approved a submission of the war keyword, so I assume she agrees.

If IMDb prefers that main genres should not be listed as keywords at all, they should update their own guidelines.

500 Messages

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13.6K Points

These two guidelines may need to be revised.  In order to avoid confusion. In the first case, the keyword should be "fictional-war," not "war,"  and, in the second case, "love-interest," not "romance."    

Currently, the keyword count is:

fictional-war    1242

war                       89

love-interest.   1724

romance                 0

UPDATE: After an audit, the number of titles with "war" as a keyword is now 2.  One of these is for an episode where the series keywords already cover it (this has already been submitted, but not accepted),  and I'm waiting for research to correct the other one.

(edited)

500 Messages

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13.6K Points

Just audited 28 titles that had "comedie" as a keyword. All had Comedy as a genre, and did not mean the comedie-francaise.  I have also worked on many other titles with keyword-genre problems.  Is anyone enforcing the guideline that genres should not be keywords?  Perhaps every genre or combination of genres should have a stop on them when submitted as a keyword.
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