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7.3K Points

Thu, Feb 1, 2018 1:51 PM

3

Search: Add name aka search function

I would like to suggest that a Name Search find instances where a credited name doesn't match the IMDb name (aka).

Example: Toby Gad / Tobias Gad (nm0300486)

Tobias Gad is Toby Gad's given name.  His IMDb name is Toby Gad, and his given name (Tobias Gad) is attached to a dozen credits on his page.  Yet searching for Tobias Gad won't get you to his page.
IMDb search: 113 results, none of them are Toby Gad
IMDb Advanced Name search: No results
IMDbPro search: 27 results, none of them are Toby Gad

Thanks.Note: This conversation was created from a reply on: Updates to Advanced Search.

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Champion

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818 Messages

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45.8K Points

3 years ago

I absolutely agree. Not only suggestions no longer display the NAKAs that match the search term (which in many cases forces us to check many more results than before to find the correct name) but the search engine isn't even capable of including NAKAs on its algorithm.

These are the three most recent examples I've come across (in increasing order of OMG! Mosqueo):
  • Super Dark Times (2017):

    When trying to add "Beru" (stage name of Jessica Collins (IX))...


    ..."Jessica Collins (IX)" isn't one of the options (despite "Beru" being a verbatim aka):


    Well, "Beru" is a short word and perhaps that may influence/confuse the search tool. Let's try a full name...


  • Amityville: The Awakening (2017):

    When trying to add "Nicholas Giassullo"...


    ...the correct Nick Sullo isn't suggested (despite "Nicholas Giassullo" being an aka he's used in several films before)


    Well, at least this time some suggestions are names with credits in the Visual Effects department... None of them has "Nicholas Giassullo" as an aka but, to verify this, we have to check the name pages of many of them because an eventual exact match isn't displayed... Fortunately, I took the precaution of performing another search before resigning to mark "This is a different person not currently listed", and found Mr. Sullo, but this shouldn't be necessary.

    The last example, which I've encountered this afternoon, frankly borders on the ridiculous (so I decided to expose it)...


  • One Missed Call (2008):

    When trying to add Gus Williams as 'stunt player'...


    ...these are the suggestions...


    None of them has Stunts as their primary job and, besides the three exact "IMDb name" matches (first three results), all the others seem to appear there just because of their name similarity (Gus/Guy, ok...), without considering other factors (only 2 of the 20 name suggestions have at least one stunt credit)... How is it possible that Gerard G. Williams (the correct person), with over 80 stunt credits and a NAKA that exactly mirrors the search term, doesn't show up among the results?

If the suggestions system is not revised, I'm anticipating a huge number of inappropriate "This is a different person" requests...

 Lloro

Champion

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Moving post by request

Please reference the new conversation here: Search suggestions

Champion

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818 Messages

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45.8K Points

2 years ago

This is still a serious ongoing problem...

Here's my latest experience, a few minutes ago, when I was trying to add some Catherine Rose as a foley artist to the Sound department of Underworld: Blood Wars (2016):


These are the names offered by the suggestions system:


The five exact matches are displayed first (understandable), despite none of them has "Sound" as their primary job. Then, 15 names appear, of which only 2 are known by their sound work... Since primary jobs aren't necessarily exclusive I even checked all the five exact matches to verify they never worked in the Sound field. As you can see, I was about to create a sixth instance of "Catherine Rose", but I thought it weird that she was the only person credited in that department who didn't have a page, so fortunately I was cautious enough to perform a collaborations search (via Google) and Katherine Rose (I) quickly shows up:


Note that she's a person with a vast experience in the Sound department (Emmy winner, STARmeter around 200k). Also, that's the only department where she has credits. And also, she's been credited as "Catherine Rose" in over 40% of her titles (35 of 81). Moreover, if you type "Catherine Rose" in the standard search bar, you'll get Katherine Rose (I) as the second suggested result.

So, how is it possible that she doesn't appear as one of the 20 suggestions of a tool that is supposed to help in the contribution process?

Again, the system seems to prioritize similarities in spelling (with a very narrow detection range of paronyms, by the way) over jobs,  which actually wouldn't be a bad decision if:
    a) NAKAs were included in the search algorithm (if they're already, exact NAKA matches are not currently being pushed up accordingly...).
    b) Such NAKAs were shown under the primary name suggestion (as it was before the changes; I refuse to open 20 name pages every time the on-screen name doesn't match the primary name, but the NAKA).
    c) Management of paronyms were improved (Catherine/Katherine).

This time I was lucky and didn't create an unneeded new name page, but I wouldn't like to imagine how many times I couldn't avoid so...

Cheers!

Champion

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I don't think you are posting this in the best place. This is an idea post and it's about the site search, not specifically about the update form.

Is it the same problem reported here in a problem post which is still labelled "in progress"?
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topi...

Champion

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818 Messages

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Hi, Peter:

Thank you, you're absolutely right. I missed that thread (I had seen this one, but I believed that was a temporary glitch [which was also bypassable by checking "This is the first credit..."]). Ron's related idea was posted incidentally at the time I noticed the issue, so I took advantage of it to show some examples of the problem.

(may please some administrator with privileges move my unintentionally intrusive posts in this thread to the other one?)

Champion

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Moving post

Please reference the new conversation here: Search suggestions

Champion

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818 Messages

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45.8K Points

Thank you very much, Peter!

Champion

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253.5K Points

2 years ago

Regarding the original post, the main site search is already meant to include alternate names. Search for "bobby deniro" and it brings up Robert De Niro with the aka "Bobby DeNiro".

The problem with Toby Gad may be that the Tobias Gad alternate only appears on soundtrack credits, and that section works differently than other sections and does not generate an alternate name for his page.

One way to solve that specific problem would be to add his birth name in the biographical details as this also affects the search results.
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