Q's & A's

Writer and Director are already available on the episode level. Since it's common that each of a show's episode is directed by a different person, they should be added there instead of with the show itself.
I can add "Producer" and "Based on the Novel of" to the list of crew positions. I'll wait a little while longer to see if anyone will come up with more requirements; as it's easier to add them together in one go.

The problem with adding Director & Writer by episode is that we are talking about a series still in development that still does not have a firm start date. I agree with what you are saying however I can't add in a Pilot episode with no air date yet to add them to. It will be many months before a date is set in stone. If the site DID NOT REQUIRE a Full date for episodes and would allow at least a year then I could easily add in a pilot for 2016 and add those 2 crew? However I must assume you are NOT going to change the way the site is set up just to have a year be allowed to add in Pilot episodes correct?

It would be GREAT if it could be done as I have added over 20 shows in the past 3 weeks that are in Development that will not air their 1st episodes until 2016! I have also noticed that both Thomas & Juan have also been adding in a lot of new shows in development as well over the past month and most of them will also not debut until sometime in 2016 as well!

If anyone else wants to weigh in please do, but I personally think the system is OK like this. Having a Director and Writer credit on the show-level just doesn't make a lot of sense. In scenarios like you described we can simply wait until the actual Pilot is announced before adding the Writer & Director credits to it.

If anyone else wants to weigh in please do, but I personally think the system is OK like this. Having a Director and Writer credit on the show-level just doesn't make a lot of sense. In scenarios like you described we can simply wait until the actual Pilot is announced before adding the Writer & Director credits to it.

I understand and it makes sense what I do not agree with is needing a full DATE (Year-Month-Day) to add in an episode especially if we know the year. Why do you not allow the system to accept just a year so we can add in pilots as well as crew types? As it is now when we add a show in Development no one has a clue as to what year it will begin airing, this year 2015, next year 2016 or even 2017 which I have added one show in Development so far that will air on HBO but not until 2017 according to deadline.com so people could possibly be interested in that fact?

That's kind of intentional. We would rather wait until an episode is officially announced so that we are sure the information is correct, instead of speculating.

However, we can solve your concern in a different way. It's already possible to add a "Premiere year" to a season. How about we add that information to the show's info box for shows that are in development/hiatus? Then we can still show the premiere year without having to prematurely add episodes.

That's kind of intentional. We would rather wait until an episode is officially announced so that we are sure the information is correct, instead of speculating.
However, we can solve your concern in a different way. It's already possible to add a "Premiere year" to a season. How about we add that information to the show's info box for shows that are in development/hiatus? Then we can still show the premiere year without having to prematurely add episodes.

That sounds perfect to me but how do I/we go about doing that?

How do you enter a second person with the same name?

For instance, there's Robert Duncan the British actor, and Robert Duncan the assistant director. The first one is already in the system, and they're different people. What name do you give the second Robert Duncan?

The system doesn't seem to like me either putting (1) or (I) after the name.

How do you enter a second person with the same name?
For instance, there's Robert Duncan the Briths actor, and Robert Duncan the assistant director. The first one is already in the system. What name do you give the second Robert Duncan?

Same Name then select the CREATE NEW button! It is also the same way for shows as well select the CREATE NEW button even if there are 20 of the same name, its just the way its' done here as the site assigns a # to each one to differentiate them from each other.

I have explained this and many other site differences in an email I have ready to send you if you send me an email?

How do you enter a second person with the same name?
For instance, there's Robert Duncan the Briths actor, and Robert Duncan the assistant director. The first one is already in the system. What name do you give the second Robert Duncan?

You can simply name them both "Roger Duncan". Having different shows or people with an identical name is perfectly legal on TVmaze; on the search page we can differentiate them using their picture, credits, or other added information.

How do you enter a second person with the same name?
For instance, there's Robert Duncan the Briths actor, and Robert Duncan the assistant director. The first one is already in the system. What name do you give the second Robert Duncan?

You can simply name them both "Roger Duncan". Having different shows or people with an identical name is perfectly legal on TVmaze; on the search page we can differentiate them using their picture, credits, or other added information.

How does the search page differentiate them? I see that the names are underlined. But clicking on their name, underlined, just selects them.

Their credits don't appear when searching, and if there's no photos, there's no way to differentiate. Even if there are photos, they don't necessarily help. Seeing the photo of the British Robert Duncan doesn't tell me if he's also the Canadian/American AD Robert Duncan. I don't know what either one looks like. :)

Now that I've entered the AD Robert Duncan, if I do a search the only thing that comes up is their names and ID numbers.

The only way I've found is to bring up a separate TVMaze page, do a search, and then click on each of them to find out which one is the AD. And then go back to the page where I was adding crew. Which seems kinda awkward.

Or am I (most likely) missing something?

Thanks!

Or am I (most likely) missing something?
Thanks!

That one is way to technical for me to try and explain so I will defer to our local expert, Mr. David?

Ah, right, I ment on the regular search page: http://www.tvmaze.com/search?q=Robert+Duncan

If you're searching from the dropdown box - when creating a new Cast or Crew entry - it's indeed not easy to differentiate between people with an identical name. Adding "(1)" or "(2)" to a name wouldn't help much though, as you still wouldn't know exactly who is who.

What I could do is add some extra information to the dropdown entries for duplicates, like the names of the top 3-5 shows they are credited for. Would that help, or do you have a better idea perhaps?

Juan, thanks for adding "The Kitchen" today. I also added it myself about 8 hours ago but I decided against it because there were too ,many episodes to be added for me to take the time to do it today. Is it a BIG coincidence that you added it or do you see something in the background of the site when someone is looking for a show and do not find it? I only ask this because I am curious and also because I have noticed recently that you and Thomas both have added a lot of shows I looked for and didn't find but decided I couldn't afford to take a lot of time to add in a ton of episodes and it would have to wait until I found some extra time?

Juan, thanks for adding "The Kitchen" today. I also added it myself about 8 hours ago but I decided against it because there were too ,many episodes to be added for me to take the time to do it today. Is it a BIG coincidence that you added it or do you see something in the background of the site when someone is looking for a show and do not find it? I only ask this because I am curious and also because I have noticed recently that you and Thomas both have added a lot of shows I looked for and didn't find but decided I couldn't afford to take a lot of time to add in a ton of episodes and it would have to wait until I found some extra time?

Ron,

someone requested the show on the forums, that is why I added it :)

So it really was a coincidence, hehe.

cheers
Juan

How do you enter a second person with the same name?
For instance, there's Robert Duncan the Briths actor, and Robert Duncan the assistant director. The first one is already in the system. What name do you give the second Robert Duncan?

You can simply name them both "Roger Duncan". Having different shows or people with an identical name is perfectly legal on TVmaze; on the search page we can differentiate them using their picture, credits, or other added information.

How does the search page differentiate them? I see that the names are underlined. But clicking on their name, underlined, just selects them.
Their credits don't appear when searching, and if there's no photos, there's no way to differentiate. Even if there are photos, they don't necessarily help. Seeing the photo of the British Robert Duncan doesn't tell me if he's also the Canadian/American AD Robert Duncan. I don't know what either one looks like. :)
Now that I've entered the AD Robert Duncan, if I do a search the only thing that comes up is their names and ID numbers.
The only way I've found is to bring up a separate TVMaze page, do a search, and then click on each of them to find out which one is the AD. And then go back to the page where I was adding crew. Which seems kinda awkward.
Or am I (most likely) missing something?
Thanks!

Hello gadfly,

welcome over here :)

The thing that we do different here about persons with the same name, is that we do not add a Number (1), (2) or (3) for the person, we just give them a seperate ID.

We think for the regular users the number (1) is no help, as it does not say anything about the person.

cheers
Juan

Hello gadfly,
welcome over here :)
The thing that we do different here about persons with the same name, is that we do not add a Number (1), (2) or (3) for the person, we just give them a seperate ID.
We think for the regular users the number (1) is no help, as it does not say anything about the person.
cheers
Juan

Thanks for the response.

I understand you don't differentiate them, and agree that (I) and (II) is no more informative than... well, any one-character differentiator. Or none.

David's response addresses my concern, is that how one can differentiate them when adding them to a cast/crew page. Probably the most informative thing would be to list the top three credits that they have. That would probably show if they were cast or crew, what crew, and if shows which countries. That would at least seem to narrow it down considerably.

I tried to delete a crew from a show's crew and got an error.

http://www.tvmaze.com/crew/delete?id=14203

That occurred when I added the wrong Mark Holden (the one with the photo) to this page:

http://www.tvmaze.com/shows/435/smallville/crew?pa...

and then tried to delete it.

Help?

I agree with Gadfly's assessment. Adding some at least one credit is a good indicator to differentiate people with the same name.

I tried to delete a crew from a show's crew and got an error.
http://www.tvmaze.com/crew/delete?id=14203
That occurred when I added the wrong Mark Holden (the one with the photo) to this page:
http://www.tvmaze.com/shows/435/smallville/crew?pa...
and then tried to delete it.
Help?

it seems the one with the photo is already gone, so everything should be fine ?

if not, please let me now gadfly :)

cheers
Juan

I tried to delete a crew from a show's crew and got an error.
http://www.tvmaze.com/crew/delete?id=14203
That occurred when I added the wrong Mark Holden (the one with the photo) to this page:
http://www.tvmaze.com/shows/435/smallville/crew?pa...
and then tried to delete it.
Help?

Ah, right, the level new users start out with doesn't have delete access. (See this thread for more information: http://www.tvmaze.com/threads/9/user-permissions). I've deleted the credit on your behalf.

If you keep it up like this we should be able to promote you to the level of Trusted Contributor soon, at which time you'll be able to delete incorrect credits by yourself.

Ah, right, the level new users start out with doesn't have delete access. (See this thread for more information: http://www.tvmaze.com/threads/9/user-permissions). I've deleted the credit on your behalf.
If you keep it up like this we should be able to promote you to the level of Trusted Contributor soon, at which time you'll be able to delete incorrect credits by yourself.

Thanks! Whatever works out best for you.