Changes to formats supported for creating links within contributions

Today, Wednesday 15th November 2017, we will begin the roll-out of changes to the types of linking formats supported within our contribution interfaces.

Currently within our contribution interfaces we support two types of linking. They are:-

[link=nm1234567] for names and [link=tt1234567] for titles. This is our modern linking method, which utilizes the unique identifier for each name or title in the database (which can be harvested from our URLs).

'Tomoyuki Tanaka (I)'(qv) for names and _"Buffythe Vampire Slayer" (2001) {Once More, with Feeling (#6.7)}_ (qv) for titles. This is our legacy format which requires in-depth knowledge of our legacy name or title text format and is error prone.

As we continue our work to make improvements to our systems to simplify and make contribution consistent across all desktop/mobile platforms (please see Upcoming changes to several IMDb features for more details), we have made the decision to move fully to our modern linking method.

As part of this work, the existing ability within the legacy format to perform name matching will be removed. An example of this feature is below:-

Image https//d2r1vs3d9006apcloudfrontnet/s3_images/1672595/27155-1svkztk_inlinejpg1510757451

Image https//d2r1vs3d9006apcloudfrontnet/s3_images/1672595/27155-1svkztk_inlinejpg1510757451

From today all contribution interfaces will begin being updated to support only the [link=nm1234567] for name and [link=tt1234567]. This change will not impact how the data is displayed on IMDb, it is purely a change to the contribution interfaces. This change affects 23 different data types:-

Plot Outline
Plot Summary
Crazy Credits
Alternate Versions
Connections
Articles
Books About This Person
Biographical Movies
Biography
Real Life Quotes
Name Trivia
Trivia
Nickname
Other Works
Portrayed in Other Movies
Salary
Spouse
Trademarks
Goofs
Quotes
Awards
Soundtracks
Literature

These changes will be rolling out over the next 24 hours during which time we will be monitoring the launch. We are in the process of ensuring that all submission guides are updated to reflect this change.

If you do spot any issues or have questions/feedback, please respond to this thread.

Thanks,

Rachel

Rachel, Employee

46 Posts
36 Reply Likes

Posted 2 years ago

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2 years ago

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

At the minimum, the back-end system should be looking for links to name and title constants that are not correctly formed. This should be an easy regex. When found, the staff should be alerted so that the problems can be addressed before being published to the site. (ideally the error should be noted at time of submission)

Here are some examples from the Soundtrack section:

Raw data:
Written by [link=nm0005153] (as Richard Penniman), [nm8991191], and [link=nm0187685]
Display:
Written by [link=nm0005153] (as Richard Penniman), [

You can see how the mistake not only messes up the one name, but the entire line of text on the display side.

Raw data (same thing is displayed)
Written by nm0113768, nm0090303 & nm0921739
Performed by nm0113768 & nm8851569
tt0069792 Motion Picture Soundtrack
Courtesy of co0135933 1973

Raw data:
Written by Cailee Spaeny (nm8314228)
Written by Jackson Tyler Hunt (nm4942699)
Written by Nathan Samuel Langford
Written by Jordan Adelberger
Courtesy of Future Town Music Group
Performed by [link=nm8314228] (nm8314228)
Display:
Written by Cailee Spaeny (nm8314228)
Written by Jackson Tyler Hunt (nm4942699)
Written by Nathan Samuel Langford
Written by Jordan Adelberger
Courtesy of Future Town Music Group
Performed by Cailee Spaeny (nm8314228)

Raw data (same thing is displayed)
Performed by https://pro-labs.imdb.com/name/nm6855911?s=36b00a3b-82c6-bba1-0262-c817c45cff79 & https://pro-labs.imdb.com/name/nm7214498?s=84b00a3b-af7f-aaaa-3425-68e5a5168557

Raw data:
Performed by [ink=nm5326567] and 'Skylar Grey (I)' (qv)
Display:
Performed by [ink=nm5326567] and Skylar Grey

etc... you get the idea.

Comment

2 people like this

2017-12-20T01:31:00+00:00

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

I've just submitted around 50 corrections to clean up the name-consts that I could find in soundtrack data. Can't imagine what other, more popular, sections are like.

2017-12-24T18:52:02+00:00

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

Using the last data dump, cleaned up another ~10 titles of Soundtrack data containing errors that were submitted in the past week. Other more popular sections are probably getting filled with errors that should be very easy to detect at submission time with some simple regex.

2017-12-24T18:59:29+00:00

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

A quick peek at the Trivia section shows 100 or more link errors.

2017-12-25T04:07:06+00:00

Jeorj Euler

7257 Posts
9452 Reply Likes

Very observant, Ron. Thanks.

2017-12-26T13:51:46+00:00

Col Needham, Official Rep

6834 Posts
4816 Reply Likes

Thanks for the bug report. We now have a ticket open to investigate and fix.

2017-12-30T12:07:58+00:00

Col Needham, Official Rep

6834 Posts
4816 Reply Likes

We have found and fixed the cause of this now (and cleaned-up where we could). Thanks again for the problem report.

2017-12-30T15:56:02+00:00

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

Just a quick request, can you clarify what was fixed? Thanks!

2017-12-30T22:32:12+00:00

Col Needham, Official Rep

6834 Posts
4816 Reply Likes

No problem -- an internal process was mangling [link=] URLs and creating quite a bit of chaos across any section which supports the new format. We have blocked this now and unwound the cases which could be detected and fixed automatically.

2 years ago

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

Don't know if this applies to other sections of the database, but it seems there is a problem somewhere.

The text [error] is replacing linked names in the soundtrack section. Examples:
http://imdb.com/title/tt7657426/soundtrack Song "Run to You"

http://imdb.com/title/tt0492784/soundtrack First two songs

http://imdb.com/title/tt0043783/soundtrack Only song

The problem is very bad in titles that have been {{SUSPENDED}}, which you can find in the raw data on the FTP site. Example:
# "Pequeñeces" (2010) {(#1.1)} {{SUSPENDED}}
- "Pequeñeces"
Written by [error], [error], [error], [error] and [error]
Performed by [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], 'Eugenia García' (qv), [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error], [error] and [error]
Recorded by [error]
Published by ACN Music Records

I would suspect that if a title were to no longer be {{SUSPENDED}}, that all the original linked data is lost.

This problem appears more than 350 times in the soundtrack.list file on the FTP site.

(Edited)

Comment

2 people like this

2017-12-19T23:05:42+00:00

Jeorj Euler

7257 Posts
9452 Reply Likes

Damn. That's rather sad.

2018-04-06T13:07:33+00:00

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

(Edited)

2018-12-30T21:58:00+00:00

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

The [error] issues appear to remain unresolved.

2018-12-31T16:42:02+00:00

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

If there isn't the staff to take care of this, feel free to send me the original submissions, and I'll clean it up. Thanks.

2 years ago

CuriousUserX90

246 Posts
123 Reply Likes

A Petition of mine that should be signed which is in regards to linking pages in trivia submissions: https://www.change.org/p/imdb-let-us-have-an-easier-way-of-linking-pages-in-trivia-pieces

Comment

2018-03-27T15:41:31+00:00

bderoes, Champion

1391 Posts
2262 Reply Likes

@CuriousUserX90

Not sure why you would start a petition on an external site when you can start an Idea on this site where people can also Vote. I don't know whether giving an email address is mandatory there, but I wouldn't do so.

At your petition, it's unclear what you want. You say

"Instead of putting (qv) links, now we have to use [Link=Web Address]. It would be easier to type in the Name of the Page were linking rather than having to always remember the web address..."

What do you mean by "the Name of the Page"?

Then you say

"I mean look how this submission of mine ended up turning out: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5220122/trivia?tab=tr&item=tr3688509"

I don't see anything wrong with

First Trailer was shown the same day as the release of The Star (2017), another film by Sony Animation.

which has the trivia id you site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5220122/trivia?item=tr3688509.

There is a similar suggestion here:
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/updating-information-esp-via-the-app
that you might want to vote for and/or comment on. It already has some votes.

(Edited)

2018-03-30T11:05:05+00:00

CuriousUserX90

246 Posts
123 Reply Likes

I'm talking about improving the way pages get linked. Previously you could simply type in the name of the page you're linking, but now you have to find the web address for that page, more specifically the last part of it.

2018-03-30T11:26:10+00:00

Jeorj Euler

7238 Posts
9428 Reply Likes

The "(qv)" syntax? Yes, that is gone. You're asking for that back, in other words?

2018-03-30T11:41:30+00:00

CuriousUserX90

246 Posts
123 Reply Likes

Asking for the newer method of linking pages to improve a bit, that can save us from having to go find web addresses of pages.

2018-03-30T11:46:13+00:00

Paikia

35 Posts
14 Reply Likes

I have to agree that this new system does seem to have taken us a few steps back, when it comes to interface design. I'd expect a newer interface to be more intuitive and easy to use, yet we got a new interface which at the very least, is as uncomfortable and as tedious as the previous one.

2 years ago

CuriousUserX90

246 Posts
123 Reply Likes

One thing that should be fixed is the auto highlighting whenever I click near a title when using the IMDB App. It highlights in red and doesn't go with the 2 ts. This doesn't happen with actor names though thankfully.

Comment

1 year ago

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

After the advanced search tool for Soundtracks was made available again, I had submitted about 100 corrections to tidy up the mal-formed [link=xxxxxxx] links in that data that I found.
A couple more months have passed, and I just submitted another 45+ corrections to clean up more mal-formed links.
What is the status of the submission system being able to detect this mal-formed data at submission time, and forcing the contribors to fix the issue before the submission can be made? (like it did with mal-formed (qv) links)Thanks.

Comment

5 people like this

9 months ago

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

Semi-annual cleanup of bad links in the Soundtrack data
85 titles affected
100+ fixes

Most common problems:
[link=nm1234567 <-by far the most commom
link=nm1234567]
[link-nm1234567]
{link=nm1234567]
[link=nm1234567}

Any progress on getting the submission system to flag these errors before they get published?

Comment

3 people like this

3 months ago

Ron

190 Posts
131 Reply Likes

Semi-annual cleanup of bad links in the Soundtrack data
65+ titles affected
~90 fixes

Most common problems:
[link=nm1234567 (missing bracket)
link=nm1234567] (missing bracket)
[link-nm1234567] (dash instead of equals)