Quote:
There are literally thousands and thousands of users who will automatically parse these kind of names as 1//2 3 rather than 1/2/3, and if this thread drops out of view by tomorrow or the day after that, nothing will have changed, and the current mess - dual entries for EVERY three-piece name out there - will remain exactly the same. Ken really needs to do something about this. Whether it's a simple rule change, renaming the field names (as long as it's called "last name", there are going to be lots of users putting what they feel is the actual "last name" into it - whether you agree with their assessment or not) or eliminating one or two of the fields entirely. If nothing changes, the situation won't improve.

Quote:
Quoting xradman:

Quote:
In light of the added evidence provided by Hal and others, are you willing or have changed your vote to David/Ogden/Stiers?

No, I haven't. As I said: for the sake of the database, I'm willing to relent, though. I've been saying so for years, by the way.

I'll try to explain the problem again. Please don't attack me for it: I'm just trying to explain how this works for a part of the non-American users. I'm from The Netherlands. Over here, a middle name is a second given name. Faced with "David Ogden Stiers" I instinctively KNOW that "Ogden" is not a middle name, but part of his last name. Finding out that Ogden is his mother's maiden name, and Stiers is his father's last name only cements this further. Thus, I'm automatically inclined to parse it D//O S. Again: don't tell me I'm "wrong" - I'm already willing to relent. You can "teach" me to parse it as D/O/S. You can't teach me to actually SEE it like that: he'll always be Mr. Ogden Stiers to me. But again: you can "teach" me to ignore that for DVD Profiler purposes.

With the above, I'm confident I've described a fairly large part of the people who would automatically parse D//O S. Not all, but certainly a part of them. Now, if we agree that we just don't do 1//2 3 for DVD Profiler purposes, then something needs to be done to actually get the users on the same page. We've bickered about this for years, and nothing is improving: Invelos approved entries with both methods of parsing every day, and it's been like that for years. If we want to get everyone on the same page - SOMETHING has to happen. As it is, thousands and thousands of users will still automatically be parsing lots of three-piece names as 1//2 3, just because they don't see anything that qualifies as a "middle name". I know I don't see a middle name here - I need solid instructions to force me to parse this as 1/2/3.

Rather than trying to convince me to see him as "Mr. Stiers" (which isn't ever going to happen), you should focus on how to best enforce the 1/2/3 parsing with people for who "middle name" and "last name" mean something else as they do to you.

Quote:
But DOS is an American actor and not Dutch.  Our naming conventions are more like 1/2/3 rather than 1//2 3 in general and double last names are very rare (except in Hispanic minority).

Quote:
Maybe we do need for Ken to make a 1/2/3 standard parsing for names absent any proof that it's 1//23.

Quote:
...a "middle name" is a second given name. Well, "Ogden" is not a second given name. By default - for me, that is - that makes it part of the last name.