We all know that Kluge has done a brilliant job compiling the birthyear list. And whether by luck or by design, it is structured in a way that makes it relatively easy to parse it programmatically, which I am doing in a couple of my programs.

Wouldn't it be great if something similar could be done for common names? If someone could compile a list of common names in a suitable format, and publish it on a server, I would commit to not only write a small program that makes it easy to look up common names, but I would also incorporate that search into my CastCrewCheck program, so it would automatically show if a certain cast or crew name is listed as part of a common name thread while you audit a profile.

If anyone is up for this task, please contact me, and we can decide what is the best format for such a list. But please remember that it needs to be a commitment to keep the list up-to-date.

Quoting T!M:

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Well, a pinned thread for this already exists - here. I'm not sure how you would best draw from that for your CastCrewCheck program, though.

Yeah, I'd need something a lot better structured than that.

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

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unlike the birthyear thread... wouldn't it matter that the common name could change over time. Just bring up something to think about.

Yes, and that's a problem with today's common name threads as well. But with an up-to-date list it would be possible to write a program that finds all occurences that need to be changed in ones collection. One could even run that program regularly to make sure that ones common names are up-to-date.

Quoting GSyren:

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Quoting T!M:

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Well, a pinned thread for this already exists - here. I'm not sure how you would best draw from that for your CastCrewCheck program, though.

Yeah, I'd need something a lot better structured than that.

I think the questions that would have to be answered before someone might volunteer, would be
- What would "better structured" look like?
- How often would it need to be updated?  (daily, weekly, monthly?)

The idea is great, but the biggest problem I see is that unlike IMDb we have no way to know which John Smith is which...unless they have a BY. Other than that all John Smith's without a birthyear fall to one entry. To me this will never work until we have a way to distinguish which John Smith is which.

Quoting mreeder50:

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The idea is great, but the biggest problem I see is that unlike IMDb we have no way to know which John Smith is which...unless they have a BY. Other than that all John Smith's without a birthyear fall to one entry. To me this will never work until we have a way to distinguish which John Smith is which.

True, but that's a flaw in the system that we have with or without this idea. If that flaw is a showstopper, then - unless Ken steps out from the shadows - the only solution is to use another program.

As kind of a proof-of-concept I created a local web page and a small search program, just to ilustrate how it could look:



There should of course also be a clickable link to the forum post in question, and probably other bells and whistles, but this should give you a rough idea of how such a program might look.

So, what would tie all this confusing stuff together for me is, how does this relate to the CLT, if at all?