524 Messages
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9K Points
Contributions constantly being declined
I've noticed a big increase in simple contributions being declined. I provide imgur jpgs to prove the point and they get declined three or four times with 'unable to verify' or 'badly formatted'. Is there a workflow that should be followed to avoid this from happening?
If an actor is interviewed in a documentary and below their name it simply says Actor that what I put under Self - Actor. I get in response 'badly formatted'. I provide a screenshot of the interview with the credit and I get again 'badly formatted'.
Someone has two names, a stage name and their regular name so I try to merge the two name pages. I get 'unable to verify'. I google the two names and the first thing that comes up are multiple articles stating in the headlines both names. A five second google search would verify the info. I do a screenshot of the google search and proved a imgur jpg and again I get 'unable to verify'.
Sometimes there will be two people with the same name. If the wrong person is added to something I add the correct person and request a deletion of the incorrect person. The added person gets added quickly. But the deletion takes awhile and eventually I get a 'unable to verify'. And the whole back and forth happens again.
Plus how are you supposed to prove a negative? I recently filled out the cast of a four episode documentary series. Several people were listed on four episodes. However one person was only in two. I tried to remove her name and get a 'unable to verify'. How am I supposed to get a screenshot of someone not there? Especially hard if there are no end credits with the interviewees listed.
I get frustrated so I send an email to the Help Center arguing my case. Lately Sam has been very helpful. Some problems he solves immediately. Sometimes the contribution is resubmitted 'by IMDb' and show up on my contributor queue. Again they get declined. So I email the Help Center again and it eventually gets solved.
Sometimes a documentary will have people listed but only as Self or Self - interviewee. I watch the documentary and fill out the Role info. I notice that a lot of people who are identfied in the doc are missing so I add them. But what is frustrating is people who shouldn't be included are listed. If the subject of the documentary is shown accepting an Oscar you don't need to list everyone shown in the first five rows at the Oscars. If they don't really have a meaningful connection to the story don't add them. Once I worked on a doc and a president was being sworn in on Inauguration Day. Someone included every member of the First Family, the supreme court justice and every recognizable senator or congressperson on stage even though none of them speak or are identified and are only seen for a few seconds. There was no point to add them.
Fran
Employee
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4.4K Messages
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44.2K Points
1 month ago
Hello ben_hampel
Can you help us posting the 18-digits submission reference number for the contributions? to take a look for you!
You can find the submission number in your Contribution History page.
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MAthePA
2.1K Messages
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58.5K Points
1 month ago
Hi @ben_hampel,
The contributor's life would be much easier when following some guidelines:
1️⃣ Last year the Self department was invented for listing the self appearances, so you don't need to input "Self - Actor" anymore. Just input "Actor" but into the Self, not the Cast section:
2️⃣ If two or more people with the same name are represented on the same page, then you can not delete the "wrong" ones, instead you need to split the page. This is how to: Splitting a Name
3️⃣ IMDb lists all self appearances, and there is no exception in the guidelines. This is very subjective to say "none of them speak or are identified and are only seen for a few seconds. There was no point to add them." The objective thing is the person appears on screen in a real-life activity, so any contributor can add the identified person to the Self department, but the "uncredited" attribute should be added if the person is not credited on screen. Moreover, if the person's name is announced (spoken), the "uncredited" should not be applied.
I hope it helps you further, and the rest of your questions will be answered by the employees.
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