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Monday, September 29th, 2025
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Name submissions: Automatic "fix" erroneously converts band names, stage names, etc. into last name, first name format
The U.K. indie-pop duo "Peggy Sue" has an IMDb page under their former name, "Peggy Sue & the Pirates". I want to submit a name change replacing their older name with the shortened name they've been using since circa 2008. Unfortunately, the name contribution page keeps automatically converting "Peggy Sue" into "Sue, Peggy". Peggy Sue is not a person whose first name is Peggy and last name is Sue. It is the name of a band and it should be sorted and alphabetized as a single phrase. Furthermore, even if there was a real person in this instance whose name was "Peggy Sue", it should be clear to any non-automated human being that the phrase "Peggy Sue" is made up of two first names and the word "Sue" is not supposed to represent a last name. The automatic "fix" is incapable of recognizing this and IMDb offers no way of bypassing it. Actors, musicians, comedians, etc. often go by stage names as opposed to their "real" names. These stage names sometimes don't include last names. However, if any user attempts to submit a name with more than one word in it, the automated system always "corrects" the last word into a last name, regardless of context or whether this is appropriate. "Billy Bob" becomes "Bob, Billy". "Peggy Sue" becomes "Sue, Peggy". "Mary Jane" becomes "Jane, Mary." Bands like Pink Floyd, Green Day, Led Zeppelin, etc., which were added to the database before the automated system was implemented, are formatted correctly. However, if someone were to try to add those names today, they would turn into "Floyd, Pink", "Day, Green", "Zeppelin, Led", etc. The problem gets even worse when you consider bands or groups with longer and more complex names. For example, if you look up the name "Benny Goodman and His Orchestra", which was added to the database before automation, it is formatted as "Goodman and His Orchestra, Benny". This makes sense, as Goodman is the last name of the bandleader, and the phrase "and his orchestra" refers to his band. However, if someone were to attempt to add this name to the database today, the system would automatically change it to "Orchestra, Benny Goodman and His". It would give the user no option to alter the formatting in any way. The user would have no choice but to submit it as if it was supposed to represent a man named Benny Orchestra who just happened to have three middle names for some reason. Have I hammered home this point enough, or do I need to keep listing more examples of how this system is failing?
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majfoalbkeopaza
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4 days ago
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Peter_pbn
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4 days ago
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