I'm not sure if a new forum dedicated to these topics will hault discussion on them, or aid them. It could go either way really, but as Blair pointed out, we would never know unless it's actually given a shot.

As it stands right now, there seems to be a fairly set group of members helping out in those threads anyway. Maybe 20 or 25 members regularly pop their heads into those discussions and post confirmed credits. And with those 20 or 25 members, we've been able to figure out some fairly complicated common names that include some fairly obscure films. Of course, with only 20 or 25 members helping out, we've got a bunch of common name threads still hanging around in limbo waiting for another member willing to help out and confirm a credit or two. I don't think any of the "set" members would jump ship because the threads are in a different forum now. A different forum which specifically states it's main focus is to figure out these issues (as most of those members have posted that they're in favour of this idea). I do think however, that a new forum might spur a few members who don't normally take part in those discussions to click on it to see if there's a common name listed when they're updating a profile or entering a new profile and have more than one variant of the same person in their local. That might in turn lead to a few new members giving a helping hand to figure out a common name, or maybe even a few new members to post a common name thread, now that they know exactly where to post it as there's a forum dedicated for it.

It could go either way, but again, how will we ever know if we don't give it a shot? At worst, I think it would stay relatively stable, with the same set group invested in finding common names still doing their best to determine the proper common names.

Add to that, the much more numerous members submitting and documenting birth years currently. I don't think any of them will stop documenting birth years just because the pinned thread is in a different forum. Again, more might give it a shot seeing a new forum with a description saying it's dedicated specifically for that purpose.

If the forum is also used to post complete cast and crew lists that could be posted for double verification purposes by the community and cloning purposes, how many might jump into it looking for a profile that has an insanely long cast list that they could use for a profile that needs updating or a new profile? Now that they know they can look specifically in one place for that information, it would make it a lot easier to find that information, giving the forum a few more clicks from members.

And it's not like the forum has to stay stagnant. If Hal & Surfeur's proposal of properly converting cast names goes through, the forum could be used for members having trouble making proper conversions to post there and ask for assistance.

I think a forum like this would be of much more use than hinderance to this little community that's been built.

Quoting TheMadMartian:

Quote:
10 topics with new posts in the contribution forum, 7 for common names and 3 for contribution questions.

Technically, though - and without taking away anything from the original request - those seven are "contribution questions", too, boiling down to "under which name variant should this person be contributed into the database?"

Perhaps as a Subforum of the "Contribution Discussion" forum.

I also like the suggested name for the proposed forum, "Cast/Crew Research".

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

Quote:
Cast/Crew Research
Threads researching verification for Common Names, Birth Years and other subjects for cleaning up the credits field.

I don't like the 'other subjects for cleaning up the credits field' part of the description. IMO opinion this forum should only cover name linking (common names and birth years). Since I am not interested that much in linking, I could mostly ignore that forum. But I do care about other aspects the credits such as parsing, language dependencies, dividers, crew role mapping etc. Those aspects about credits should still be discussed in the normal contribution forum. Otherwise the situation would not improve at all for me, except having yet another forum to scan for interesting threads.

EDIT: Maybe the forum should be named Cast/Crew Linking Research.

Afraid I disagree. I think a new forum should take care of all things needing research for cast and crew. Why have it limited to just one part of cast and crew research when there is so much more that needs research such as birth years and such. I know if it was up to me I would keep all cast and crew info together in one place. Then have a pinned thread for each topic with links to the individual threads that are easy to search. Much like the birth year thread.

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

Quote:
I know if it was up to me I would keep all cast and crew info together in one place.

Agreed. It seems some of the people who requested a separate subforum did that from a "then these threads I have no interest in won't bother me anymore" point of view. But with information on birth years, parsing and common names - all closely related stuff - I expect it would remain a pretty interesting area for most users.

Quoting T!M:

Quote:
Quoting RHo:

Quote:
EDIT: Maybe the forum should be named Cast/Crew Linking Research.

I guess that would still include parsing.

No, the CLT does ignore parsing and local updates do not change existing parsing similar to local case changes.

Quoting RHo:

Quote:
or if the subject thematic of the forum is split in such a way that some readers of one forum would not read the other one.

Which is exactly the case here.