As long as the role names were already in the profile before the amendment, I'd accept them without any further documentation (it should be sufficient documentation, that someone documented it sometimes) - and I'd prefer keeping them instead removing them in doubt.

... keep in mind, that there will never be the one and only role name set, if the roles are not listed with the credits. From my point of view it is better to have any of them in, instead of removing them all together.

Re Intervocative:
If Ken thought that the contribution notes from the old site had any value, he should have ported them over to Invelos. He did not. I don't even know if it is possible to access the old contribution notes. If it is, I certainly don't know how. As far as I am concerned, if the data is not in the current notes, then it is undocumented.

When you contribute, you contribute whole sections. If you add a subtitle, then you contribute all checked subtitles, and you should make sure that all checked subtitles actually exists on the disc. If you change or add an audio track, you should make sure that all audio tracks are correct. If you change or add something in the cast section, you should make sure that the whole section is correct. Or at least that's the way I see it.

If I contribute cast, then I am (morally) responsible to make sure to the best of my abilities that the roles entered are correct. For all I know they could be wildly incorrect.

For me, the alternative would be to not contribute the cast section at all, even if I find that the cast names (not the role names) do not match the credits. If I don't touch it, then it's not my responsability. But is it a better choice?

Summarizing: there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm for wholesale removal… Not from me, either. If an existing profile has role names, I would either leave them, or, if I had the time, I would try to verify and/or improve them by using the methods outlined by others (watching the disc, looking for old notes, online research) - but I wouldn't just strip 'em away.

I selected those profiles in my collection that were missing disc id. The idea was that if that is missing, then it's a good chance that other data is missing also. It's a list of several hundred profiles, so I started with the oldest ones. So far I have contributed 69 profiles in the last 30 days.

Watching the films is - obviously - not an option. Like I said, I could research the role names, but I'm already spending up to an hour per profile, so I'm not prepared to do that.

Quoting GSyren:

Quote:
I don't even know if it is possible to access the old contribution notes.

They are accessible, e.g.

new: http://www.invelos.com/Forums.aspx?task=contributionnotes&type=DVD&ProfileUPC=025192018626

old: http://legacy.intervocative.com/Forums.aspx?task=contributionnotes&type=DVD&ProfileUPC=2519201862

First and last digits of the ID are omitted in the old-style for 12 digit UPCs

or

new: http://www.invelos.com/Forums.aspx?task=contributionnotes&type=DVD&ProfileUPC=4030521290778.5

old: http://legacy.intervocative.com/Forums.aspx?task=contributionnotes&type=DVD&ProfileUPC=030521290778.5

First digit is omitted in 13 digit EANs

Quoting GSyren:

Quote:
Re Intervocative:
If Ken thought that the contribution notes from the old site had any value, he should have ported them over to Invelos. He did not. I don't even know if it is possible to access the old contribution notes. If it is, I certainly don't know how. As far as I am concerned, if the data is not in the current notes, then it is undocumented.

You presume to know what Ken think. I do not. I'm just pointing out that before you remove any "undocumented" roles you should at least check the old notes (if any exist) before you assume that they have no value.

Me personally, I'm fine with no role names, since that is how the film credits look. Usually we enter everything as credited so I see nothing wrong with leaving them out in a new profile. But removing them carte blanche from all legacy profiles doesn't sound like a good strategy.

The whole thing is really quite simple. When I do these audits now, for my local database I always remove roles if the credits don't have  them and they are not documented in the current contribution notes. Always. For my local. I do not research. I may or may not research roles at a later date, but I will not now.

If there were no changes to the cast, then I do not contribute cast, leaving it with roles in the online.

If there were changes to the cast I can either contribute the corrected cast (w/o roles), or I can refrain from contributing the cast (leaving the uncorrected cast plus roles in the online).

Those are the only two options. I just want to know which one you think is better.

Quoting scotthm:

Quote:

I vote for option two.  It makes your life easier and no one will ever complain about it.

Yeah, there's that. I was thinking more in terms of which is best for the online database, but you do have a good point.