I know that RHFactor is upset with the change I made, but what I did was correct. Ever since the mid-90's actor Thomas F. Wilson has gone by Tom Wilson on shows like, Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Spongebob Square Pants, Titus, Freaks and Geeks, Ghost Whisperer and even on movies, such as Zoom. Now RHFactor is correct about all the movies that the other Tom Wilson has appeared in, but according to the our favorite site, IMDB.com, majority of them were uncredited roles in movies, such as The Absent-Minded Professor.

Originally I was going the opposite route and doing the TV Shows mentioned above to Thomas F. Wilson as the common name, but I got "No" votes to use Tom Wilson as the common name. Here are some of the votes:

- TomGaines: I have only seen him credited as "Thomas F. Wilson" in BTTF. Otherwise always as Tom Wilson. Also on his website, he commonly uses Tom Wilson.

- 8ballMax: Doesn't look like he uses a middle initial on his own web site.

- Addicted2DVD: agree with others... he seems to go by Tom Wilson on the pages of his own site. Should remain as is

When I PM'ed Tom Gaines and I told him I reversed my decision on changing the tv shows he said: "I think it is easier this way. He only used "Thomas F. Wilson" early in his career. In the 90s and onward I have only seen him credited as Tom Wilson in various guest roles on different TV series and movies."

Recently TomGaines sent me this:
I know him only as Tom Wilson except in BTTF.
And when I look at his IMDb entry, almost all entries beginning with 1993 has a "(as Tom Wilson)" listed behind the titles.

I think the numbers from the lookup tool comes from the fact, that he mostly appeared in TV shows and less known movies and these cast listings are often taken directly from IMDb. Those titles probably do not have a full audit of the cast yet.

In my collection, this is what I have collected until now (taken from actual credits):
Movie/Series|Role|Episode Title|Credited as|Sort
Back to the Future|Biff Tannen||Thomas F. Wilson| Back to the Future
Back to the Future Part II|Biff Tannen||Thomas F. Wilson| Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II|Griff||Thomas F. Wilson| Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part III|Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen||Thomas F. Wilson| Back to the Future Part III
Back to the Future Part III|Biff Tannen||Thomas F. Wilson| Back to the Future Part III
Knight Rider: Season Two|Chip||Thomas F. Wilson| Knight Rider: Season 2
Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom|Maj. Todd 'Maniac' Marshall||Tom Wilson| Wing Commander 4
Freaks and Geeks|Coach Ben Fredricks|Pilot|Tom Wilson|Freaks and Geeks - Season 1 - 01
Freaks and Geeks|Coach Ben Fredricks|Tests and Breasts|Tom Wilson|Freaks and Geeks - Season 1 - 05
Freaks and Geeks|Coach Ben Fredricks|I'm With the Band|Tom Wilson|Freaks and Geeks - Season 1 - 06
Freaks and Geeks|Coach Ben Fredricks|We've Got Spirit|Tom Wilson|Freaks and Geeks - Season 1 - 09
Freaks and Geeks|Coach Ben Fredricks|The Diary|Tom Wilson|Freaks and Geeks - Season 1 - 10
Freaks and Geeks|Coach Ben Fredricks|Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers|Tom Wilson|Freaks and Geeks - Season 1 - 14
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman|Carter Landry|Lethal Weapon|Tom Wilson|Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 4 - 12
Sabrina: The Teenage Witch|Simon|Dream Date|Tom Wilson|Sabrina: The Teenage Witch - Season 1 - 06
Titus|Joe|Amy's Birthday|Tom Wilson|Titus - Season 3 - 02


As you can see, he only is credited as Thomas F. Wilson in BTTF and a 1980s Knight Rider episode (according to IMDb his first ever credit).

Sorry it was long. Oh the website is www.tomwilsonusa.com

I am not upset.  I am simply following the Invelos rules as we all must.  Thomas F. Wilson is the actor's common name according to the rules set here.  It is the name most commonly credited.  We can now check on profiles for this information using a tool created by Ken.  From 1915-1959 there was an actor named (and credited as) Tom Wilson.  This is the reason why "Tom Wilson" has a high profile count.  Sorry, but Biff Tannen didn't act alongside Charlie Chaplin.  So... according to the Invelos rules, Thomas F. Wilson is his COMMON name, whether or not he was actually credited as "Tom Wilson" once or twice.  I would guess that this may have happened a time or two after the original Tom Wilson's death.  SAG rules certainly prevented it earlier, and even now I have only seen TV roles with our Thomas F. credited as Tom.  As far as films go (his major body of work by far) he is credited far more commonly (if not uniquely) as Thomas F. Wilson.

One more point.  This is his actual common name per credit count for sure.  But even if it were a close call, why would we want to have to distinguish between these two gentlemen by birth year when we have a valid, rules-compliant way to NOT have to do that?  Still, I am not using that to duck anything.  This actor's common credit *IS* Thomas F. Wilson.  My change back is only complying by the rules.

My guess is that the people that voted yes on the Back to the Future contributions did not actually check Ken's profile tool, they just took Eagle's word for it.  I have done things like that myself, his argument was sound... until I saw the years of the films.  I do believe this was a simple error in following Ken's rules and it needs to be remedied. I am certianly not upset, and have no hard feelings.  I, like most of the people here, simply want the most accurate database as possible, and follow Ken's rules where they are clear.

The lookup tool would IMO only be useful as a sole source of common name determination, if we could be sure, that all available profiles are "as credited". But I think that the majority of those are still IMDb or other third party data.

Hi Tom.  I doubt there is much imdb data here at Invelos, as it was always a bad place to get data.  The lookup tool tells us what is in the Invelos database, which is the single best place for us to get data.  I doubt Ken would have put it there is he did not intend for us to use it for this purpose.

What Mr. Wilson would prefer to be called in credits (and I never did see where it said that on his website, even after checking it), that would be irrelevent for two reasons.  1) We use "credited as".  What he would prefer has no meaning sicne the Invelos rules is to use data "as credited" ONLY.  2) SAG rules seem to prevent him from using "Tom Wilson" in FILMS.  TV is another story, but his major body of work is film, and I am guessing his SAG card says "Thomas F. Wilson".  I'm sure Michael Keaton would LOVE to use his given name, "Michael Douglas", but again SAG rules prevent that.

My sole opposition to this is Ken's rules.  "As credited", and most commonly credited in the Invelos Db.  I am simply following those rules, and the original change to "Tom Wilson" was unclear since at the time no one checked to see if there was another "Tom Wilson" credited to another actor.  There is.  This is not personal preference on my part, I am simply trying to follow the rules here.  That is the strongest argument I can provide.  Despite what Eagle believes, I am not and was not ever "upset".  I try to complete this database with the most accurate information I can following the rules as they are written.  Some rules are not clear.  This one is.

Quoting RHFactor:

Quote:
Hi Tom.  I doubt there is much imdb data here at Invelos, as it was always a bad place to get data. 

This I do not believe. During the initial phase where all profiles where submitted from intervocative, bad data also got it. Also Ken imported all still missing profiles once invelos and intervocative merged.
And also it only has been recently that you have to document your sources in initial contributions.
Even if I look into my collection, a lot of profiles dating a few years back are still not properly audited. I also think that most of the less common profiles have still invalid cast data.
We only have the tip of the iceberg covered regarding correctly profiled cast data, I think.

Quoting RHFactor:

Quote:
Quoting eagle61397:

Quote:
RHFactor is correct that Thomas F. Wilson/Tom Wilson has appeared in more tv series than movies, but this is a program that catalogs both tv and movie dvds.

And more than that, my friend.  Straight to DVD, independent releases, etc.  However, a simple count of the credits of "Thomas F. Wilson" versus "Tom Wilson" to *this* actor shows quite easily which is more common.

Now if I was to hunt down a birth year for Thomas F. Wilson/Tom Wilson would you agree with that? Would you let me keep both?

Quoting TomGaines:

Quote:
Quoting RHFactor:

Quote:
Quoting eagle61397:

Quote:
RHFactor is correct that Thomas F. Wilson/Tom Wilson has appeared in more tv series than movies, but this is a program that catalogs both tv and movie dvds.

And more than that, my friend.  Straight to DVD, independent releases, etc.  However, a simple count of the credits of "Thomas F. Wilson" versus "Tom Wilson" to *this* actor shows quite easily which is more common.

Yes, "Tom Wilson"

Heh.  Seriously, though, I did say *this* actor.  Our man Biff definitely did not appear in films alongside Charlie Chaplin in 1915.  A simple count overwhelmingly amounts to "Thomas F.".

double post.