I did a cast contribution today where an actor is credited as "Chrispin Gillbard". In the existing profile he was listed as Crispin Gillbard [Chrispin Gillbard], i.e. Crispin Gillbard as Common Name and Chrispin Gillbard as "credited name".

After checking with the Credit Lookup Tool I discovered that "Crispin Gillbard" has ZERO credits in the online database, while "Chrispin Gillbard" is credited in 1 title (the same DVD I was working on).

I therefore removed the Common Name and went with as credited, i.e. Chrispin Gillbard, and explained in my contribution notes that the Crispin variant had zero credits in the online database.

This resulted in a No vote, with the following comment:

Quote:
the common name is there for Chrispin because that's a typo - it's supposed to be spelled Crispin

Have I misunderstood the rules/Ken's wishes? I thought I was supposed to use the most common credit (determined with the Credit Lookup Tool), so that in this case it would clearly be the Chrispin variant (even if that may not be how the actor actually spells his name).

To quote Ken from this thread: http://www.invelos.com/Forums.aspx?task=viewtopic&topicID=219058&messageID=462549#M462549

Quote:
The lookup tool is not to be blindly trusted, however it does outweigh other sources, including autographs.  The common name is not intended to always reflect the "real name", but the most commonly credited name.

However, if a user documents errors in the database where the credit is not entered properly, that can and should be considered.  Better yet, correct the entries, assuming you own the discs in question, thereby correcting the lookup results.

(Bold types are mine.)

Quoting northbloke:

Quote:
I'm the awful person who voted no.
The reason I did so is because this isn't just a case of someone who is known by more than one name, this is a situation where someone's name has been spelled wrong in the credits. And the use of "credited as" is a perfect way of having both bits of info in the database: we have both the actor's name and the spelling mistake. If the "credited as" is removed we no longer have this extra data.
The rules state: "Use the "Credited As" field where the actor's name differs from the credited name." and this seems a perfect situation: the actor's name differs because they added an "h" when they shouldn't have.
To make it clear, if this had been a new cast list being submitted I would have voted yes. It's the fact that useful (in my opinion) data is being removed that made me vote no.

For the record, I didn't say you were awful because you voted No! I understand what you're saying, but I feel Ken was pretty clear when he said that the actual credited name outweighs other sources.

Behemot:
I think you are right, technically.
BUT if that "Chrispin" was a typo, as it seems, next contributions for other profiles with "Crispin Gillbard" will reverse the CLT results and bring your own profile back to square one (Crispin Gillbard credited as Chrispin  Gillbard).
In other words, I would not contribute the change if it depends on a thin majority (1 vs. 0) that is likely to become a minority in the future.

Quoting northbloke:

Quote:
And you never know, one day Network may finally be able to sort out the music rights for Shoestring and able to release it on DVD (it's only been promised since 2005), then it'll be 1:1 (he's in episode 4).

  In which case I would be all for using the Crispin variant as common name! But as it stands now, the Crispin variant has zero credits, and IMO it would be incorrect to use this as a Common Name, as per Ken's statement. If the "correct" name and not the "most commonly credited" name were to be used in this instance, then that would set a precedence which I think would lead to ping-ponging and confusion regarding many other names as well.

Ken or Gerri: Any comment on this, to put the matter to rest?

I don't think this is really a "common name" situation.
I believe we look for a "common name" when an actor has a number of different ways of writing their name (initials, middle name, married or maiden name) - we need a "common name" to link all the variations together.
In this situation, an actor only has one way of writing their name, it's just someone spelled it wrong in these credits. Using "credited as" means we can have both the actor's name in the database and the spelling mistake from the credits.

Just a short note to say that my contribution was accepted, despite the 1 No vote (this was the only vote given), so I guess my reasoning was correct - the common name is the name which is most common in the online database.