Hi all,
I am adding composers / writers to a song. I noticed that sometimes its had to figure out to wich name I have to link. Example: Patricia J. Griffin - in Musicbrainz datebase she is called Patty Griffin. So I have to look up the in the database to make sure I have the right one. (and this goes wrong sometimes). Wouldnt is be easier to put behind the name Patty Griffin (Patricia J. Griffin). So you dont have to check the whole database but you can find it easer in the dropbox. Im sorry I hope you know what I mean.
In dutch:
Ik ben dus componisten etc aan het toevoegen. Je hebt vaak dat er namen vaker voorkomen, meer hondjes die Vikkie heten toch. Nu moet je door de hele database heen spitten om te kijken of je de juiste persoon hebt. Is het niet gewoon makkelijker om achter de naam van de artiest de geboortenaam te zetten: Patty Griffin (Patricia J. Griffin). Dan kan je sneller zien welke persoon je moet hebben.
âassuming I understood youâ
We do allow âcredited asâ.
So, once you find the correct Patty Griffin, you can then enter Patricia J. Griffin as the display name for that particular entry.
What should happen is - if you enter Patricia J. Griffin, the correct Patty Griffin should be the first item. If it isnât, then you should find the correct Patty Griffin, go to her entry, and add Patricia J. Griffin to her list of aliases. That will help the next person that needs to find Patricia J. Griffin.
Taking the time to properly build a database is what makes a database worth using.
You do the work so that the next guy doesnât have to.
2 Likes
Thank you, but that is not what I mean. What I mean is⊠If you look up the artist by search you get the list with Name: Sort Name, Person, Gender etc. It would be easier to also see the Birthname Patricia J. Griffin instead of clicking on every Patty Griffin on the list. Now there is only one Patty Griffin in the list so maybe that is not an very good example 
A better example Bobby Smith⊠6 of them ⊠would be easier to know wich one I need if I can see the birth name in the list
Ah. Got it. We werenât even in the searching the same way.
I can see birth name being something that they could possibly add to the main search list. But:
- that only helps when the information is there. Which, in the case of the Bobby Smith, is not. And even if it was, most of them are going to share the same name - Robert Smith if a middle name/initial is not present.
- that is what the disambiguation is to help with. Bobby Smith (sound engineer) vs Bobby Smith (jazz saxophonist).
- the other columns are probably more useful (if filled in) than a birth name. Bobby from DC is different than Bobby from Canada. And that guy that died in 2013, he obviously didnât make a new recording in 2018.
But what I said still applies. If someone had filled in the full legal name as an alias, if you searched the full legal name the correct entry should be the first one on the list.
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Thank you for your help. Sorry but its hard for me to explain in English
Style guides say to add an disambiguation for artists with same name.
Example: Search Results - MusicBrainz
This field shows up in search results:
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See, that is how I thought he was doing it. But in his response, it seems like he is talking about searching from the main page.
So youâre searching for Patricia Griffin and you think the inline search should have displayed your matching alias from the Patty Griffin result: Patricia Jean Griffin?
Maybe Show/highlight matched aliases in (inline) search results⊠but I donât know if itâs feasibleâŠ
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CIA - That would be even more helpful if uou could see the birhname there (if its known) That would be a nice solution
2 Likes
Yes indeed, it is called legal name over here.
I would like to see it too.
Legal name with begin date = birth date in priority, if multiple.
Especially important for artists like èäșç±ćź.
Thank you Jesus, hmmm that sounds a bit wrong I hope the can / will fix this