Thoughts on disambiguation for this series?

MusicBrainz
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I’ve been wrestling with what to put in the disambiguation field, if anything, for this series:

https://musicbrainz.org/series/303adb60-5787-459a-b02f-7164d6515b3c

These seem like the most relevant options:

  • noteworthy information about certain shows: right now the 13 Joke Shows are marked in disambig, and some miscellaneous stuff like the first show. of course I’m putting all of this in the annotation, but it’s helpful to see some of it when you’re scrolling through the list

  • date of broadcast: most are live broadcasts, but at least for the exceptions it seems worth noting. Most people would associate the show with its broadcast date over its recording date. I could put a note to the effect of “recorded for later broadcast” if I don’t know the exact date (I had started doing this at one point and then changed my mind. now I’m using the tags to mark shows that weren’t on a saturday)

  • a combination of the above, but this means there might be some of each in the same show

  • date of performance: this is the best way to actually tell them apart. most places I can see the date without putting it in the disambig, but there are some notable places like the relationship editor and add event pop-up where I can’t and it would be helpful.

  • nothing, but it’s sure hard to tell them apart

Any suggestions?

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Yes, you can put any of these, not necessarily the same for all. The only purpose of this field is to disambiguate between events, not to store additional information. On disambiguation field:

  • It should be kept fairly short.
    For example, do not use BOTH Xth Joke Show AND broadcast date for the same recording.
  • It should not be used to store general background information.
    That is, make sure the info is stored elsewere as well:
    • Xth Joke Show should be stored either as a relationship to a new Series entity “Joke Shows” or/and as a subtitle - if it is actually one - as in “A Prairie Home Companion: Xth Joke Show”. (The latter removes the need of a disambiguation comment.)
  • broadcasting date should be stored either around related recordings (probably?) or else in annotation.
  • (date of performance is already stored in event information.)
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See MBS-8087 - Display dates for events when editing

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Thanks, those are both very helpful. I voted for the ticket and made a subseries for the joke shows. I guess other than that I will just keep doing what I’m doing, making disambig for what seems noteworthy on a case-by-case basis.

As for subtitles, there are some performances that warrant that (for instance, the 2nd and 3rd annual “farewell” shows, which were special events that happened while APHC was officially off the air) but the joke shows were regular broadcasts.

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