Hi Guilao,

I agree with your view. I search imdb, hkcine and some reviews website as supplementary sources for information before actually watching the movie. This help in identifying the actors and its credits. Though, mistakes still arise due to my blurry eyes or my blurry image library.

After watching the movie, i will update if i am convinced that the data is accurate. I kept hard copy of editing for future reference.

Sometimes in the search for data, i wd come across signs of duplication in hkmd and do a check. If i can't get confirmation from other sources, i will seek help thru. the forum.

I have seen many instances of unconfirmed duplication in hkdb due to the lack of a standard format being used for data input. I will raise it if i feel the star will have a material impact on the database.

I hate to repeat old arquments but the following problems are really annoying. As an editor, i understand the constraints. But visitors may not be that understanding.

This problem of a standard names translation into hong kong english names has yet to be resolved. I have a suggestion to reduce this problem. That is to allow the search engine to search in hangyu pinyin without the indiviual character number attached. This wd highlight to the inputter (new word) possibility of duplication for checking. Searching thru hanyu pinyin is more consistent than hk english names. Eg. i have not come across names with 2 aa like Taam, Paau, Saan.

Another problem during search is the "-" between the 2nd and 3rd names.
This shd be deleted. Nobody use "-" in their name internationally.

Another problem is the use of hk english names and hanyu pinyin names in a single person name.

With all this problems, how can inputter not duplicate unnecessarily.

As this problem cannot be solved overnight, the only option is for editors to keep correcting duplication, whenever it is found, to maintain data integrity. While editing mistakes, we can try to form some sort of consistency in names being input.

Unless we come to a solution, this database will not be top gun.

WILLIAMWAN wrote:This problem of a standard names translation into hong kong english names has yet to be resolved. I have a suggestion to reduce this problem. That is to allow the search engine to search in hangyu pinyin without the indiviual character number attached. This wd highlight to the inputter (new word) possibility of duplication for checking. Searching thru hanyu pinyin is more consistent than hk english names. Eg. i have not come across names with 2 aa like Taam, Paau, Saan.
Another problem during search is the "-" between the 2nd and 3rd names.
This shd be deleted. Nobody use "-" in their name internationally.
Another problem is the use of hk english names and hanyu pinyin names in a single person name.

First of all, thanks for bringing this issue up. I am in complete agreement that what we have regarding names (especially since we are running a bilingual site) is a mess, and I certainly want to fix it.

Regarding your points:

1) Enable use of pinyin for searches and results
2) Remove hyphens on given names
3) Mixed cantonese and mandarin romanizations

For 1), I think this is a very good idea simply because for non-Chinese reading people, pinyin is easier to read (it's phonetic) and it is STANDARDIZED. Cantonese generally uses Yale romanization, but there are also 8 other variations in use as well.

As far as implementing 1), I could probably implement that rather quickly. For instance we could have a pinyin search option that would search on pinyin, and only return pinyin. Or even better would be to return pinyin and Big5. Seeing the Big5 is of course the only way to check for dupes.

2) Is questionable. For the English half of HKMDB, the person's primary name SHOULD be the most widely used romanized credit. And indeed many actors (especially in the past) have hyphenated their given names. Nonetheless, I still think it might be best to move hyphenated names into the aliases category, and then remove hyphens from the primry "English" name...Or if you would like, I could also make the hyphen invisible for search purposes.

3) I think this falls into the same category. I have friends whose HK passport has a "christian" given name, followed by a Taiwan (Wade-Giles) romanized given name, followed by a Cantonese (Yale) romainzed given name. So again, this is not at all uncommon in HK, or among HK actors. But again, I agree. Such cases should also exist as an alias.

As I pointed out recently, I think the current "English" name should just become another alias (or maybe a primary alias), and a person's display page should show the Chinese characters, followed by the pinyin and Cantonese romanizations...and then searches key on the romanizations or the aliases (as well as Big5, of course).

I invite more feedback on this issue, especially from editors.

Or if you would like, I could also make the hyphen invisible for search purposes

I would like this very much!

MrBooth wrote:

Or if you would like, I could also make the hyphen invisible for search purposes

I would like this very much!

I have to agree with MrBooth. Personally, I like the usage but it makes searching a pain since it's used inconsistently.

OK, the search engine is now set to be insensitive to hyphens when searching for people. For example when doing a substring search for "Lau Kar Leung" it returns "Lau Kar-Leung".

By doing this, I might have unleashed some horror in the form of a search bug. If anyone sees anything...let me know.