Hi to everyone,
around two weeks ago I became the new approval staff and during this time I've noticed a few things that I'd like to point out. Don't worry, it's nothing serious nor are they mistakes. These are simply a few requests and guidelines of how to make my approving job easier ;)
When you add new info, whether it be a full drama or simply a detail that hasn't been there before [for example, duration or airing time], there's not much problem to check if it's true or if it's not a duplicate and such. But, there are a few things I'd like to ask when you change the info that's already there.
1. I can easily see if you add a new role in drama, but if you only change the type of role [for example, main to supporting and vice versa], or when you change/add the character name when the actor's already in the cast, I have to check one by one it manually. So it'd be great if in the notes you just add the names of actors whose info you changed. Also, add if you removed any of them.
2. Actor's real name is necessary only when he or she mainly uses a pseudonym or another name. If the name by which we know that actor/actress is his/her real name, there's no need to copy that info to the "real name/real native name".
3. When changing actors' biographies, if it's a long biography, in the notes say what did you change - simply what facts you added or what did you remove. If it's a short biography, I can see the difference quite easily, but if it's a long one, I have to go through both old and new versions "manually", which takes up time and nerves.
4. When changing drama info (for example, airing dates or number of episodes), please add the link of your source. If you don't, I simply don't know which version to believe and have to look for it and I can't always find it (especially if it's not that popular drama).
5. If I leave you a comment saying, that some new drama or movie or actor that you submitted is already in the database, don't think I'm angry or anything - I simply want to let you know where to look for the real one, for you to add it to your list and such. Also, when LisNoir was the approval staff, she has left me a few such comments, so I thought it'd be polite to carry on this 'tradition'.
6. If you add more than one new role to the drama/movie, please do them all at once. If different things are added separately, there are complications with approving them both. So from now on if I see double or multiple submissions, I'm gonna reject all versions of them without even checking what is it.
7. Nicknames, in this case, do not qualify as "also known as" in the actor profiles, since they're only nicknames. In other words, it's an ADDITIONAL name for the actor/actress, and not a name you would know instead of its real one. You wouldn't google, for example, Toda Erika by her nickname only, you would know her name for sure.
8. There is no need to include actors' name in the synopsis, if the actor with his/her role is included in the cast.
9. I've had a few submissions were for casting I've been told in the notes which actors to add to the drama, since they're not in the database on MDL. Well, if they're not on MDL, then I can't add them to the drama. I might be in a good mood and have free time, perhaps then I would add them at that moment, but in general it just doesn't work that way. It'd be great if instead of that you'd go and add them yourselves.
10. For adding new actors and actresses: no dramas or movies - I'm not approving the profile.
11. Please don't make character names in caps lock in synopsis. Not only it's annoying to read, it's completely unneeded.
12. This is more of an advice than a guideline: IMDB is not very useful source for Asian production, better use such sites as
Drama Wiki,
Asian Wiki,
hancinema,
koreandrama.org and other similar ones.
13. Mostly in sitcoms actors have the same character names. Since I don't watch any of them, I personally do not know but I'd like to draw attention to the difference: if the actor or an idol is appearing as the actor or the idol and not as a character who somehow has the same name as the real person, the character name should be written as "himself" or "herself", and not copying the actor's or idol's name.
14. A longer and more detailed synopsis does not mean it's a better synopsis. More details only take away from the pleasant feeling of discovering when watching [even if they are not spoilers]. Also, a long synopsis takes much more time to read and a good synopsis should convey all the important aspects of the plot in a short manner, so that the reader doesn't have to read novels or reviews when they can read a few sentences.
15. 7 or so main roles? Are you sure this is true? I understand there might be some cases with many main characters [for example, White Christmas], or in those dramas that have different stories throughout [for example, Hometown Legends], but in most of cases I doubt there will be more than 3-4 main characters. In cases there are more than 4 main roles, I'm getting suspicious. So please use your common sense and double check it.
16. "Cameo" already means "guest role" - therefore it's useless to add it as character name when you have the role set as guest role.
17. Just because an idol has played a guest role in of currently airing dramas [especially if it's an idol based or musical one], it's not valid enough argument to have him/her as an actor/actress in the database.
18. No special characters in romanised titles, please, whether it be main title or "also known as". If it does have special characters, it's almost impossible to find it, since most keyboards don't have those symbols.
19. Regarding episode summaries - please have in mind that these are not the same as episode reviews. What I mean is that in episode reviews you include your opinion and evaluation of the episode, but in episode summaries you have to keep it strictly professional. In other words, no evaluation or opinion, simply the retelling of what happened in it.
I may add couple other things, but for now that's it. Thanks for all your submissions, I'm having much fun working them :)
xxmai
