Another one I saw recently was a contribution for the Ratings details.  The note simply said:

From the cover.

Personally, I mostly agree with Skip. I try to write my notes in such a way that they are useful to future contributors. Sometimes I think they run a bit long, but, imo, that's better than being so vague that they become useless.

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

Quote:
I pretty much agree with Skip as well... though I do think there must be a happy medium. We don't want a novel for every contribution... but at the same time we want details of not only what was changed/added but also where this info came from with any documentation needed to support it.

One of my biggest pet peeves right now is the use of common name... when they just say they used the CLT in the notes... nothing more then that. And no documentation on how they determined that the 2 names are the same person.

I mean How do we know for sure that...

John Doe and John Henry Doe

... is the same person?

My point exactly, hence the reason behind my No vote.

Steve

Rick:

With all due respect and i mean no offense. Your comment demonstrates a very simplistic understanding of this issue. We all have the ultimate approval when it comes to data, when you send me an update that has been approved by Invelos, I DO look at those notes as part of my own vetting process, your notes may have been clear enough to get approved but they may not be clear enough to allow me to have the confidence that what you have done is accurate to allow it into my database. It also means that that title also gets flagged for a future FURTHER audit on my part to confirm that your data was as it should be.

For those of you that look at my collection, I am sure that some of you noted a change i the way I handle my data. I have taken to using the AS CREDITED language for Crew Roles from the films, they are displayed in Contribution form under Invelos Rules but for example you may see Writer in my data as Written By or Cinematographer as Photographed By, etc. Those will be included in any notes i submit, as the ACTUAL credit differs from our Online usage.

Again with all due respect, Rick, and without offense. You simply don't spend enough in the trenches editing titles for Contribution to have a full understanding of what this means to us both now and in the future.

Skip

I completely understand the issue and not just "simplistically". I also understand that Invelos specifically requested clear and concise notes. Gerri requested this when some were even adding a complete copy of the cast listing they were submitting, basically creating a copy of their submission in case it was ever changed.

The rules require "full explanations". We have seen people come here saying their contributions was declined. Many times the reason was the notes were not good enough. Invelos does have a history of declining submissions if they don't think the notes are adequate. So my point still stands, if the notes are good enough for Invelos to accept they are good enough for me.

And, with all due respect, it is not up to us to tell Invelos they need to require stricter contribution notes simply because the strictest of the strict here would like to see them.

Quoting richierich:

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Quoting Broven:

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Another one I saw recently was a contribution for the Ratings details.  The note simply said:

From the cover.

Personally, I mostly agree with Skip. I try to write my notes in such a way that they are useful to future contributors. Sometimes I think they run a bit long, but, imo, that's better than being so vague that they become useless.

With all due respect, what else should he write for ratings??
The rating details come from the covers, so his notes in this case are perfectly adequate. No need for a prolonged discourse in every circumstance.

Lets not scare contributors away by being too anal, lets embrace and educate where necessary, especially as said previously around the common name contributions

Actually in this case I do not think having just From the Cover is enough. It may be enough to know what is going on at this moment... but how does this help us when we are editing a profile and when we look at past notes to see what was done if all we see is From the Cover once it is processed we can't see what was contributed. In the case above I would put no less then...

Rating Details taken from the Cover

This way the notes don't only make sense when the contribution is made.... it also makes since when you are looking at the notes when you want to contribute to the profile later on as well.

To me that is not asking too much... It is leaving proper notes to contribute as well as being good when needing to look back at past notes when you want to contribute.

Quoting Broven:

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Quoting Addicted2DVD:

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Actually in this case I do not think having just From the Cover is enough. It may be enough to know what is going on at this moment... but how does this help us when we are editing a profile and when we look at past notes to see what was done if all we see is From the Cover once it is processed we can't see what was contributed. In the case above I would put no less then...

Rating Details taken from the Cover

This way the notes don't only make sense when the contribution is made.... it also makes since when you are looking at the notes when you want to contribute to the profile later on as well.

To me that is not asking too much... It is leaving proper notes to contribute as well as being good when needing to look back at past notes when you want to contribute.

Yep, that was what I was getting at. I guess I was just being too concise. 

+1.

I was in the process of writing much the same thing but you got there first.  We don't need an encyclopedia for the notes, but for them to mean anything they have to at least specify what field they refer to.  The blanket from the cover statement might be good at the time of the contribution, but as Skip says, the notes are forever and should be as useful 6 months from now as they are when we vote and can see what is being changed/added with a specific contribution.

I pretty much agree with those asking for more details in the contribution notes.

My notes are similar to those suggested by DarklyNoon & don't often get no votes for lack of info. They should only be detailed enough so they still make sense in six months. However, I wouldn't vote no if someone provided too much info   

How much more work would it really requirel to be a little more specific, say

Quote:
Rating details from box cover
Cast and Crew from movie (episode) credits
Disk ID from Disc
Overview from back cover to match 3.5 rules

It would only require a couple more words but would specify where you got your data.  You wouldn't need an essay, just a little more specificity.

Quoting DarklyNoon:

Quote:
I do not want to write an essay when i make a contribution, and it is definitely not needed to type the changes you made, like put all the cast into the contribution notes.

I don't think many people are asking for this level of detail.