I have made a Birth Year submission to distinguish two actors with the name John Davidson. I am usually loathe to make such submissions and thought that I would seek the opinion of the community.

The following is an extract from my submission:

"added Birth Year for actor John Davidson born 1886 to distinguish him from the actor of the same name born 1941. Both actors are in the database)

Actor John Davidson Born 25 December 1886

Starred in numerous films from the silent era until the mid fifties
Notable films include:

Grand Hotel (1932)
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

See:

http://www.fandango.com/johndavidson/filmography/p+86826

http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Davidson,_John/index.html

John Davidson born 13 December 1941

He is an actor, director, producer.

Notable films that he has appeared in:

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

See:

http://www.fandango.com/johndavidson/filmography/p199625

http://www.nndb.com/people/372/000024300/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Davidson_(entertainer)"

Quoting 8ballMax:

Quote:
Why does everyone have to start a poll after making a contribution?

The rule clearly states "Enter birth years only when necessary to differentate between two actors with the same name. When submitting a contribution that adds a birth year to one or more credits, list justification in the contribution notes.

If the birth year change is due to an accepted change to another profile, indicate that."

You've followed the rule so now the screeners will decide whether it's a valid contribution or not. This poll is pointless.

I stated in the first post in this topic that I was loathe to make such submissions and I have asked if anyone thought that there was a way to deal with the situation without making a birth year submission. So I think you have missed the point of the post and the poll.

Telecine at least you provided documentation, that's the key in my book. It most users who do NOR provide any kind of documentation, and worse yet the voters that will say yes, even some names one would recognize.

Skip

While you did it right, as far as it goes, I think the point here should have been that there is no point in putting a birthyear in there at all, since all one has to do is look at the year the movie was made, and it is ridiculously obvious that they are not the same person.  Therefore, you don't need to enter a BY at all.

More to the point, by the time the current Davidson got into the business, the other one was either retired or dead, and most of the stuff he appeared in is not on DVD in the first place, if any of it is at all.

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

Quote:
...don't mean everyone wants all the movies for all the John Davidsons come up all at once. I think I am fairly safe with saying that most people don't.
...
So therefore, we do indeed have reasons to need BY.

I fully agree with that

Quoting Rifter:

Quote:
While you did it right, as far as it goes, I think the point here should have been that there is no point in putting a birthyear in there at all, since all one has to do is look at the year the movie was made, and it is ridiculously obvious that they are not the same person.  Therefore, you don't need to enter a BY at all.

More to the point, by the time the current Davidson got into the business, the other one was either retired or dead, and most of the stuff he appeared in is not on DVD in the first place, if any of it is at all.

Whilst I am sympathetic to your point of view, I suspect that most users wouldn't realise that they are different actors. I don't like having the films of both actors pop up when I double click on John Davidson and I certainly don't like having the one headshot attached to a name that represents different people.

As to your second pint, there are quite a few of the films of John Davidson (1886) out on DVD including:

Grand Hotel (1932)
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
The Great Dictator (1940)

I would suggest that he is actually a more famous actor than his namesake born 1941.

If this submission is accepted I will submit one for Edward Scissorhands for the John Davidson born 1941 so that we can start to sort out current situation.

Quoting Telecine:

Quote:
Whilst I am sympathetic to your point of view, I suspect that most users wouldn't realise that they are different actors. I don't like having the films of both actors pop up when I double click on John Davidson and I certainly don't like having the one headshot attached to a name that represents different people.

Excellent points.