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Page History: TV Series Contribution Guide

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Page Revision: 2011/04/26 21:07


Introduction

Thank you for considering contributing data to My Movies' WebService. Since we believe in quality over quantity, it is important that all data contributed to the service follows this contribution guide. We ask that you read this guide closely before starting to contribute TV Series data. Notice that if you locate any data on our service that does not follow this guide, you can also gain points by reporting the issue to our moderators. Please see the bottom of this page for details.

If you have any questions regarding data contributions, and how to ensure that you are contributing data correctly, please use the Data Contribution area of our forums to seek support. Our moderators will gladly help you. Should you contribute incorrect data to the service, you will likely receive a warning from our moderators, and if these warnings are ignored, it can lead to your account being temporary closed until we have ensured that you will follow the contribution guide when contributing. Because of this, it is important that you use an account with an e-mail address that you check frequently.

The TV Series data in the My Movies WebService originally origins from TheTVDB.com, which does not have the exact same structure and rule set of My Movies. Due to this, there can be data in the system that does not follow this contribution guide - this fact however does not make it acceptable to contribute data that does not follow the guide.

Data contributed to the WebService is stored in the My Movies WebService only. The software does not store this back to TheTVDB.com. At the time an element is contributed to in the My Movies WebService the section of the element changed will not be further updated from TheTVDB.com.

TV Series

The data on a TV Series consists of three sections, a section containing global data, one containing country specific data and a third containing language specific data. While you contribute series data though one option, these sections are stored individually. This means that a contribution to a series where only country specific or language specific data is changed will only update data in the "Country Specific" or "Language Specific" section on the WebService.

Global

Release Country

The Release Country specifies the country where the series where broadcasted first, which is also typically the same as the country where the series where produced. Notice that several series have an empty value (Neutral) in this drop-down which is because the Release Country was not known when importing the data originally from TheTVDB.com. It is highly recommended that you change and contribute the Release Country on series where this is not specified. If you change the Release Country, you have to ensure that the other global data is correct according the changed release country.

Running Time

The global Running Time specifies the complete airing length in the Release Country, including commercials. This means that if a show is scheduled to 60 minutes including commercials, but only is 45 minutes actual show length, the full airing length of 60 minutes should be specified.

Disc Runtime

The Disc Runtime specifies the actual show length, excluding commercial breaks. This data does not refer to a country, as the actual show length is the same no matter where the show is aired. If the actual show length is known, even though a series is not released on disc, the Disc Runtime may still be specified.

Genre(s)

Genre(s) are for some series listed on the series official website, or on a released disc title for the series, but in other situations Genre(s) come down to the individual user’s interpretation. It is recommended to use the series official website, TV.com or a cover from a disc release in that order as source for Genre(s), if you are unsure of which Genres to add.

First Aired

Network

Actors

Banner

Backdrop

Poster

Country Specific

Country

The Country drop-down does not quality as a data specification, but let's you select from which country you would like the data for the series. If data is not present for the country you have configured in the 'Language and Country' configuration dialog, the data will be downloaded as 'Release Country' which is a neutral placeholder. TheTVDB.com does not hold information about which country a series was released in, therefore the data is by default available under the neutral 'Release Country', as well as United States. Even though United States is not always the release country, the neutral data from TheTVDB.com is created for United States, as this is the release country for most TV Series. This means that series where the release country is not United States, until edited will not have data for the actual country the series was released in, and United States may have data that is not correct. It is recommended that you change the country to your own country and specify the country specific data to what is correct for this country, and contribute it back to the WebService.

Running Time

Parental Rating

First Aired

Air Time

Air Day

Network

Status

Language Specific

Language

The Language drop-down does not quality as a data specification, but let's you select in which language you would like the data for the series.

Title

The Title specifies the title for the series in the language selected in 'Langugage'. If the title is shown in gray, it means that the title is not specified for the selected language, but instead is inherited from English. If the title is shown in gray, it is recommended to specify the title for the selected language and contribute it back to the service. The title can typically be found on the official website for the TV Series. If an official title is not available for the country, it should not be specified. You may not create localized titles based on own preferences.

Sort Title

The Sort Title equals the title, with exceptions of leading words, such as “The” in English, “Die”, “Das” and “Der” in Germany, and similar, where the leading word must be placed behind the title. An example would be the English Sort Title, “Simpsons, The”, and the German Sort Title “Simpsons, Die”.

Description

The Description specifies a description for the series in the language selected in 'Langugage'. If the description is shown in gray, it means that the description is not specified for the selected language, but instead is inherited from English. The description can often be found on the TV Series official website, which is currently the only valid source for descriptions. If the description is shown in gray, you can click the translator button to the left of the description box, and translate the English description into the language selected. A description may be specified as a direct translation from an already existing description in another language.

TV Seasons

TV Seasons contains only images and child episodes, which means that there for TV Series is no data to contribute. You can contribute season banner and poster images through the image selectors.

Global

Banner Image

Poster Image

TV Episodes

As with TV Series, the data for a TV Episode also consists of three sections. The functionality of is the same as for TV Series. Similar, data in the "Personal Data" section is not contributed to the WebService.

Global

Season

The Season specifies the Season number in the series. The Season is added at the time the episode is created, and should normally not be edited. End-users are not allowed to change the Season number once an episode have been contributed to the WebService - if the Season is not specified correct, this must be reported using the 'Report Incorrect Data' tool, allowing a moderator to change it.

Episode

The Episode specifies the Episode number in the season. The Episode is added at the time the episode is created, and should normally not be edited. End-users are not allowed to change the Episode number once an episode have been contributed to the WebService - if the Episode is not specified correct, this must be reported using the 'Report Incorrect Data' tool, allowing a moderator to change it.

Absolute Number

Production Code

Guest Actors

Crew

Episode Image

Country Specific

Country

The Country drop-down does not quality as a data specification, but let's you select from which country you would like the data for the episode. If data is not present for the country you have configured in the 'Language and Country' configuration dialog, the data will be downloaded as 'Release Country' which is a neutral placeholder. TheTVDB.com does not hold information about which country a series was released in, therefore the data is by default available under the neutral 'Release Country', as well as United States. Even though United States is not always the release country, the neutral data from TheTVDB.com is created for United States, as this is the release country for most TV Series. This means that episodes where the release country is not United States, until edited will not have data for the actual country the episode was released in, and United States may have data that is not correct. It is recommended that you change the country to your own country and specify the country specific data to what is correct for this country, and contribute it back to the WebService.

First Aired

Language Specific

Language

The Language drop-down does not quality as a data specification, but let's you select in which language you would like the data for the series.

Title

Sort Title

The Sort Title equals the title, with exceptions of leading words, such as “The” in English, “Die”, “Das” and “Der” in Germany, and similar, where the leading word must be placed behind the title. An example would be the English Sort Title, “Simpsons, The”, and the German Sort Title “Simpsons, Die”.

Description

The Description specifies a description for the episode in the language selected in 'Langugage'. If the description is shown in gray, it means that the description is not specified for the selected language, but instead is inherited from English. The description can often be found on the TV Series official website, which is currently the only valid source for descriptions. If the description is shown in gray, you can click the translator button to the left of the description box, and translate the English description into the language selected. A description may be specified as a direct translation from an already existing description in another language.

Images - Banners, Backdrops, Posters and Episode Images

There are some general rules to consider when contributing images to the WebService. Notice specifically that our moderators in the end have the final ruling weather or not an image contributed is of a high enough quality, and if it complies with the rules, or complies with the rules close enough, as there are without a doubt gray areas.

Overall

  • Images may never contain nudity, weather it is cartoonish or photographic.
  • Images must be uploaded in high quality.
  • Images may not be upscaled, except in situations where it is specifically written to be allowed.
  • Images may not be stretched aspect ratio wise.

Banners

Backdrops

Contribution rules for backdrops are covered by the page "Movie and TV Serie Backdrops". Notice! The rules for backdrops contributed to the My Movies WebService are more strict than rules for backdrops contributed to TheTVDB.com where the TV Series data origins from. This means that there may be backdrops in the WebService that does not follow these rules - that does not make it acceptable to contribute backdrops that does not follow the guidelines. Backdrops originally loaded from TheTVDB.com is for now allowed in the system, even thought they do not follow the guidelines.

Posters

Contribution rules for posters are covered by the page "Movie and TV Serie Posters". Notice! The rules for posters contributed to the My Movies WebService are more strict than rules for posters contributed to TheTVDB.com where the TV Series data origins from. This means that there may be posters in the WebService that does not follow these rules - that does not make it acceptable to contribute posters that does not follow the guidelines. Posters originally loaded from TheTVDB.com is for now allowed in the system, even thought they do not follow the guidelines.

Episode Images

Incorrect Data

If you locate a title on the WebService that holds incorrect data, please use the "Report Incorrect Data" to inform moderators of the issue, which helps us warn and guide the users contributing incorrect data. You may also use the report function to report a mistake you have made yourself, and cannot correct - by doing this, a moderator can correct the issue, and you will not receive warnings on the matter if other users report the issue.

By reporting incorrect data, you also gain contribution points:

  • 0 points if you are reporting your own mistake, or if the report cannot be confirmed by our moderators to be an actual issue on incorrect data.
  • 5 points if you are reporting an issue that helps a moderator correct any incorrect data.
  • 10 points if you are reporting an issue that you have already corrected yourself.
  • 15 points if you report a series that should be deleted from the service, such as a series that have been created as a duplicate.