I submitted the child profiles in locality Netherlands for the two Diamond Collection boxes of Marilyn Monroe. I did so by just copying the profiles from other localities and making minor corrections (like removing the overviews in the foreign language,...).
Weird enough, one box was entirely accepted while the other was entirely declined. The decline had as commentary that YOB should only be used for distinguishing actors with the same name and that that should be documented.
Now, all profiles have the YOB of Marilyn Monroe. My question is whether Marilyn Monroe should have the YOB. IMDB seems to have another Marilyn Monroe but that is the alias of someone with a different name. Again note that I copied every child profile from somewhere else (and that's even from different localities depending on where it was available) so I would guess that she must have the YOB.
If that is the case, it's a bit silly that the screener is declining this because I don't provide a reason (especially with an icon like Marilyn Monroe) for the YOB while I simply state that the profile is copied from another profile that is already in the database.

That's weird.  I've got a mountain of region 1 films of hers and none of them has a BY for her.

Actually according to Ken (can't find the specific forum post right now) YOB should NOT be removed if it is there and accepted (meaning not put in by you), so do not remove it.

What you should do is put a note indicating for that specfic actor that "YoB was already tied to the actor/actress and was not altered by me".

Quoting 8ballMax:

Quote:

The BY for Marilyn Monroe should be removed, period. It's completely unnecessary and contrary to the contribution rules.

Well said Max

I think the rules on this issue need to change because all it takes is one to be accepted as part of a contribution (rightly or wrongly) and it winds up effecting all other profiles with that person in them.

To disallow  a contribution because there is no multiple persons with the same name is doing nothing but causing problems.

Personally, I think the whole "birth year" idea is a bad one and fails to solve the problem it is meant to address. I realize that this is being used to stay away from the Roman Numerals used by IMDB for the same purpose but their idea is far better. All that needs to be done is to assign an Arabic Numeral or an alphabetical letter. It is far simpler, does not generate documentation problems and removes the need for endless arguments over sources. This would also solve your questions over who needs a number/letter assigned to them or not.

This group argues enough as it is with the ocean of reasons already created without building more of them into the program.

Ok, so box 1 which was entirely accepted should have been declined as well, as it also contains her YOB. I will remove the YOBs and resubmit then.

Quoting Dan W:

Quote:
Personally, I think the whole "birth year" idea is a bad one and fails to solve the problem it is meant to address. I realize that this is being used to stay away from the Roman Numerals used by IMDB for the same purpose but their idea is far better. All that needs to be done is to assign an Arabic Numeral or an alphabetical letter. It is far simpler, does not generate documentation problems and removes the need for endless arguments over sources. This would also solve your questions over who needs a number/letter assigned to them or not.

The problem with using non-personal identifiers is, when you're creating a profile and are confronted with a list of "John Smith"s - how do you know which one to pick if they are only separated by "(1), (2)" etc? Even though I completely agree that the system has problems, at least the birth year gives you something you can check straight away to confirm which person to pick.

And as to the topic in hand, no way should Marilyn Monroe have had a birth year, you were right to remove it in my opinion.

PS - I've noticed a number of people have posted that Ken said not to remove birth years, but does anyone have the actual quote cos I don't remember seeing anything like that in the forums?

Quoting Gadgeteer:

Quote:
Marilyn Monroe should not have a YoB.

As far as I can tell there isn't another actress of the same name.
The only other instance of this name being used is by an Actress called Arline Hunter who was credited once as Marilyn Monroe in "Faces of Torture". This will be covered by the credited as function and doesn't require YoB.

I would remove the YoB from your database and re-submit.

Marilyn Monroe in itself, is almost a trademark moniker these days..