master list entries

[pjpetrie]

I don't know if these issues have been brought up before but there is a lot of inconsistency in how titles are written in the master list of titles. Foreign titles are sometimes listed in their original language, and other times they are done in English. The other problem I am coming across is the use of the/ a/ an/ le/ la/ les/ l'/ der/ die/ los/ las/ etc... in the titles of the master list. I think it would save A LOT of time trying to find titles if there is some kind of consistent labelling structure. Personally I have my own data base and I always list the titles according to their original name and original language. I do realize sometimes it's hard to remember the translations of names which is why I have an additional listing of the title in English, immediately followed in brackets by the original language title, and I have a special column that tells me that this is a duplicate entry which immediately tells me the actual title is in another language. For example, my proper listing for the movie "Amelie" is:

Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain, Le [aka "Amelie"]

and my cross-reference duplicate entry for the English translation title is:

Amelie [see "Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain, Le"]

I was wondering if there was a way for the site website/database software to immediately reject a submission to the master list if the submission has a movie title with an article as the first word of the title. For example, if I wanted to submit a title like "The American President" and I tried to write the title as exactly just that, then the database would immediately reject my submission until I put "The" in the appropriate prefix slot and then write "American President" as my title. The same would apply for submissions starting with les, le, la, los, l', die, der, etc.....

I realize that my suggestions might mean more work... not sure, but I find my system quite easy for me to use and keep track of titles and their various aliases. Just a thought.

P