It has always seemed to me that the Discogs caps policy should extend to fields just like everything else. However, lowercase fields are absolutely rampant, and often voted in, and hardly commented upon in histories, etc. I used to ask people to fix them or do so myself, but I began hearing from people who claimed that management ruled lowercase fields were fine and at least one person told me that there are examples in the Guidelines that use lowercase fields (I could never find any myself.)
(I do however note that the automated caps warning apparently ignores fields; perhaps that's a major contributing factor.)
So just for the record, they have to be capitalized, right?
Eviltoastman
but there's not specific rule about ers
Yeah, but I figured that was an oversight... I mean, why have a caps rule that doesn't extend to fields? It looks really strange to have everything capitalized with the exception of "with" and "and"...
So is fixing them wrong? Is it considered "making changes based on personal preferences"? Can one insist that they be changed if there are caps on the release, i.e., does the as-on-release clause trump the -fields-caps-exception? Why doesn't pumice stone scratch porcelain when wet, given that the polar molecular configuration of the water molecules should have no bearing on the lattice configuration that lends the pumice its abrasive properties? Would the Aristotlean notion of the apieron or potential infinite necessarily preclude an infinite temporal regress of events thereby negating origin ex nihilo? Why did Oswald have to go back to the rooming house to retrieve his .38 if he had in fact already smuggled the substantially larger Mannlicher-Carcano into his building?
2.6.1. The field is used for the words that link two or more artist names together, such as 'vs.', 'Meets', 'And', '&', 'w/', and 'With' . Abbreviations are accepted if they appear that way on the release.
In the example from our sacred writings there are both caps and non-caps.
Furthermore, it is stated that they are accepted in the way they appear on the release.
So, I would say, no, ers do not have to be capitalized.
^ Indeed, though "vs." and 'w/" are abbreviations, which I believe is where the exception comes in there. I don't know that that implies that "with" is okay?
consort
ers do not have to be capitalized. They should be entered as they appear.
Is that really spelled out in the RSG, though? It only seems to imply that abbreviations can be lowercase.
Furthermore it seems really arbitrary to give ers a special exemption from caps. Standard English would dictate this titling: "The Needle and the Damage Done." But here is the rule is to go all caps. So why then is "Furry Lewis and Bukka White" legit? It's not at all consistent.
ChampionJames
Standard English would dictate this titling: "The Needle and the Damage Done." But here is the rule is to go all caps. So why then is "Furry Lewis and Bukka White" legit? It's not at all consistent.
Actually a better example would be an eponymously titled collaboration; for example we'd have: "Eviltoastman and ChampionJames - Eviltoastman And ChampionJames" for our calypso-Manilow-covers commemorative man-wedding LP. Lowercase in the artist fields but uppercase in the same phrase in the title fields?
el_duro
Hm, if you look at the field as a FTF, 1.2.1. applies (= caps) ;)
You're taking that out of context as the BAOI description field is also a free test field but is according to the most recent debates (which I disagree with strongly) are seen as separate from the ftf rules nand have been via consensus deemed to contain standard English capitalisation rules.
Personally I'm with James. Caps for er. Caps for all FTF fields including description fields for the baoi otherwise it takes the piss out of the stuffy Discogs caps fields they form sentences or sections with.
ChampionJames
Furthermore it seems really arbitrary to give ers a special exemption from caps. Standard English would dictate this titling: "The Needle and the Damage Done." But here is the rule is to go all caps. So why then is "Furry Lewis and Bukka White" legit? It's not at all consistent.
Caps Are For Titles, Artists, Labels, Format ...
Normal capitalization applies elsewhere--forum posts, release notes, (er fields etc.)
Well, if a certain Toastman would just set a date for the ceremony already and stop waiting for his relatives to "come around" and accept our animal union, we could start moving forward on the wedding mementos...
They're still hung up about your ******** dias encrusted with ***** ****** and a penchant for **** ******** f**k*** ***** ***** limbless dogs. It's a minor thing but I'm sure we can sort it with a little bit of love and possibly the destruction of PETA.
I was under the impression that ers are covered under 'artist and label names' and are supposed to use the standard Discogs Capitalization. I don't see any reason they need or should have a set of rules of their own.
A minor bugbear nik but related somewhat is the baoi description field. It was advised some time back that it should be lower case, but I feel the following needs to be considered. Please forgive me as I've copied and pasted an earlier post which went largely unnoticed:
"I still do not like the rule for the description field. It's not a major bugbear but it does strike me as a little odd. Discogs Caps is used in the drop-down selection (of which we have no control). Then the following part of the same "sentence" or block of text is meant to be entered in standard English vie the description field. See the bold text below for an example of what I mean.
Matrix / Runout (Face label sides A & B): 0600753085257
The line of text up to the colon is slightly incohesive because of the two grammatical rules which dictate play on this. The way the line is constructed, the description appears to belong to the chosen field, but because of the difference in caps used for the two parts which make up this line, it appears a little bit incohesive.
In my view this description field should be subject to the same caps rule as the drop down field with which it ultimately attaches itself before the colon. It would then look more professional too.
The identifier though should be entered as on the release and is quite correctly separated from the above string by the colon."
I know it's minor but it's an itch I keep scratching.
Eviltoastman
Matrix / Runout (Face label sides A & B)
In my view this description field should be subject to the same caps rule as the drop down field with which it ultimately attaches itself before the colon.
I don't mind the sentence case for the description, having in in Discogs Case wouldn't look as good to me. 'Face Label Sides A And B' doesn't scan as well as 'Face label Sides A and B'.
spelling_bot
Perhaps this should go into the guidelines as well, because for now it's just a forum post. :)
Perhaps we should have a rating beside each post to indicate how seriously it should be taken?
nik
I don't mind the sentence case for the description, having in in Discogs Case wouldn't look as good to me. 'Face Label Sides A And B' doesn't scan as well as 'Face label Sides A and B'.
:/
nik
Perhaps we should have a rating beside each post to indicate how seriously it should be taken?
Yes, but have you seen how that gets abused on "Hot Uk Deals"? They had their hottest deal listed as "Fleshlight" for nearly a year because of voting abuse. Made me giggle though.
nik
I can see how the guideline is maybe not clear, I can put 'ers' in the text if that would help.
Excellent, thanks very much nik; I will have a lot of subs to fix up now that that's clear.
Just to clarify further, the Guideline examples "vs." and "w/" much discussed above are okay because they're abbreviations? Would the use of "Vs." or "W/" be wrong, or is it a matter or preference?
EDIT: Also take note that the automated caps warning apparently doesn't parse fields for caps. Is that something the developers might look into, or would that be very low priority?
