Not capitalizing everything

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 1:01 pm

And by "everything" I mean "video titles in places like searches and members' names in places like the new journal entry list" -- I'm sure the admins know all the other places where this happens.

My belief is that videos that were entered with non-capitalized names shouldn't be forced into conforming, esp. since the creator might just have had a reason for doing so... and besides, capitalizing <i>every</i> word (articles and other short words are not exempt from the rampant capitalization) often makes the title just look bad.

For instance, the videos "always" and "...and forever [dreaming]" show up on searches and in <a href="http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... >trythil's profile</a> as "Always" and "...and Forever [dreaming]". Rather less attractive, if you ask me.

I was going to call my next FLCL video simply "'... evil alien.'" (- Naota, episode 2), but it would look a LOT worse (IMAO) capitalized. Same kind of thing with <a href="http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... nder</a>'s "<a href="http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members ... ">'Mutsumi, what do you think of Naru?'</a>"...

Sometimes the results can be rather humorous:

But still. Something to at least consider?

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 3:55 pm

Yeah, I agree. With Kamoc's and Trythil's vids, the capitalization was intentional and had purpose.

And anyway, if a video has really retarded capitalization, it's probably a video I'd want to avoid.

RootHubController · Post by **RootHubController** » Wed Aug 25, 2004 9:24 pm

Presentation IS everything.

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:47 am

Well, then, it serves to weed out tHe 1337 VIdEoS LolZ!

I have two songs for which the titles aren't meant to be capitalized. "Muzak for cybernetics" by Man or Astro-Man? and "eBay" by Weird Al (this also affects the video title, making it "What Lain Bought on EBay" instead of "...eBay") It's nitpicky, but it's important.

trythil · Post by **trythil** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 1:22 pm

I love you all :)

Actually, there's another reason why I think this is bad. It's not just AMV titles that go through autocapitalization; it's artist names and song titles, as well. I think that if the .org is to be a catalog of AMVs, it should strive for correct presentation of all data -- which includes capitalization.

I'm sure someone is going to call this pretentious, but I can feel a difference between, say,

era
Era
ERA

It's not just the Roman characters that do this. For example, I know that the Japanese writing system has its own subtleties that also depend on presentation -- i.e. compare わたし、私、ワタシ. But I digress...

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 2:14 pm

trythil wrote:Actually, there's another reason why I think this is bad. It's not just AMV titles that go through autocapitalization; it's artist names and song titles, as well. I think that if the .org is to be a catalog of AMVs, it should strive for correct presentation of all data -- which includes capitalization.

I'm sure someone is going to call this pretentious, but I can feel a difference between, say,

era
Era
ERA

Yeah, um, who entered Falco into the database as "FALCO"? And because apparently artist names aren't case-sensitive, I couldn't enter him a second time. You'd think his name was an acronym or something...

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:13 pm

Yeah, "eBay" was entered into the database as "Ebay" which is the wrong capitalization.

badmartialarts · Post by **badmartialarts** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 6:16 pm

Ack, I have a habit of smacking "Submit" before I'm done.

I made a goof too, when I entered "Man or Astro-Man?" into the database, I went by the spelling of their name on their last CD (Man or Astroman?), but now going to their official website, I see that they decided to go back to the old-skool spelling of "Man or Astro-Man?" Well, before they broke up completely.