A very big thank you to John L, for compiling these lists.

Now for the hard work - how to process this mountain of data ?
A few of us have started, but it's a huge job which will require a number of people a lot of time to finish. And it will be way too confusing to simply trawl through each list and update the results on the same threads. These threads are already way too tangled.

Here are my suggestions :

Proposal #1 - Spreadsheet, research, triage

Step 1 - Compile a spreadsheet
* Compile all the names and links into a spreadsheet.
* Sort alphabetical by English title
* Add columns for Chinese title, Chinese names, other links - these columns start blank and be used in the next step
* Add another column for special notes e.g. "Mainland movie", which could mean that the movie is a lower priority, or "TVB production".
Note : Chinese chars are available on all buyoyo and yesasia links, just by finding the tab to click on.

Step 2 - Upload the spreadsheet to a url
This is so that a number of people can access and update the info

Step 3 - Research
As calros reminds us ad nauseum, we must have a year.
* With each movie, take the Chinese title and at least one name. Do Google search. I use google.com.hk, but .tw or .cn may also be tried.
* If a definite year is found among the first page of results, check that link. Save the link in the spreadsheet, and mark the movie as ready to add.
* Some of the movies on the lists have been found to be aliases of existing movies. This is inevitable in such a large group. Especialy if the movie features well-known actors/directors, check hkmdb for possible aliases.
* If no definite year pops out, use judgement to look at a few links. Note any info useful for estimating a year.
* If the movie has no year, and no data to estimate, note that on the spreadsheet.

Both editors and non-editors can assist in any or all of these steps.

After doing research on a number of titles, please update the reasults on the spreadsheet, and post the results as *new* threads on this forum, as so :

* At least three movies per thread.
* Each thread to be either
- Orphans with definite year
- Orphans with estimated year
- Orphans with no year data

and, if movies all originally from a single Orpahs post, include the link to that post.

Also please indicate if you have added the movies, or wish someone else to.

For reference, here are the Orphans posts.
Hopefully I haven't missed any.
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49210
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49185
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49180
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49184
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49222
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49143
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49200
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49186
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49182
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49144
http://hkmdb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=49171


Proposal #2 - By Type
Same as above, except one person "adopts" an orphans post or, as in the long ones, part of a post, and processes them the same way.

Now, any volunteers for any bits ?
Once the master list is composed and uploaded, of course I'm quite happy to continue researching and adding movies.

No other suggestions ?
Okay, here's the first step.
I've compiled a list of the titles which need further action.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~sharptongue/Orphans.xls
(May be case-sensitive)

Note - this list excludes -
- those already added
- known to be aliases
- Festivals & Arts entries. That list is too difficult to include in the above format.

Anyone who wants the file in csv, just ask.

I'll do my best to keep it updated, and will also upload extracts, with research needed to complete or discard.

STSH wrote:A very big thank you to John L, for compiling these lists.
.............
Here are my suggestions :
Proposal #1 - Spreadsheet, research, triage

STSH,

May I suggest you get a group of volunteers and send them the links you want each to update?

I admire your patient in doing that spreadsheet.

That's the idea behind this post.
But as you can see, I'm not exactly getting trampled over by the rush ........

WILLIAMWAN wrote:STSH,

May I suggest you get a group of volunteers and send them the links you want each to update?

I admire your patient in doing that spreadsheet.