Endpoint Manual

Endpoint Manual

§ Introduction

Endpoints are actors, costume designers, editors, publishing companies, etc.
It are the people, brands and companies behind the thing.
Without those people and companies the thing would not exist.

Imagine a thing as a flower and see the Endpoints as the petals.

We detail things with a very high level of detail, but we also pay a lot of attention to those Endpoints.  Those people made it happen and therefore they all deserve a place in our database.

We don’t ask if someone is ‘important enough’ to get a personal page: if they are credited they are!

They are called Endpoints because they define the boundaries of the thing. This is where the thing ends (and where Wikipedia starts).

§1 What Endpoints do we add?

We add every person, brand and company listed (in small print) on the thing.
For a book or comic that will be the people listed on the cover and ‘page 3’, for a movie or video game that will be those listed on the back of the wrapper or the box, and for a magazine you will find one or more sections in the magazine listing all those people.

§2 Where do we find information about these Endpoints?

Wikipedia is our preferred source, as a lot of famous people and companies will already be detailed on Wikipedia.
Notice that we are not affiliated or in any way officially connected with Wikipedia and that there is nothing wrong with using parts of the information they provide as long as you state where you found the information and under what license.
There is no need to copy complete Wikipedia pages. Most often they will provide a summary at the top of the page that is sufficient for our purposes:  we want to detail briefly but clearly who the person or company is, and if someone wants to get more detailed information on the subject, we refer to Wikipedia by always adding a link to their page.

§3 What if people or companies are not listed on Wikipedia?

In many cases, especially with credits in magazines, comics and books there will not be a Wikipedia page. The same will occur with people involved in film that are not ‘famous’:  line producers, make-up department, actors from non-English speaking countries, art directors, …
The idea is to give those people a page just like Wikipedia would do it if they were a bit more famous.
That means we try to create a short biography and will look for a photograph and/or YouTube movie we are allowed to use.
We don’t use commercial language but we try to be as neutral as possible.
Make it a beautiful page for that person!

§4 What if multiple variations exist of the same name ?

Especially for Asian names there is a whole variety of writing methods. The actor “Chow Yun-fat” is written as “Yun-Fat Chow” on IMDB, as “Chow Yun-fat” in Wikipedia and as “Chow Yun Fat” on a DVD release … What do you choose?

It is very important that there is only one (!) way of writing the name of an artist. If not we would end up with multiple entries for the same person!
So here is the rule for movies: for people in movies we choose the IMDB (!) syntax, NOT the Wikipedia syntax. The reason is that Wikipedia lists far less people than IMDB does. Again, we are not affiliated with IMDB, nor Wikipedia.
And what with music?: for people in music we choose the Discogs (!) syntax, NOT the Wikipedia syntax. The reason is again that Wikipedia lists far less people than Discogs does. Again, we are not affiliated with Discogs, nor Wikipedia.
And for people in magazines, books, and all the rest?
We use Wikipedia, and if no Wikipedia entry exists we use our own oldest entry as default.

§5 And what with companies  and brands ?


Nobody seems to care much about the difference between a company and a brand name or business name - although those are completely different things - so we cannot rely on exiting databases like Wikipedia.
We take this difference very seriously as the many variations in company and brand names will all have different entries in our database.

In short: a company ALWAYS has some kind of suffix at the end defining the legal type of company: ,Inc., Ltd., LLC; SA, SAS, GmbH, etc.
If there is no such suffix, it is NOT a company.
Coca Cola? NOT a company, it’s a brand
Time Warner Interactive? NOT a company, it’s a business name used by a company
Time Warner Interactive, Inc.? Yes, that’s a company!


It is important to understand the difference!
In short: Coca-Cola and Minute Maid are brands of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.
However, very often artwork will use the brand name while they actually mean the company.
Example: “Published by: Ubi Soft” while they actually mean “Published by: Ubisoft Entertainment SA”
So what do we do? Will we define Ubi Soft as a brand or as a company ?
We will define it as a brand since it is a brand name (or business name).
Ubi Soft = brand
Ubisoft Entertainment SA = company

 

More tricky now: what with “Published by: Ubi Soft Entertainment” ?
“Ubi Soft Entertainment” is not the company name. The company name is “Ubisoft Entertainment SA”. “Ubi Soft Entertainment” is the business name used by “Ubisoft Entertainment SA”
Thus “Ubi Soft Entertainment” will be filed as a brand.

Actually it’s very simple if you remember this: companies ALWAYS have a suffix like Inc., Ltd., SA, BV, LLC, …
No suffix? = No company! (but “brand name of” or “business name used by the company”)

(Exceptions are governmental institutions like “The Irish Film Board”: those are filed under Companies too).

Even more tricky now. The company name of “Ubisoft Entertainment SA” prior to 2003 was “Ubi Soft Entertainment SA” but in 2003 the merged the Ubi & Soft into Ubisoft.
So what do we do with “Published by: Ubi Soft Entertainment SA” ? That’s not a brand for sure but a company name... but the same company already exists …
In that case we use the handy [+] button you see behind the credit names. It allows you to give an alternative name of the same company.
Thus the correct version will become:
“Published by: Ubisoft Entertainment SA [Ubi Soft Entertainment S.A.]”

In short:

Ubi Soft: brand
Ubisoft: brand
Ubi Soft Entertainment: brand

Ubisoft Entertainment: brand
Ubisoft Entertainment SA: company
Ubi Soft Entertainment SA: company but use the current name and add the old name with the [+] button

Finally:
What if two companies A and B merge into C? -> That will be 3 companies
What if one company A splits? If it splits in A and B -> That will be 2 companies

What if one company A splits? If it splits in B and C -> That will be 3 companies
What if one company A is completely renamed to D? -> If the new name has nothing to do with the first name you can make 2 companies.

§6) Inc. or Inc?  Ltd or Ltd. Or Limited  LLC or L.L.C.? , S.A., GmbH, S.p.A. …
Company names always mention what kind of company it is, but differences in how that is spelled occur very often. That is because there simply is not one right way to write them neither: the name of the company is the name that was chosen when it was incorporated, so if one chose “LLC” and someone else named his company “L.L.C.” then that’s the way it is.
Of course this is very confusing for us, hence let’s use the following convention:

US companies:
We use: “Name Company, Inc.” (, space Inc dot)
not “Name Company Inc.”

not “Name Company, Inc”

not “Name Company,Inc.”

not “Name Company,Inc”
not “Name Company, Inc”

 

We use: “Name US Company Ltd.
We use: “Name US Company Corp.” (not Corporation)

 

We use: “Name US Company LLC” (no dot)
We use: “Name US Company LP”

 

UK companies

We use: “Name UK Company Ltd.” (with the dot (often omitted in the UK))
We use: “Name UK Company PLC” (with the dot (often omitted in the UK))

Japanese companies

We use: “Name Jap Company Co., Ltd.

Finland: OY


French companies

We use SA, SAS, SASU, SPRL


Germany: GmbH

Italy: SpA

 

Belgium: BVBA, BV, NV, VOF (Dutch) SPRL, SA (French)

Netherlands: BV

Sweden: AB


Not mandatory but if you want to point out how the name appears precisely on the thing you may use the handy [+] button behind the name. This will create an ENA or “Endpoint Name Alternative”.
Examples:

Printed By: Butler & Tanner Ltd. [Butler & Tanner Limited]
Licensed By: Prada SpA [Prada S.p.A.]

Or also allowed

Printed By: Butler & Tanner Ltd. [Butler & Tanner Limited, London]