Actress Mara Wilson - Details of Her Death?
Laurie D. T. Mann
> "William J. Meyerbeck" wrote:
> > She was only 13 or so. Here is her IMDB profile.
> > http://us.imdb.com/Name?Wilson,+Mara
> Haven't heard nor can find anymore on this. I kinda wish IMDB would
> substantiate things a bit more before inclusion. A search at Variety.com
> resulted in zilch also.
None of the major Connecticut papers is reporting this.
I think IMDB has been had (again), sadly.
Getting the data right is more important than
reporting potentially false data. Spreading
the unsubstantiated rumor of someone's death,
particularly the death of a young person, is
just plain wrong.
--
Laurie D. T. Mann **** Geek Feminist **** lm...@city-net.com
Dead People Server * Trivia Maven * http://dpsinfo.com/index.shtml
"If your Web site looks like a Web site, it's in trouble.
It should look like a content site." Edward R. Tufte
Matthew Kruk
Matthew Kruk
>
> She was only 13 or so. Here is her IMDB profile.
>
> http://us.imdb.com/Name?Wilson,+Mara
If you can stand the noise level, try alt.gossip.celebrities. There is a small
discussion there the just of which is that it is unsubstantiated and possibly
confused with her mother (who apparently was ill and perhaps may have died
instead).
Personally, I find that IMDB is getting worse as the months go by. But then
again I'm biased as Amazon.com is in my top ten crap list to begin with.
sofaslug
wrote:
I thought her mother had died of cancer shortly after Mara had
completed filming "Matilda".
JumbleJim2
>From: Matthew Kruk mk...@netcom.ca
>Date: 4/17/00 6:03 AM Pacific Daylight Time
>Personally, I find that IMDB is getting worse as the months go by. But then
>again I'm biased as Amazon.com is in my top ten crap list to begin with.
The beauty and at the same time the curse of the IMDb is that it is filled
entirely with information provided by willing users. It never ceases to amaze
me how many people are willing to contribute some information without
substantiating it. I suppose there's lots one can hate amazon.com for, but the
blame for this ongoing difficulty lies squarely on the shoulders of careless,
thoughtless, or otherwise sloppy contributors.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
Jim Beaver
Matthew Kruk
Maybe it's me, but it seems IMDB has really gone downhill once they were taken
over by Amazon, specifically, credibility. In this particular case (Mara), I
sense a "jokester" contributor and correcting (or validating) the issue is
taking a long time on IMDB's part (if it ever will be).
MadCow57
him, just his filmography. He replied:
"Hell, I don't know how or where they got the information they have now - nor
would I know how to add a bio. But I'll check and see. I've been aware of the
page for quite some time now - over 2 years actually, and everytime I go to
visit it - I see more stuff on it. Go figure."
MAG
If you or your friend become registered IMDb users, you could add
biographical information on him. His filmography probably gets added
to as people watch his movies/TV shows/videos and take the time to
submit credit information to IMDb. As someone else mentioned, the
fact that people can do this is both a blessing and a curse. I expect
the death date for Mara Wilson will be either verified or removed
within a week, or two at most. I sent a correction noting that her
death has not been reported by any news agency I could find, and
suggested they investigate further (especially given her age). No
doubt other people have done the same.
My standard IMDb accuracy spiel:
This is for anyone who may not be familiar with the differences
between IMDb and other movie database sites like Eonline.
IMDb is us, literally. Although IMDb does get some information
directly from actors and production companies, the bulk of the data
comes from submissions made by registered users -- i.e. people like
us. I have contributed information off and on for a few years now. If
I watch a video, and IMDb doesn't have complete cast credits, I make
notes and submit the information to IMDb. If I run across a date of
birth in an interview with an actor, I might submit that, too. These
changes are usually made within a couple of weeks of submission.
While the IMDb has some basic consistency checks (e.g. you
probably couldn't have someone born in 1980 starring in a movie
released in 1900), it does not have fact checkers verifying all
submitted information. There are pros and cons to this way of doing
things.
Pros: IMDb is vastly more complete than any other web movie database
I've seen. If you are into knowing who played every little minor role
in a movie or TV show, this is a great thing. Furthermore, when users
notice mistakes, they can send in corrections, and the data gets
fixed. In my experience, other websites tend to list only the most
prominent credits, if that and when they contain mistakes, they are
seldom corrected.
Cons: Sometimes incorrect information is submitted, either
deliberately or inadvertantly. You have to keep this in mind when you
are looking at the information. If a DOB seems really wrong to you, it
probably is. For example, I once noticed that an actor who attended
the same university I did was given a DOB that would have made him
twelve years old when he graduated. I submitted this to IMDb and the
incorrect DOB was deleted. Another common problem is when credits for
two people with the same name are combined into one person.
Eventually, someone who knows who did what will tell IMDb they are two
different people and which credits go with which person. Until that
happens, you just have to keep in mind that the if an actress has both
Jane Austen and porn movies in her credits, she is probably two
different people with the same name.
In my experience, IMDb is right a lot more than it is wrong, and I am
willing to trade occasional accuracy problems for completeness and the
ability to make additions/corrections.
Anyway, that's my take on IMDb and accuracy.
-MAG
Olivia Fortuna
MAG <mag...@juno.com> wrote:
> While the IMDb has some basic consistency checks (e.g. you
> probably couldn't have someone born in 1980 starring in a movie
> released in 1900), it does not have fact checkers verifying all
> submitted information. There are pros and cons to this way of doing
> things.
Just to note: I once submitted corrections for actor/author Jim
Thompson to the IMDb, because he was correctly listed as having died in
the 1970s, yet was incorrectly listed as a gaffer/boom operator in the
late 1990s. This specific information reappears on the Jim Thompson
filmography listing every so often and doesn't get removed for quite
some time, so I don't believe the IMDb even has "basic consistency
checks". Another error which constantly appears is the listing of Jamie
Farr as a cast member of the horrid "Santa Claus vs. the Martians". The
IMDb would improve greatly if they just included some sort of basic
checking system that didn't allow something once corrected and removed
to be re-added without human verification.
--Ollie
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Brad Ferguson
> If you or your friend become registered IMDb users, you could add
> biographical information on him. His filmography probably gets added
> to as people watch his movies/TV shows/videos and take the time to
> submit credit information to IMDb. As someone else mentioned, the
> fact that people can do this is both a blessing and a curse. I expect
> the death date for Mara Wilson will be either verified or removed
> within a week, or two at most. I sent a correction noting that her
> death has not been reported by any news agency I could find, and
> suggested they investigate further (especially given her age). No
> doubt other people have done the same.
Unfortunately, it seems that being a "registered IMDb user" has nothing
to do with anything -- except, of course, that the questions asked
during registration have nothing to do with one's accuracy or
competence, and everything to do with building a mailing list. I used
to contribute to the IMDb, but I haven't since they instituted this
"registration" scam.
Someone over at the IMDb got bogus info on Mara Wilson and simply
pasted it into the database without thinking about it very much, or at
all. Mara Wilson's death would have been widely reported. This isn't
a trivial error, either.
DESSCRIBE1
>him, just his filmography. He replied:
>
>"Hell, I don't know how or where they got the information they have now - nor
>would I know how to add a bio. But I'll check and see. I've been aware of
>the
>page for quite some time now - over 2 years actually, and everytime I go to
>visit it - I see more stuff on it. Go figure."
>
I've been working at a local theater for a while now, and several of my friends
there are listed on the IMDB, though they, like your friend, only have
filmographies and not biographical data. I approached one of them about
providing biographical data for his page. He thought it over, and decided he
wasn't really into self-promotion that much. However, I might check back and
see if he'd be willing to provide just some basic info (date of birth, etc.),
and not a full-fledged "mini-biography."
I had another experience with IMDB which may illustrate both the advantages and
pitfalls of its system. I looked up another of my friends from the theater,
and found his name listed in the cast a small, independent film. I submitted a
bit of info on him under "Other Works": "Actor/playwright active in Atlanta
theatre." However, afterwards, when I asked him about the movie, he was very
surprised to hear about it...turned out it wasn't him, but another actor with
the same name. I had to wait for the info to show up on the IMDB before I
could submit a correction explaining my error, but it's all fixed now.
Erich
Erik L.
Erik L.
Soaps R Hard 2 Digest
Praise the lord
Soap's R Hard 2 Digest Online
http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb694454
MAG
<thir...@frXOXed.net> wrote:
>In article <5urmfsour2rc0m71l...@4ax.com>, MAG
><mag...@juno.com> wrote:
>
>> If you or your friend become registered IMDb users, you could add
>> biographical information
>> <snip> I expect
>> the death date for Mara Wilson will be either verified or removed
>> within a week, or two at most. I sent a correction noting that her
>> death has not been reported by any news agency I could find, and
>> suggested they investigate further (especially given her age). No
>> doubt other people have done the same.
>
>
>Unfortunately, it seems that being a "registered IMDb user" has nothing
>to do with anything -- except, of course, that the questions asked
>during registration have nothing to do with one's accuracy or
>competence, and everything to do with building a mailing list.
Absolutely. However I prefer this "scam" to not having the ability to
update it at all. I like knowing all the miniscule roles that some
obscure actor has played, and I doubt any database updated only by
paid staff would be able to provide me with suffucient detail. They
just can't watch enough movies/TV. :-) It does seem important that
people know to take IMDb info with a grain of salt.
>Someone over at the IMDb got bogus info on Mara Wilson and simply
>pasted it into the database without thinking about it very much, or at
>all. Mara Wilson's death would have been widely reported. This isn't
>a trivial error, either.
You're right, it's not trivial, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was
done with the knowledge the info was false. However, it seems to be
fixed as of Monday evening.
MadCow57
friend.
Sonna Bovich
Erik L. wrote:
> Mara Wilson's death listing has no been removed from the IMDb.
>
> Erik L.
Yeah it ha.