[mythtv] "A", "An", and "The" for sorting - ticket 3048

[Nigel Pearson]

> - ignore articles and special characters (a, an, the, ".", "...")
> - treat numbers (10,000 Maniacs) as their written equivalent (ten  
> thousand)
> - when the band's name is that of a person in the band, alphabetize
> by the last name--but not when the name is unrelated to the band
> members
>
> This last one is the most difficult, since it requires a human being
> to know that Janis Joplin should be alphabetized using "Joplin"
> because that's really her last name, but that Jethro Tull should be
> alphabetized using "Jethro" because nobody in the band has that name.

Indeed.

I think the only way to satisfy this _perfectly_
would be to have a "Sort As" field for everything
in the database that has a displayed name.

When something new is imported, the default user
sort-by rule is applied, but the user has the chance
to later scroll through the names, and move a selector
back or forward a word, or maybe type an unrelated term.
(e.g. Various, Rhapsody in Blue
       gets sorted as Gershwin, not various?)



I personally am not sufficiently motivated
to add something like this, though.


Different people sort things different ways,
(different languages probably use different rules),
and we have to cope with it when looking through
long lists of stuff. Pedants complain. Husbands and
wifes disagree how to sort their DVD collections.
Maybe we just have to deal with it?


> IMHO, unless you're able to include all three of these criteria, you
> might as well just sort the band name exactly as-is.

That would be my vote!
--
Nigel Pearson, nigel at ind.tansu.com.au| "Peacemaking is our profession"
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