Talk:Michael Scott (film director)

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Requested move 2 November 2024

It has been proposed in this section that Michael Scott (film director) be renamed and moved to Michael M. Scott.

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Michael Scott (film director) → Michael M. Scott – "(film director)" is limiting, he introduced as "director, producer and documentary filmmaker" in the article. Michael Scott (filmmaker) is a redirect to Ryan vs. Dorkman, so already taken. In his article Michael Scott (film director) he is referred to as "Michael M. Scott" (this needs confirmation from a reliable source though). Note that Category:Films directed by Michael M. Scott has existed for four years but needs to be populated. I couldn't find any guidance in Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people). Commander Keane (talk) 20:20, 2 November 2024 (UTC) — Relisting. SilverLocust 💬 00:48, 12 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I have retargeted Michael Scott (filmmaker) to the dabpage. 162 etc. (talk) 21:01, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose, no evidence that "Michael M. Scott" is an a COMMONNAME for this person. Also, I think film director is an apt disambiguator, especially if we redirect "director" or "producer" here as well.--Ortizesp (talk) 14:50, 4 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Looking at the cited sources, both BFI and IMDb use "Michael M. Scott" as their article title. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 00:57, 5 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The WP:COMMONNAME argument is very solid. Like I said in the nomination "Michael M. Scott" needs confirmation. Some sources use the initial, some don't. Can we do a round up of what the sources use?

I think many sources in the context of films use the initial. Sources about his personal life use "Michael Scott", particularly when discussing his CIA dad. The article intro currently solely focuses on his film work.

Already BarrelProof said that BFI and IMDb use the initial. As does the Chicago Sun Times. That is not surprising as they are film focused sources favouring clean disambiguation.

Differing from this is Variety which has a film article that doesn't use the initial.

LA Times doesn't use the initial, in a non film related article. I couldn't check the others as the ads were driving my phone crazy.

I would consider falling back on what the SAG-AFTRA uses as I think that is what appears in film credits and would be the most commonly seen. I don't know how to check his SAG name other than watching the credits of one of the films (and maybe that is why imdb uses "Michael M. Scott"). This may be considered original research.

About Ortizesp's redirects, keep in mind they will need to go to the disambiguation page, or a hatnote added to this article instead, depending. Variations to consider include:

I think cleanest approach would be to use the initial and send all of these redirects to Michael Scott. Commander Keane (talk) 02:07, 5 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just adding I saw this in Wikipedia:Article titles:

Ambiguous or inaccurate names for the article subject, as determined in reliable sources, are often avoided even though they may be more frequently used by reliable sources

. Commander Keane (talk) 06:27, 6 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comment. Does need disambiguating, given Michael T. Scott and Michael J. F. Scott are also film directors. Michael Scott (film director, born 1955) would work if Michael M. Scott is not his common name. -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:21, 7 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nom and WP:NATURAL charlotte ^👸♥ 21:00, 9 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose per Otizesp. We have a long history of not inserting middle initials for disambiguation where they aren't the most common name. Michael Scott (film director, born 1955) sounds preferable, per Necrothesp. — Amakuru (talk) 12:12, 11 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]