This article helps our Volunteer Squad keep the database clean and consistent! It pertains to members who have Creator access and above. If you're interested in getting involved, read more about joining the Squad here. We'd love to have you aboard!

Subjects are crucial to the organization of Database Items. As you add new items you might find that you need to create a new Subject or edit an existing Subject. Read on to learn how!



TABLE OF CONTENTS


Adding a New Subject


Before creating a new Subject, please always carefully search (including possible alternate names and spellings) to make sure it doesn't already exist.


  1. To create a new Subject, go to the Curation menu and click Add Subject:
  2. This will load the Add New Subject form:



  3. Fill out the form according to the general Subject Standards and Guidelines. Here's a brief explanation of each field on the form:

    • Name - Use the full name, for example "Corgi Toys" versus "Corgi," but drop legal suffixes such as "Ltd," "Inc," "GmbH," etc. Instead of a Subject named "Shell Ltd" or "Shell GmbH" it would just be named "Shell." Especially for series, only use the series name - please do not include the brand or any other parent in the name.

    • Subject Type - Select a type from the list. See the "Subject Types" help page for details on the different types.

    • Description - This should include information about the Subject that is relevant to the mission of hobbyDB. Please read the guidelines below.
      • Tip: internal links to other hobbyDB pages can now be added to Subject descriptions! Find a page you want to link to, such as a person or brand Subject or a Database Item, and copy the address (URL). Then, select the text in the description where you want to add the link, click the chain link icon in the formatting bar, and paste the URL into the hobbyDB Link field.

    • Parent Subject - Add one or more Parent Subjects here, if applicable (see "Adding Subject Parents" for more information). Some examples:
      • A Series Subject would have the brand which produced it added as a Parent Subject.

      • A Brand Subject can have "Collectible Type" Subjects set as parents. For example, Model Cars is an appropriate Parent Subject for Hot Wheels (as is Mattel, the brand's parent company).

      • An Actor Subject would have characters the actor has played and films they have appeared in set as Parent Subjects. Subjects for fictional characters should not have actors set as Parent Subjects.

      • An Athlete Subject would have any team(s) and league(s) the athlete played for as Parent Subjects.

    • Identifier - This field is used to differentiate subjects with the same or a similar name and usually holds the name of the parent subject (often a brand or series as series and sub-series names tend to be re-used across different brands). See "When to Add a Subject Identifier" for more information.

    • Alternative Spellings - Add other spellings, nicknames, or aliases that the Subject might be known as. For example, "VW" for the Volkswagen Subject, or "The Child" and "Baby Yoda" for the Grogu Subject. Please don't use this field for packing in general keywords.
      You don't need to duplicate words that are already present in the title or identifier, only those that are different.
      For example when adding the middle name for the actor "Dakota Johnson", it's enough to just add "Mayi" into the identifier field (the keywords "Dakota", "Johnson" and "Mayi" are created for the subject search independent of duplication and search terms ignore word order - searching for "Dakota Mayi Johnson" will return the exact same results as searchign for "Mayi Johnson Dakota").



Editing a Subject


Existing Subjects can be changed using the Edit button within the Manage menu at the top of the Subject page:



This will load the Edit Details form, which is the same as the Add New Subject form but with the fields pre-filled with the Subject's existing data. See above for an explanation of each field.




Additional Rules of Thumb


  • Always do a thorough search for the Subject before creating a new one. Search for it under different variations of the name to be sure it doesn't already exist.

  • We don't need every conceivable Subject. Only add Subjects that are related to individual collectible items or collectibles in general.

  • There is no hard and fast rule as to how many items a Subject must potentially contain. Even if a Subject is only applicable to a single item it may still be worth having on the site. Use Editorial Judgement to decide.

  • All Subjects should have a Name, the appropriate Subject Type, a Description, and at least one photo. Parent Subjects, Identifiers, and Alternative Spellings should be used where needed but aren't required for all Subjects.

  • External links to websites with additional information, such as Wikipedia or other reference sites, can be added to a Subject's External Links section. Links to an official website for the Subject are also appropriate. External links to other marketplaces may not be added. See "Adding External Links" for more information.

  • When adding Subjects to database items, be sure to add the right Subject in the right field (and if an appropriate Subject doesn't yet exist, create it!). Here is an example, but please read the "Tips for adding Subjects to Database Items" help page to learn more.
    • The Indiana Jones Subject is a Character Subject, not a Series, so it should only be added to the Related Subjects field of items depicting the character of Indiana Jones.

    • If a particular brand, like LEGO, has its own series of Indiana Jones items, that series should be an individual Series-type Subject. The name of such Subjects should be the official name designated by the Brand (in this case, "LEGO Indiana Jones").

    • If that series was simply called "Indiana Jones", it would need to have the brand name, LEGO, added to the Identifier field so the Subject can be easily distinguished from the Character Subject and any Indiana Jones series produced by different brands.



Example


The following example shows how a subject for "McFarlane Toys Alien vs. Predator Series 1" is set up correctly:



  1. The name only included the name of the series itself, leaving out any of the parent subjects.

  2. The subject type is correctly set to "Series".

  3. A short description also includes the number of items a user should see here.

  4. Both the McFarlane series "Alien vs. Predator" as well as the franchise subject is added as parent subject.

  5. The identifier, includes the direct parent as well as the "grandparent" in parenthesis to give more orientation. Remember, there can potentially be an "Alien vs. Predator Series 1" series from a different brand after all. This identifier will be shown in the selection drop-down of subject field searches.

  6. To be able to find the subject with the common franchise abbreviation, we add it to this field. That way searching for "avp series 1" will display this subject.



Additional Resources