Merging entries

What is it used for

Duplicates often appear on VocaDB. Whenever a duplicate is detected it needs to be deleted or merged in most cases. Merging copies all properties from the source entry to the destination, and the source entry is deleted.

This includes the following:

• Artist references (if merging an artist)
• Followed artists
• Song votes (favorites and likes)
• Tag votes

The process cannot be reversed automatically - to undo a merge you’ll have to restore the old source entry and edit all references manually. Some properties such as song and tag votes cannot be restored. Therefore you need to be especially careful before proceeding with the merge: make sure that the entries really need to be merged.

Because undoing a merge can be a great deal of work, it is restricted to trusted users+ only. If you notice a duplicate entry but can’t perform the merge yourself, leave an entry report (including the other duplicate).

When not to merge

Do not merge if you’re not sure that the entries are really duplicates. Ask for other opinions.

If the source entry has no useful information and no song/tag votes, merging is redundant: the source entry can simply be deleted.

How to merge

Assuming you have the necessary permissions, the merge option appears on the entry edit page. In general, merge should be performed from the newer entry to the older one, because the source entry will be deleted, and it’s more likely that there are external references to the older entry.

Special considerations for artist entries

In general the intuitive rule is to merge artist entries that belong to the same person. This way, the artist information is in one place, and the user features such as following the artist entry is most convenient. There are however some cases where it’s best to take a different approach.

To avoid duplicate entries, VocaDB checks against existing links and names when creating new artist or song entries. This can reveal previously unseen connections between the artist profiles, if the artist happens to re-use the same Niconico account for example.

There can be various reasons for artists to create new profiles and start again from a clean slate. Sometimes this transition is openly shared, in some cases it’s more discreet. For some artists it can be discouraging to be associated with old works, which goes against one of VocaDB’s purposes, the promotion of vocal synth music.

The more separate the artist profiles/personas are, the more sense it makes to have separate entries. Ideally, these entries are then linked to each other through the entry descriptions: LamazeP & GojimajiP for example (https://vocadb.net/Ar/304)

This description link can be omitted if the artist wishes to, assuming that the information is not easily and publicly available by the artist. It’s also important to be aware of VocaDB’s revision history, which shows the information history of entries. Furthermore, if someone comments that the artist X and Y are the same, we are not obliged to remove such comments.

In most situations the safest approach is to create separate artist entries first.