Problems with Last.fm Import Feature
There are massive problems with the Last.fm import feature. I would like to suggest that the feature be modified to correct these problems. If it is not possible for the problems to be corrected, then I suggest removing the Last.fm import feature from the site. In my opinion, the current version of this feature is causing too many headaches to justify its existence. Here is a list of problems:
(1) It adds duplicate setlists. Even if a setlist already exists, the Last.fm import feature will still add a new setlist, thereby creating a duplicate. This creates lots of extra work for the moderators to find and redirect the duplicate setlists. Here are some examples of current duplicates:
http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:(metallica)+isEmpty:(true)
http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:(dream+theater)+isEmpty:(true)
http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:(velvet+revolver)+isEmpty:(true)
http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:(tool)+date:[2006-01-01+TO+2010-08-12]+isEmpty:(true)
http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:(pearl+jam)+date:[2000-01-01+TO+2010-08-12]+isEmpty:(true)
http://www.setlist.fm/search?query=artist:(nine+inch+nails)+date:[2005-01-01+TO+2010-08-12]+isEmpty:(true)
(2) Festivals are added incorrectly. First of all, the import feature only adds the first artist listed on Last.fm. It completely ignores the other artists from the festival. Secondly, for multi-day festivals, the import feature only uses the first date of the festival. Usually the headlining artist doesn't play on the first day, so the import feature has just added a setlist with the incorrect date. Lastly, the import feature does not use the correct venue name. It's supposed to be [festival name], [city], [country] but the import feature adds it as [location], [city], [country].
(3) It adds incorrect venue names (without a city assigned). Moderators & admins can look at the link below, which lists all venues without cities assigned. The list is currently around 450 venues. (About 50 of these were carried over from before Setlist.fm required city names to be assigned to venues. But the other 400 or so were all added by the Last.fm import feature.) Again, this takes massive work from the moderators to assign cities to all these venues.
http://www.setlist.fm/mods/venues
(4) It doesn't generate notifications. I'm subscribed to several artists on Setlist.fm, so I get notifications whenever setlists from any of those artists are edited. However, if a new setlist for an artist that I am subscribed to is added by the Last.fm import feature, I don't get a notification.
Here is an example of how all of the above problems can work together to create a headache for just 1 selist:
This setlist is added by the Last.fm import feature on July 16, 2010.
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/metallica/2009/knebworth-park-knebworth-england-43d46b6b.html
It's a duplicate of this setlist:
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/metallica/2009/sonisphere-festival-knebworth-england-43d7bf07.html
No notification is sent to anyone that is subscribed to Metallica, so the duplicate setlist goes unnoticed for a long time (almost a month in this case).
When the duplicate setlist is eventually found, it's confusing because both the date and venue name are wrong. The date should be August 2, 2009 and the venue should be Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth, England.
This one’s completed. The festival suggestion is present in another feature request.
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leglessmoof commented
I just read your thread in the Moderator forum and saw that #3 was corrected. Awesome!
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leglessmoof commented
#1 and #4 were fixed, but #2 and #3 were not. Fortunately #1 and #4 were the bigger problems, so THANK YOU very much for fixing those! We can definitely survive without #2 and #3 being fixed for now. It would be nice to see them fixed eventually, but I wouldn't think it should be a high priority.
I found another issue with the Last.fm Import Feature that wasn't initially reported here -- it imports setlists from Last.fm events that are marked as "CANCELLED". I would think that cancelled Last.fm events should not be imported to setlist.fm. Or if they should be imported, at least add @Info[Cancelled] in the setlist so it's easy to tell.
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leglessmoof commented
No one has any comments?