There's currently a contribution pending trying to change the existing entry:
Toru // Tanaka [Professor Toru Tanaka]
to
Professor Toru Tanaka //

The reason given for this change:

Quote:
Corrected credit for "Professor Toru Tanaka", because it is a stage name. According to the rules the complete stage name has to be in the first name field.

My question is:
Is this interpretation correct?
IMO the stage name Professor Toru Tanaka is in the same lines as e.g. Nicholas Cage, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, etc. So (again IMO only) the only parsing rule that would apply here is the "Honorific"-rule.

What do you think?

Quoting Lewis_Prothero:

Quote:
There's currently a contribution pending trying to change the existing entry:
Toru // Tanaka [Professor Toru Tanaka]
to
Professor Toru Tanaka //

Looks more like a CLT change to me, and Professor Toru Tanaka is the common name so the change is correct. How we chose to parse it in our local databases is irrelevant now since the online doesn't care anymore.

Quoting Lewis_Prothero:

Quote:
My question is:
Is this interpretation correct?
IMO the stage name Professor Toru Tanaka is in the same lines as e.g. Nicholas Cage, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, etc. So (again IMO only) the only parsing rule that would apply here is the "Honorific"-rule.

What do you think?

Unfortunately, yes, the interpretation is correct.  While it is common practice, among most of the Profiler community, to treat stage names, that look like real names, as real names, the rules don't support it.

While I don't like it, the change is correct per the rules.

That begs the question: Who isn't using a stage name? Sure, many actors use their birth name, but there's also a huge portion - especially the more known ones - that use at least a derivative of their own name. How far is one allowed from one's name to be still considered his or her real name?

Surely Paul Wesley is just a stage name for Paul Wasilewski, so every The Vampire Diaries credit should be corrected accordingly?

Good to know, many thanks for testing! 

Still, if this is indeed the rule (personally I think it's ambivalent enough to be unable to categorically state it is), it really needs changing.

Quoting dee1959jay:

Quote:
I'll make sure to lock my entire collection and stop contributing altogether...

Stopped contributing 3 months ago.
Didn't want to spoil the online-database.

Funnily, while most of the participants of this poll seem to agree with my interpretation, the Martian is correct: Strictly applying the rules wouldn't support this.

Seems my decision was correct then.

Quoting GSyren:

Quote:
Don't many actors legally change their names. If so, what once may have been a stage name ceases to be a stage name, right?

Which makes it virtually impossible to follow the rules as interpreted by the Martian. Anyone care to do the research on such cases or to change all entries once such a name change has passed?
Just one more argument for a rule change.

Quoting KinoNiki:

Quote:
I think the rule about stage names could simply be removed. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore since parsing has become a personal preference.

+1
Would you take this to the Rules Discussion forum, please.