ShipSpotting.com Forum

Shipspotters all over the world => Site related news, functions and modules => Topic started by: Geir Vinnes on November 13, 2016, 03:49:46 AM

Title: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Geir Vinnes on November 13, 2016, 03:49:46 AM
I have a question regarding vessel names that are being changed here on Shipspotting.
It seems like all the UNI-A.., UNI-P.. and HEUNG-A.. vessels are getting their names
changed to UNI A.., UNI P and HEUNG A.. (Like UNI-ASSENT, UNI-POPULAR and HEUNG-A ASIA) I did also
post some photos of N P SURATTHANI 1 that got her named changed to N.P. SURATTHANI I.
I have used the names that Equasis uses, these names are also on the vessels,
on their AIS and on their companies websites. I tried to ask via an PM and also the error reporting system for a few weeks ago but
I never got any answer so maybe someone here can tell me why their official names
are being changed and which sources we are supposed to use when naming a vessel ?

Brgds,
Geir
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Pier Master on November 13, 2016, 05:55:11 AM
Hi Geir,

Of the 479 photos of UNI on this site, there are none with the hyphen.To ensure uniformity across the site, and to ensure searches are complete all ships names are kept the same.

"To assist effective searching by members and for consistency, please use only the standard 26-letter English-language alphabet, preferably in capitals. But please feel free to add the name in the relevant national script in the Description box."

Also the standard on the site of ships names with a figure one is the Roman numeral I.

I am trying to find the relevant note in the FAQ and uploading guidelines...


We can't all be perfect but I hope this helps.

Regards, Brian.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Patrick Hill on November 13, 2016, 07:38:56 AM
I always thought we used the name as shown on the vessel? A quick search for UNI-ASSENT (as per the the name on the bow) returns nothing, UNI ASSENT shows a list. But if I'd seen her as shown in the photo I would have searched for the former, not the latter.

I've just looked at the site standards and couldn't find one that advised which way to enter the names.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on November 13, 2016, 11:36:41 AM
It is in the "How to Upload Photos" FAQ
Quote
To assist effective searching by members and for consistency, please use only the standard 26-letter English-language alphabet, preferably in capitals. But please feel free to add the name in the relevant national script in the Description box.
Correct spelling is important also to ensure that you photo is properly linked to others
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Geir Vinnes on November 13, 2016, 12:35:18 PM
Thanks for the explanation, personally I
think it would be easier searching for the vessels official
English names that are normally on the vessel like Patric said and
also used on Equasis like HEUNG-A and N P SURATTHANI 1, try a google search on "N P SURATTHANI 1"
compared with "N.P. SURATTHANI I" :-) but anyway I have absolute no problems
accepting the rules on Shipspotting and will follow them as good as I can.

Brgds,
Geir
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Dеnis on November 13, 2016, 12:39:30 PM
Of the 479 photos of UNI on this site, there are none with the hyphen.To ensure uniformity across the site, and to ensure searches are complete all ships names are kept the same.

I always thought we used the name as shown on the vessel? A quick search for UNI-ASSENT (as per the the name on the bow) returns nothing, UNI ASSENT shows a list. But if I'd seen her as shown in the photo I would have searched for the former, not the latter.

Uniformity is good but uniforming in the wrong way is not.   If a vessel is listed as UNI-ASSENT on official sources & so it's written on hull, then title it's photos as UNI-ASSENT too.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on November 13, 2016, 01:36:54 PM
In the case of these UNI- vessels you are quite right, Denis, and they should not have been changed.  I am sure that the changes were well-meaning, but if they are not reversed in the next few days, I will see that they are done.

What is painted on the ship is often a poor indication of the actual official version of the name of the ship (and occasionally seen painted in different versions at the same time on either bow, stern or bridge board).  The true official version will be that recorded by the flag register, but few of these are publicly accessible.  The most reliable publicly available source that we have is Equasis, which draws on several official sources as well as major databases such as P&I Clubs, class societies and particularly IHS-Seaweb, all of which occasionally have errors.  But it is the best we have for vessels with IMO numbers, so it is right that we use that as standard.

For non-IMO vessels we use the best sources that can be found.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Dеnis on November 13, 2016, 05:34:17 PM
Alright, admins/correctors...  now you're just plain ridiculous with your changes!
Out of curiosity I randomly searched for "Neftegaz" & found photos that have a space between the Neftegaz & number.  Searching by "Neftegaz-" brings nothing.   On hull on all of them it's written with a hyphen & so it's on Equasis!  :P

May I say not to touch titles in my Cranes category then?   There are enough of names like "SPK-27/16" & those that don't have an IMO number & how it's written on hull or board is the only source for proper titling.   I kept putting both Cranes categories in order, correcting names & assigning IMOs, yet I see some are still titled wrongly - SPK 165 BLEYKHERT, it's SPK-165 BLEYKHERT on Equasis!  IMO-less ones like DP-ZPS-S-3 are sensitive too.

Regards,
Denis
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on November 14, 2016, 11:04:28 AM
This is being investigated, Denis.  It could also be that a software glitch has caused wholesale changes, and that is also being checked out. 
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Bob Scott on November 14, 2016, 11:29:01 AM
I would have thought there were more-pressing tasks needing doing by admins than changing names to attain uniformity within the site but without reference to how it is presented on the ship or in registers. The admin(s) concerned might now be best employed changing them all back again.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: coasterwatcher on November 14, 2016, 12:58:13 PM
If a search without a hyphen or full stop produces no results, is it not too much effort to do another search with the hyphen or full stop? Or vice versa.

Incidentally the only correct spelling of the name is on the ship's registration papers - irrespective of what may be written on a website.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Bob Scott on November 15, 2016, 11:43:07 AM
As coasterwatcher says, "the only correct spelling of the name is on the ship's registration papers" and the closest we are likely to get to those is what is published in Lloyd's Register. That in turn is available to us from the Equasis site.
The idea of standardising by presenting the WRONG name of the ship makes this site one of the least-accurate information sources. I note that BACO-LINER 1 has been changed throughout to BACO LINER I (Roman numeral/no hyphen) yet the other two ships are given numbers 2 and 3. Where's the logic in that?
Changing hundreds of ship names to the wrong one is a complete waste of admin time and is just plain stupid!!
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on November 15, 2016, 12:48:37 PM
It does seem that well-meaning efforts by data correctors were responsible; the ship names will be put right over time.  If members notice new errors please advise by email to [email protected]

I am not conviced that the correction link above the comment box is functioning properly, and this is being investigated - it may explain why some messages have not received a response, as mentioned by Geir, for which I offer our apologies. The "Report error in ship details" button is working and generating a list for photo correctors' attention, but is best used only for individual errors, rather than whole groups.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Mike Griffiths on November 15, 2016, 04:57:42 PM
As coasterwatcher says, "the only correct spelling of the name is on the ship's registration papers" and the closest we are likely to get to those is what is published in Lloyd's Register. That in turn is available to us from the Equasis site.
The idea of standardising by presenting the WRONG name of the ship makes this site one of the least-accurate information sources. I note that BACO-LINER 1 has been changed throughout to BACO LINER I (Roman numeral/no hyphen) yet the other two ships are given numbers 2 and 3. Where's the logic in that?
Changing hundreds of ship names to the wrong one is a complete waste of admin time and is just plain stupid!!

Dead right Bob.
The "corrections" team appear not to have a single Lloyds Shipping Index between them or if they do they prefer to ignore them.
It is BACO-LINER 1, BACO-LINER 2 and BACO-LINER 3.
They are also confused by Greek ship names thus correct name MARIETTA E. has to be changed to MARIETTA E  
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Robert J Smith on March 03, 2017, 03:33:45 PM
Why have all the UK Border Force vessels, apart from a couple of recently posted photos, had their prefix "HMC" removed from the title?
All earlier photos of them in the Customs & Excise role still have the prefix HMCC in the titles.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on March 03, 2017, 03:41:50 PM
Query noted, Robert.
I am checking with Admin colleagues about this.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Allan RO on March 03, 2017, 09:42:28 PM
just noted this thread - seems it is not just an isolated case.

It has happened to my photo of INS Sindhurakshak, which I have now changed back.  How can this happen?

Allan
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: andrecas on March 04, 2017, 12:42:45 AM
Based on the number of entries thread generating, this practice is not an isolated case.  I've noticed subtle title changes of several of my uploads. (i.e. changes with upper case / lower case and period (.) or spacing either deleted/added).
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: pieter melissen on March 04, 2017, 07:36:32 AM
I normally only change spelling errors. In case of doubt one may like to use the summary page of a ship, which will show up with all others shots of the ship having the same IMO number. Just look at how the name of the ship that you uploaded has been spelled, and see what the obvious accepted general practice is.

And for what is worth, this might also be an opportunity to address those who upload tanker shots. Please check the summary page in case you are not certain under which category they should be added.  
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on March 04, 2017, 10:14:40 AM
@andrecas:  most of these small changes are intentional - word spacing, periods, missing prefixes or suffixes, missing IMOs can all affect search functioning - especially for those without IMO numbers. 

Names which are in all-lower-case ("queen elizabeth") are not acceptable and will be modified.  Names with capital initials ("Queen Elizabeth") remain acceptable, though in the process of bulk review of a particular ship they may be changed to the generally-preferred upper case ("QUEEN ELIZABETH").

The work of Category Admin and Photo Correctors in improving the functionality and consistency of the site is much appreciated.

@Allan: certainly shouldn't have happened, and I am assuming a mistake/misunderstanding.  I am sorry about that.

@Robert: I'll post here again when I have found out about this.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: Robert J Smith on March 08, 2017, 11:26:07 AM
Why have all the UK Border Force vessels, apart from a couple of recently posted photos, had their prefix "HMC" removed from the title?
All earlier photos of them in the Customs & Excise role still have the prefix HMCC in the titles.


Thanks David, all back to normal now.

Regards

Bob
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on March 08, 2017, 11:53:01 AM
Thank you again Bob.
Hopefully the (still anonymous) culprit will see this thread and not make such changes again.

David
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: miraflores on March 10, 2017, 07:46:00 AM
Same happened with my photo from NE BRAZIL

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2540239

Ships name was changed 3 times to BrNS BRAZIL by an "unknown moderator",
I have 3 times changed the name back to NE BRAZIL and made an additional comment that I will delete the photo when the name was changed once more. Later I deleted my comment.
I think I know who is the unknown moderator in the far, far east in the  middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: davidships on March 10, 2017, 10:09:45 AM
I am sorry, but "NE" is not a country prefix - it is a ship-type: Navio Escola = schoolship/training ship.  Like some other navies, the Brazilian Navy uses the ship type as is prefix internally, but we do not.  Most of the country prefixes used on this site are those used internationally for all ships of a particular navy.  The guidance is here:
Quote
SHIPS NAME BOX: Show the country designator, vessel name and pennant number.
http://www.shipspotting.com/support/faq.php?category=Military%20Ships

As with others, the photo has been moved in accordance with site standards/guidance (the ship's name is BRASIL).  Members are welcome to include additional information in the Photo Description.

David
Title: Re: Vessel names being changed on Shipspotting.
Post by: miraflores on March 12, 2017, 08:11:39 AM
I do not agree with the name BrNS BRASIL

So now I have deleted the photo.

If somebody wants to see the photos from the channel bridge can go to

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/photos/of/ships/shipid:775616/shipname:NE%20BRASIL/mmsi:710429000