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    <name>Domain Administrator</name>
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    <id>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/fictional_universe</id>
    <link rel="self" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/feed/discuss/schema/fictional_universe"/>
    <title>Fictional Universes</title>
    <updated>2008-05-17T01:58:58Z</updated>
  <entry>
    <author>
    <name>spatialed</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/spatialed</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;duck1123's types sort of do this but their names have are somewhat subjective (e.g., &amp;quot;primary&amp;quot;) and therefore not as useful as they could be. Also see the third linked Batman topic. That redundant topic has an &amp;quot;Alternate persona&amp;quot; type that contains info that should really be linked to the first Batman topic but can't because that one is attributed with Bruce Wayne characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I prefer the way that Barbara Gordon is described compared to the way that Batman is described. For the most part, Barbara Gordon is a character that is distinct from Catwoman and Oracle but linked to them through alternate identies.&amp;nbsp; I would just rename &amp;quot;Primary identity&amp;quot; to &amp;quot;Identity&amp;quot;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Primary identity is important in terms of who is most commonly associated with the other identity. There should be a way to distinquish that Bruce Wayne is the primary identity of Batman and not Jean-Paul Valley. However, that info&amp;nbsp; may be better pulled from the data in terms of # of story lines or similar value.&amp;nbsp; For example, who is the primary identity of &lt;a href="/view/en/witchblade"&gt;Witchblade&lt;/a&gt; throughout history? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830e8ba</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830e8ba" title="Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters"/>
    <summary type="html">duck1123's types sort of do this but their names have are somewhat subjective (e.g., &amp;quot;primary...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters</title>
    <updated>2008-05-14T19:05:50.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't &amp;quot;an identity type with an alter ego property that links multiple identities&amp;quot; essentially what duck1123's types do?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One &amp;quot;primary identity&amp;quot; with multiple superhero identities seems pretty straightforward: see &lt;a href="/view/en/barbara_gordon"&gt;Barbara Gordon&lt;/a&gt;. But the more complicated issue is when one superhero identity is assumed by multiple people. Is the Batman of &amp;quot;Batman Beyond&amp;quot; (Bruce Wayne's son in that continuity) really the same as the original Batman? And is either the same as the Batman persona assumed by Jean-Paul Valley while Batman/Wayne was temporarily out of commission? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The question of alternate-Earth Batmen seems more straightforward -- different characters with different alternate identities. So the alternate Batmen would have alternate identies of Earth-One Bruce Wayne and Earth-Two Bruce Wayne as appropriate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I agree that pseudonyms are different than this. I think Faye's suggestion was simply that common use should determine the topic name, which I think is the right answer if we use the simpler model. But I'm inclined toward the alteregos model if we think it can work. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830e086</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830e086" title="Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters"/>
    <summary type="html">Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't &amp;quot;an identity type with an alter ego property that links...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters</title>
    <updated>2008-05-14T17:33:33.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>spatialed</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/spatialed</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;IMO, all egos deserve their own topic pages. How about something like an identity type with an alter ego property that links multiple identities? &amp;quot;Primary identity&amp;quot; would then be determined through other properties and the purpose of the declaration. This would allow Batman to have properties that are distinct from those of Bruce Wayne but they are still linked through an informative property. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Batman is a good case. Many of his story lines focus on whether Batman or Bruce Wayne is the primary identity. Both could be considered &amp;quot;secret identities&amp;quot;. One is a caped crusader, the other is a public figure and never the 'tween shall meet (except in the Bat Cave, which is neutral ground).&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;I would not attribute Batman as the owner of Wayne Industries. Whether or not Bruce Wayne could be considered a superhero or detective is a matter of debate. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;On the flip side, citizens of Gotham are curious about the secret identity of Batman and they don't know to be curious about a secret identity of Bruce Wayne.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Sting is an interesting case.. I don't really see Sting as an alter ego of Gordon Sumner. Sting is just a pseudonym/alias.&amp;nbsp;Compare that situation to the acting roles that Sting/Sumner has played in film and television. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;There are some superheroes that have multiple &amp;ldquo;primary identities&amp;rdquo;, and some &amp;ldquo;primary identities&amp;rdquo; have donned the costumes of multiple superheroes. Does the model handle those cases? It sort of does but not that well. See &lt;a href="/view/en/batman"&gt;Batman&lt;/a&gt; vs &lt;a href="/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000466b69e"&gt;Batman&lt;/a&gt; vs. &lt;a href="/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000069ea3b2"&gt;Batman&lt;/a&gt;. Maybe addressing these situations could help refine the model. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830c70d</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830c70d" title="Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters"/>
    <summary type="html">IMO, all egos deserve their own topic pages. How about something like an identity type with an...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters</title>
    <updated>2008-05-14T03:07:13.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>faye</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/faye</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Personally (and I stress personally because it's by no means any kind of standard), I think it makes sense to use the better known name as the name of a topic. I apply this principle to real people as well as fictional characters. Additional names can always be added as topic aliases (&amp;quot;also known as&amp;quot;). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There's a practical side to it. People are more likely to talk about (and search for) &amp;quot;Spider-Man&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Mark Twain&amp;quot;, and &amp;quot;Sting&amp;quot; by these names, than by the lesser known &amp;quot;Peter Parker&amp;quot;, &amp;quot; Samuel Clemens&amp;quot;, and &amp;quot;Gordon Sumner&amp;quot;. There's less information associated with the lesser known names. As an unfair example, I just searched for music on Amazon using &amp;quot;Gordon Sumner&amp;quot;, and not surprisingly none of Sting's well-known albums showed up. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000083024b0</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000083024b0" title="Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters"/>
    <summary type="html">Personally (and I stress personally because it's by no means any kind of standard), I think it...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters</title>
    <updated>2008-05-14T00:31:47.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;I don't think there's a standard for this at all. User duck1123 has created a few types that can equate alter egos to each other. See his types &lt;a href="/view/user/duck1123/default_domain/primary_identity"&gt;Primary Identity&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="/view/user/duck1123/default_domain/alternate_persona"&gt;Alternate Persona&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830242e</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000830242e" title="Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters"/>
    <summary type="html">I don't think there's a standard for this at all. User duck1123 has created a few types that can...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters</title>
    <updated>2008-05-14T00:01:30.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>drakecaiman</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/drakecaiman</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Is there a preference on what the main name of a Fictional Character topic such be? Does alias or superhero name take precedence over real name?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000083020fc</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000083020fc" title="Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters"/>
    <summary type="html">Is there a preference on what the main name of a Fictional Character topic such be? Does alias or...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Naming Fictional Characters</title>
    <updated>2008-05-13T23:38:27.0012Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>gmackenz</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/gmackenz</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Well there is somthing like &lt;a href="/view/user/duck1123/fictional_characters"&gt;that&lt;/a&gt; by user duck1123&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Should it be a topic-based property or simply a text-based propert (there are some topics existing for some of the more well-known alter-IDs). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000080f8990</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000080f8990" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">Well there is somthing like that by user duck1123 Should it be a topic-based property or simply a...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2008-04-29T23:55:30.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>vtalwar</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/vtalwar</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;How about an alter-ego property? This would come in handy for superheroes. Seems that this is being stuck on as an alias right now, but there are enough superheroes that it might as well be a property, right?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000080f86d0</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000080f86d0" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">How about an alter-ego property? This would come in handy for superheroes. Seems that this is being...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2008-04-29T23:19:45.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Go wild. I've added the property and a new type, &amp;quot;fictional universe creator&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007dda0ff</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007dda0ff" title="Fictional Universe: Created by?"/>
    <summary type="html">Go wild. I've added the property and a new type, &amp;quot;fictional universe creator&amp;quot;. </summary>
    <title>Fictional Universe: Created by?</title>
    <updated>2008-04-07T21:28:19.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>zenkat</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/zenkat</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;+1 on this request ... I was playing around with the Dune Universe, and I thought it strange that we could not enter Frank Herbert as the creator of the fictional universe.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007dd7714</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007dd7714" title="Fictional Universe: Created by?"/>
    <summary type="html">+1 on this request ... I was playing around with the Dune Universe, and I thought it strange that...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universe: Created by?</title>
    <updated>2008-04-07T15:16:24.0012Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>gmackenz</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/gmackenz</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's a bit of a judgement call, well known (ie fictional works that have inspired a myriad of fan-fiction and/or authorized novelizations of cannon-based/non-canon storylines) tend to have a topic instance already in existence...Firefly might have an existing 'verse but I couldn't find that Brazil has one.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;One could mark the Brazil topic for a split or better yet we can remove the fictional universe type association as it seems to have little value at this time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;The Simpsons topic is based originally upon a Wikipedia article that is about the TV show, history, cultural impact other media, etc...It almost is a universe topic, just heavily weighted towards the TV series aspect. It can easily be marked as a split, but as is, it could remain a multi-typed topic. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007bc03b4</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007bc03b4" title="Fictional Universes: let's not conflate the work of fiction with it's universe..."/>
    <summary type="html">It's a bit of a judgement call, well known (ie fictional works that have inspired a myriad of fan...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: let's not conflate the work of fiction with it's universe...</title>
    <updated>2008-03-27T22:43:02.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>mattkantor</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/mattkantor</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;I'm seeing this a lot (Firefly, The Simpsons, Brazil, etc).&amp;nbsp; Are the statements above still valid, and should we have separate universes for all of these?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007ba6828</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007ba6828" title="Fictional Universes: let's not conflate the work of fiction with it's universe..."/>
    <summary type="html">I'm seeing this a lot (Firefly, The Simpsons, Brazil, etc).&amp;nbsp; Are the statements above still...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: let's not conflate the work of fiction with it's universe...</title>
    <updated>2008-03-27T04:34:06.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is a good point; &amp;quot;fictional setting&amp;quot; should include those fictional locations that aren't actually used as a setting, assuming that they are of sufficient interest for someone to enter, despite the fact that the name is &amp;quot;setting&amp;quot; rather than &amp;quot;location&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007b984a5</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007b984a5" title="Fictional Setting: Fictional Location"/>
    <summary type="html">This is a good point; &amp;quot;fictional setting&amp;quot; should include those fictional locations that...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Setting: Fictional Location</title>
    <updated>2008-03-24T20:38:03.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>danny</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/danny</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;I agree.&amp;nbsp; One problem is that not all fictional locations are settings of stories. They may just be reffered to in fiction, for example.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007b9725c</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000007b9725c" title="Fictional Setting: Fictional Location"/>
    <summary type="html">I agree.&amp;nbsp; One problem is that not all fictional locations are settings of stories. They may...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Setting: Fictional Location</title>
    <updated>2008-03-23T20:39:54.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was a deliberate choice on our part. We chose the name &amp;quot;fictional setting&amp;quot; because it's accurate for all places that appear in works of fiction -- San Francisco is the setting of many works of fiction, but it is not itself a fictional place. &amp;quot;Fictional location&amp;quot; would only be accurate for wholly imaginary places like &lt;a href="/view/middle-earth"&gt;Middle Earth&lt;/a&gt; or the planet &lt;a href="/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000042d38b"&gt;Vulcan&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000006ad40d5</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000006ad40d5" title="Fictional Setting: Fictional Location"/>
    <summary type="html">This was a deliberate choice on our part. We chose the name &amp;quot;fictional setting&amp;quot; because...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Setting: Fictional Location</title>
    <updated>2007-12-12T18:06:25.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>duck1123</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/duck1123</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I'd like to suggest that either you rename this type &amp;quot;fictional location&amp;quot; or at least set up an alias of that name.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;The rationale for this is, all of the other &amp;quot;setting&amp;quot; types are called &amp;quot;location&amp;quot;. This would keep the names consistent. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000006ad2fdb</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000006ad2fdb" title="Fictional Setting: Fictional Location"/>
    <summary type="html">I'd like to suggest that either you rename this type &amp;quot;fictional location&amp;quot; or at least set...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Setting: Fictional Location</title>
    <updated>2007-12-12T06:46:12.0005Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This appears to be a mistake. I'll hide the extra field and make sure that any data is moved over. Thanks for pointing this out.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000006a35cc3</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000006a35cc3" title="Fictional Universe: Locations vs Contains fictional settings"/>
    <summary type="html">This appears to be a mistake. I'll hide the extra field and make sure that any data is moved over....</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universe: Locations vs Contains fictional settings</title>
    <updated>2007-11-29T19:54:46.0020Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>trs80</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/trs80</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;What's the difference between Locations and Contains fictional settings? Both link to a fictional Setting.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000647ce6f</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000647ce6f" title="Fictional Universe: Locations vs Contains fictional settings"/>
    <summary type="html">What's the difference between Locations and Contains fictional settings? Both link to a fictional...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universe: Locations vs Contains fictional settings</title>
    <updated>2007-11-28T18:04:42.0005Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>faye</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/faye</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Hmm, the property "Based on" expects a "Person Or Being In Fiction" in the fictional universe. Is the correct usage, then, to cotype a real Person in the People domain as a "Person Or Being in Fiction", which is then linked to the fictional character(s)?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005f0e4d2</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005f0e4d2" title="Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe"/>
    <summary type="html">Hmm, the property "Based on" expects a "Person Or Being In Fiction" in the fictional universe. Is...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe</title>
    <updated>2007-10-08T22:07:40.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Um, Faye? There is a "based on" property on "fictional character" for just such a purpose.  We tried having it on fictional setting, but it turns out to be much more confusing, and even with documentation lead to more bad data than good.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005f0e4c2</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005f0e4c2" title="Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe"/>
    <summary type="html">Um, Faye? There is a "based on" property on "fictional character" for just such a purpose. We...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe</title>
    <updated>2007-10-08T21:54:16.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>gmackenz</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/gmackenz</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;So if I am following you correctly we should have a three John Nash's in the Freebase.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Real John Nash&lt;br /&gt;
Fictional John Nash (based on the real John Nash)&lt;br /&gt;
Performance John Nash (Performance by Russell Crowe, based on Fictional John Nash)&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005f0e4b2</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005f0e4b2" title="Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe"/>
    <summary type="html">So if I am following you correctly we should have a three John Nash's in the Freebase.
Real John...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe</title>
    <updated>2007-10-08T21:53:08.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>faye</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/faye</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Many fictional characters (among other things) have real-world inspirations. This is especially true in biographies and "factions" (fact-based works of fiction). I'd like to see a property (like "Based on") that links the fictional character and the real world person, such as the main character in "A Beautiful Mind" to the real economist John Nash. The same can be said about Fictional Setting -- for example the fictional New York in "Gangs of New York" is based on the real New York City -- but I'd be happy just to see the property added to Fictional Character as a start.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005e906fa</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005e906fa" title="Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe"/>
    <summary type="html">Many fictional characters (among other things) have real-world inspirations. This is especially...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Bridging reality and the fictional universe</title>
    <updated>2007-10-06T00:09:38.0005Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>tim</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/tim</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;What is the difference between "Character Occupation" and "Fictional Job Title"?&lt;br /&gt;
This seems to be a pretty fine distinction for the "Fictional Universe" types,&lt;br /&gt;
which are otherwise fairly broad.  I wonder if these two should be merged.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005a8604d</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005a8604d" title="Character Occupation: Why Two?"/>
    <summary type="html">What is the difference between "Character Occupation" and "Fictional Job Title"?
This seems to be a...</summary>
    <title>Character Occupation: Why Two?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-15T21:01:33.0011Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;(Sorry, meant to link to &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/discuss?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000003c1b16b#%239202a8c04000641f80000000054a7c9f"&gt;the other thread on historical persons&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941ae9</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941ae9" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">(Sorry, meant to link to the other thread on historical persons.) </summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T22:06:35.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;In this thread, they even have the same problem for real historical persons: "Take "Person": where their dates of birth and death are not known, the dates in which a person flourished is standardly used to disambiguate them." They want to specify the birth date as "Qing Dynasty". This will probably be solved by splitting out a separate type (like Living Thing) that defines Birth Date and which the Person type includes. (Then you could mix in a different type that defines the different kind of birth date that you need.) The relevance to "contextual assertions" still applies. If you have a type for real Living Thing (with a birth date), will a user be afraid to use it on a fictional character? Right now, they should be afaid because it implies the character is real like all the other topics with the property. But the problem is solved if the character uses the same type as real things, but asserts the birth date in the context of the fictional universe (so it doesn't come up ono searches for "real people born on this date").&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941ad9</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941ad9" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">In this thread, they even have the same problem for real historical persons: "Take "Person": where...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T22:05:30.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;I don't think this example would actually be solved by assertions, since regardless of whether we implement assertions or not, we still need a type to hold the data, and we currently lack a type that could be used for both real dates and dates in fictional calendar systems.  It does seem like people want to enter this data for fictional characters, so it's worth trying to model a type we can use.  A compound-value type with two properties might suffice -- one of type "datetime" for fictional characters in universes using the Gregorian calendar (AND who are born within the range 10,000 BCE - AD 9999), and one or two for all others.  I have a bazillion things on my plate right now, but if I have time, I'll play around with it.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941a36</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941a36" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">I don't think this example would actually be solved by assertions, since regardless of whether we...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T21:39:13.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This came up on a couple Fictional Character topics where someone wanted to give a birth date so they had to make the character a Person too, which is a no-no. To beat the same drum again: This problem is solved by allowing users to use the existing types for Person, Education, Politician, Author, etc. etc. on a fictional character - just put the &lt;i&gt;assertion&lt;/i&gt; for the bithdate or "term of office as president" in the context of the fictional universe. In everyday life, people put properties, not only on topics, but on assertions.  Quotation: "President Bush says there are WMDs but the French prime minister says there are not". Citation: "According to the US Census, the population is 100,000". Fictional assertions about real things "In the universe the 'Independence Day' movie, the Empire State Building is destroyed on July 2, 1996". (Wouldn't it be great to put this assertion on the real Empire State Building topic without having to create a separate type for 'Fictional Building' when we have to make a separate topic?)&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059416bd</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059416bd" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">This came up on a couple Fictional Character topics where someone wanted to give a birth date so...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T20:10:11.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;(Try again...) I'll copy the example from my &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/discuss?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000004f3c9e3#%239202a8c04000641f800000000593fb72"&gt;post below&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
6. Who wrote the book Venus on the Half Shell? According to &lt;a href = "http://www.amazon.com/Venus-Half-Shell-Kilgore-Trout/dp/B000SOVNX6/ref=sr_1_3/002-0723902-5404839"&gt;amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;, it was &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f80000000002e0779"&gt;Kilgore Trout&lt;/a&gt;. But this is an attribution to a fictional character created by Kurt Vonnegut. It was really written by &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f800000000007ca8c"&gt;Philip José Farmer&lt;/a&gt;. How to handle this? Do we need a 'Fictional Book' type so that there can be a topic for the fictional version of the book? No. It's easy if we put the assertion that Kilgore Trout wrote the book in the context of Kurt Vonnegut's fictional universe. This requires Freebase to show properties on assertions, not just on topics.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059411e7</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059411e7" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">(Try again...) I'll copy the example from my post below:
6. Who wrote the book Venus on the Half...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T18:50:53.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;The problem here is that lots of fictional characters exist in universes that don't use the Gregorian calendar, so we'd need to find a way to capture Gregorian dates, Stardates, Middle-Earth dates, years A.F. (After Ford), etc.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059411d7</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059411d7" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">The problem here is that lots of fictional characters exist in universes that don't use the...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T18:50:51.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;I'll copy the example from my &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/discuss?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000004f3c9e3#%239202a8c04000641f800000000593fb72&gt;post below&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
6. Who wrote the book Venus on the Half Shell? According to &lt;a href = "http://www.amazon.com/Venus-Half-Shell-Kilgore-Trout/dp/B000SOVNX6/ref=sr_1_3/002-0723902-5404839"&gt;amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;, it was &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f80000000002e0779"&gt;Kilgore Trout&lt;/a&gt;. But this is an attribution to a fictional character created by Kurt Vonnegut. It was really written by &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f800000000007ca8c"&gt;Philip José Farmer&lt;/a&gt;. How to handle this? Do we need a 'Fictional Book' type so that there can be a topic for the fictional version of the book? No. It's easy if we put the assertion that Kilgore Trout wrote the book in the context of Kurt Vonnegut's fictional universe. This requires Freebase to show properties on assertions, not just on topics.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059411a1</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059411a1" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">I'll copy the example from my post below:
6. Who wrote the book Venus on the Half Shell? According...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T18:49:09.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;See my &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/discuss?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000004f3c9e3#%239202a8c04000641f80000000059025ae"post above&lt;/a&gt;. I'll add a similar example along these lines that could be solved by making the context of an assertion visible. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
6. Who wrote the book Venus on the Half Shell? According to &lt;a href = "http://www.amazon.com/Venus-Half-Shell-Kilgore-Trout/dp/B000SOVNX6/ref=sr_1_3/002-0723902-5404839"&gt;amazon.com&lt;/a&gt;, it was &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f80000000002e0779"&gt;Kilgore Trout&lt;/a&gt;. But attribution is to a fictional character created by Kurt Vonnegut. It was really written by &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f800000000007ca8c"&gt;Philip José Farmer&lt;/a&gt;. How to handle this? Do we need a 'Fictional Book' type so that there can be a topic for the fictional version of the book? No. It's easy if we put the assertion that Kilgore Trout wrote the book in the context of Kurt Vonnegut's fictional universe. This requires Freebase to show properties on assertions, not just on topics.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941150</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005941150" title="Fictional Universes: Fictional Musical Artist?"/>
    <summary type="html">See my . I'll add a similar example along these lines that could be solved by making the context of...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Fictional Musical Artist?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T18:42:41.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;This is a complex issue, all right, and I'm sure that Ali G isn't the only such instance. I do think that this is a similar problem to the use of pseudonyms, although with an extra layer of complexity.  It's valuable to know under what name a work was produced, both for cataloging-type applications, as well as if you just want to find a book on a shelf somewhere and need to know the name it was published under. But it's also important for people who don't know that a name is a pseudonym to be able to find works by that person published under other names. (Also, sometimes pseudonymous works are reprinted under the author's real name, and we need to be able to assert both that the work has been published under different names, and that it is the same work.)  We haven't come remotely close to solving this issue, so any suggestions would be welcome.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005940f17</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005940f17" title="Fictional Universes: Fictional Musical Artist?"/>
    <summary type="html">This is a complex issue, all right, and I'm sure that Ali G isn't the only such instance. I do...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Fictional Musical Artist?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T18:14:22.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;We thought about this, and even had it modeled, but decided ultimately that the decrease in usability was greater than the value of the increased granularity of the model. One way that it works better than fictional character is that there's only one outgoing property from the actual location to the fictional works it appears in, whereas with characters, there was the possibility of an extremely large number of extra properties (books appears in, films appears in, operas appears in, comic strips appears in, etc.), some of which we properties specific to a certain domain (the type "comic book character" has several properties beyond just the works it appears in).  With location, we were able to get around this by creating a separate type ("&lt;a href="/view/filter?id=/fictional_universe/work_of_fiction"&gt;work of fiction&lt;/a&gt;") to use as a cotype when we want to indicate settings.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005940eb1</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005940eb1" title="Fictional Universes: Fictional Setting vs. (real) Location"/>
    <summary type="html">We thought about this, and even had it modeled, but decided ultimately that the decrease in...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Fictional Setting vs. (real) Location</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T18:04:34.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the reply. I can easily come up with lots of examples because:&lt;br /&gt;
A. Every assertion has a source and set of assumptions. (Even well-meaning people will come to different conclusions)&lt;br /&gt;
B. Every assertion is true at some point in time, and can change later (because the world changes).&lt;br /&gt;
So, &lt;i&gt;every&lt;/i&gt; assertion is in the context of a source and a time. Freebase can only skirt around this by assuming every assertion has only one universally greed source, and that circumstances will never change. This hampers the knowledge that Freebase can capture. Examples:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
1. What is the population of India? Instead of making a special composite type for population, the simple assertion of 1.12 billion should be marked in the context of the &lt;i&gt;source&lt;/i&gt; of the information and the time at which it was true.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
2. In what viral group is this virus? That depends on what you assume is its genetic function. Reasonable people can come to different conclusions. Allow assertions for both group A and group B, but make the context of each assertion visible.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
3. Who are the children of Thomas Jefferson? There are different claims of paternity. Instead of making a different topic for each "fictional" version of Thomas Jefferson, allow the assertion on the main Thomas Jefferson topic and &lt;i&gt;cite the source&lt;/i&gt; of the claim on the assertion. (Currently, Freebase tragically obliterates all the footnotes in Wikipedia articles that cite sources, because a citation is a property of an assertion, not a topic. Freebase needs this mechanism.)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
4. Who are graduates of &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f80000000000ae2b2"&gt;Georgetown University&lt;/a&gt;? Apparently, one of them is &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f800000000055f769"&gt;Zoey Bartlet&lt;/a&gt;. Why? Because in the explosion of parallel types for Fictional Universes, no one has created a "Fictional Education" type, so the fictional character is made to be a real Person, so that it can be asserted that she went to the real Georgetown University. Is the solution to make a "fictional" Georgetown University and Education type to go with it? No. The assertion that Zoey Bartlet went to Georgetown University is in the context of the West Wing TV show.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
5. How much does Oprah Winfrey weigh? Right now, the Weight property is a single value with no source or timestamp. But like all properties (height, religion, even gender nowadays), they change. Even the property Place of Birth can often legitimately be disputed. What does it mean if every month people go in and change the Weight property? Are they correcting a previously incorrect assertion, or are they correctly asserting that &lt;i&gt;at the moment, according to this source&lt;/I&gt; this is true? (The Page History on a topic is not the place to track changes over time because it doesn't distinguish between actual changes to a value, and people just trying to correct mistakes.)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I'll stop there, but the list goes on.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005940e91</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005940e91" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Thanks for the reply. I can easily come up with lots of examples because:
A. Every assertion has a...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T17:59:47.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>alexander</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/alexander</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Actually, I do think that the contextual assertion approach you've been suggesting could lead to a pretty solid, generic solution to some of these sorts of problems. It seems like it would also let you answer the "when was X a valid assertion?" question, as is being discussed on the Domains and Types page, to deal with historical countries and that sort of thing but without duplicating schema, as you said. It does add complexity to the core representation system, though, and would require a lot of changes to pretty much every component of Freebase, so it's really a question of whether this is such a common pattern for the things we want to represent that it's worth integrating. I'm only speaking for myself here, but I'd definitely like to see this idea discussed more... maybe we should think through some really specific, compelling examples of what this would enable.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fe62</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fe62" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Actually, I do think that the contextual assertion approach you've been suggesting could lead to a...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T08:19:22.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Alexander, you say "The philosophically ideal solution is to create new topics for every fictional rendition (or interpretation or opinion...) of anything". But there is another technical, and much cleaner, solution used by other knowledge systems. Instead of creating new topics for everything, allow the user to specify a context for a particular assertion on a given topic. Right now on the &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000000aca657"&gt;Dog&lt;/a&gt; page, if you click the drop-down for Dogbert it has 'View', 'Edit' and 'Remove'. Imagine it also had 'Context', and you could specify the 'Dilbert Universe' as the context, right on the assertion itself, without creating a new topic. If Freebase had this feature, arguably we wouldn't need the explosion of duplicate types in the Fictional Universes domain at all. (I've posted this question already several times. I sure hope someone answers this time....)&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fdb1</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fdb1" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Alexander, you say "The philosophically ideal solution is to create new topics for every fictional...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T07:37:29.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>alexander</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/alexander</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Well... this is a matter of some debate currently. The philosophically ideal solution is to create new topics for every fictional rendition (or interpretation or opinion...) of anything, but this makes for complex schemas and tends to make querying and browsing more difficult, and I'm not sure what it really gives us that's useful in most cases.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I'd be inclined to say that Dogbert's species is plain old Dog, even though real dogs can't talk, because, as it is, we aren't actually asserting that "dogs can talk" when we make that link. Real dogs also don't save children from wells out of their own moral imperative every day of the week, but it seems very pedantic to create a new topic just for "Canines in the Lassie Universe."&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The only way I can think of for deciding how to draw these lines is to consider what is the most useful and practical. We also have to consider what pattern of data people will actually input, and I expect that most users wouldn't think to create a new topic called Dog, link it to the Dilbert Universe and assert that it's "based on" the Dog of reality, but rather link directly to Dog because they intuitively know that we never talk about the fictional species to which Dogbert would belong in a philosophically ideal world -- he's one of a kind, and any interesting things about him will be connected to the Dogbert topic itself. Wookies, on the other hand, though also "based on" the canine, really are thought of as a distinct fictional species -- there are many instances of them, and Star Wars geeks would happily discuss all of the species' various fictional social and biological features.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In our framework, it's trivial to look for "animals that are also character species" to see exactly where these cases appear, and you could then (programmatically, if needed), cleanly split all of these cases into two. In other words, I don't see any pollution of either the animal or the character species namespaces with this type of convergence right now, and if we ever want to be a little stricter about it, we can easily migrate there. For now, I don't see how a topic just to represent how Dogbert is dissimilar to real-world dogs would help anybody answer any questions, but I can imagine how it would make things a little more confusing.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Anyway, everything is in flux, and that's sort of the point. We aren't claiming to have an end-all solution to the philosophy of knowledge, we're providing a powerful and flexible framework that can gracefully evolve to accommodate all sorts of different ways of looking at the world. These models will always be imperfect; they wouldn't be models if they didn't carry assumptions. As Freebase evolves, we'll all have a better idea of what modeling patterns work best for solving the problems the community cares about.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fcf1</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fcf1" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Well... this is a matter of some debate currently. The philosophically ideal solution is to create...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T07:10:57.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;The fictional character &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f800000000005a544"&gt;Ali G&lt;/a&gt; is the attributed recording artist of several real published songs. For this reason he was typed a (real) Musical Artist. Should this be switch to the character's real creator Sacha Baron Cohen? If so, then do we lose information about how the songs are labeled in the publication? (Maybe this is a similar problem to someone publishing a book under a pen name when we know who the real author is.)&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb76</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb76" title="Fictional Universes: Fictional Musical Artist?"/>
    <summary type="html">The fictional character Ali G is the attributed recording artist of several real published songs....</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Fictional Musical Artist?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T05:11:24.0004Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Would it be appropriate to remove cartoon characters like &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000000252257"&gt;Dogbert&lt;/a&gt;, Snoopy, Satchel Pooch, etc. from the real &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000000aca657"&gt;Dog&lt;/a&gt; species topic?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb56</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb56" title="Fictional Character: More on species"/>
    <summary type="html">Would it be appropriate to remove cartoon characters like Dogbert, Snoopy, Satchel Pooch, etc. from...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: More on species</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T04:52:30.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Can you add a Date of Birth property (and maybe Date of Death too)?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb41</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb41" title="Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth"/>
    <summary type="html">Can you add a Date of Birth property (and maybe Date of Death too)? </summary>
    <title>Fictional Character: Add property: Date of Birth</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T04:47:17.0004Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;For the same reason that we should keep Lyndon B. Johnson separate from a fictional character based on him, should we also keep a Fictional Setting separate from the real Location it is based on? For example, &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f80000000002f8906"&gt;New York, New York&lt;/a&gt; is the setting for many films.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb2d</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f800000000593fb2d" title="Fictional Universes: Fictional Setting vs. (real) Location"/>
    <summary type="html">For the same reason that we should keep Lyndon B. Johnson separate from a fictional character based...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Fictional Setting vs. (real) Location</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T04:44:56.0011Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Thanks Alexander. Along the same lines, can the real species &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000000aca657"&gt;Dog&lt;/a&gt; (Canis lupus familiaris) also be the character species for the fictional character &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000000252257"&gt;Dogbert&lt;/a&gt;? Or, for that matter, can the real species &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000000c76d37"&gt;Human&lt;/a&gt; be the species for Harry Potter (who flies and does other non-human things)?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005935dbf</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005935dbf" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Thanks Alexander. Along the same lines, can the real species Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) also be...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T03:22:06.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>alexander</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/alexander</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Yes! Actually we have an "Incompatible Types" type (http://www.freebase.com/view/filter?id=/dataworld/incompatible_types) which lets you store collections of types that cannot logically coexist on a topic. Exactly how we'll enforce these assertions remains to be seen, but certainly you would be right to remove Fictional Character from any topic who is really a Person.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005928c87</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005928c87" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Yes! Actually we have an "Incompatible Types" type (http://www.freebase.com/view/filter?id=...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T00:33:03.0052Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;The type &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/schema?id=%2Ffictional_universe%2Ffictional_character"&gt;Fictional Character&lt;/a&gt; has a Based On property so that Freebase can keep the topic for a real person like Julius Caesar separate from the fictional description. Basically, no topic should be both a Person and a Fictional Character. In the same way, shouldn't Character Species have a Based On property to keep a topic for a real species like &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000000c76d37"&gt;Human&lt;/a&gt; separate from fictional humans like the ones in Harry Potter (which can fly)?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005920ec0</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005920ec0" title="Character Species: Add 'Based On' property"/>
    <summary type="html">The type Fictional Character has a Based On property so that Freebase can keep the topic for a real...</summary>
    <title>Character Species: Add 'Based On' property</title>
    <updated>2007-08-09T00:27:25.0031Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Thanks for the quick reply. I fixed the LBJ example. I got lead down that path because many other topics are already typed Person and Fictional Character, including Julius Caesar, Howard Hughes, William Wilberforce, etc. Are there near or long term plans for queries to automate checking when topics conflict with the contract defined by the type (as Freebase grows to millions of topics)?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005902f98</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005902f98" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Thanks for the quick reply. I fixed the LBJ example. I got lead down that path because many other...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-08T23:25:32.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Instances of real people (and deities, for that matter) that appear in fictional works should be of the type "Fictional Character" but not "person".  Instead, the person they are based on should be entered in the "based on property". This will create a link back from the actual person to any fictional representations thereof, and allows for accurate fictional information to be recorded without muddying the real-world waters.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005902975</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005902975" title="Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?"/>
    <summary type="html">Instances of real people (and deities, for that matter) that appear in fictional works should be of...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: LBJ's secret love child. Am I doing this right too?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-08T22:09:28.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jeff</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jeff</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;That's exactly the sort of thing we had in mind for this property.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005902406</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005902406" title="Fictional Universes: Dracula: Am I doing this right?"/>
    <summary type="html">That's exactly the sort of thing we had in mind for this property. </summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Dracula: Am I doing this right?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-08T20:48:00.0007Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>jefft0</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/jefft0</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/schema?id=%2Ffictional_universe%2Ffictional_character"&gt;Fictional Character&lt;a/&gt; type, the property Appears In These Fictional Universes says "some characters (such as Dracula) appear in different universes". So, I couldn't resist. I put the topic &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000004762d54"&gt;Count Dracula&lt;/a&gt; in the universe of &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000005902122"&gt;Dracula (traditional)&lt;/a&gt; as well as Wes Craven's &lt;a href = "http://www.freebase.com/view/?id=%239202a8c04000641f8000000005902140"&gt;Dracula 2000&lt;/a&gt; in which the story of Dracula is changed so that he is really Judas. Is this the right reason to put one fictional character in different universes?&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059021bf</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000059021bf" title="Fictional Universes: Dracula: Am I doing this right?"/>
    <summary type="html">In the Fictional Character type, the property Appears In These Fictional Universes says "some...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Universes: Dracula: Am I doing this right?</title>
    <updated>2007-08-08T20:06:51.0011Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>faye</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/faye</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;If you come across topics of people who are both Authors and Fictional Character Creator, feel free to co-type the topics as belonging to both types. Often authors create their own characters, but increasingly common are the opposite, where popular characters sort of take on a life of their own long after their creators are gone. James Bond movies, Doctor Who novels (many of which are not canonized), even Sponge Bob Square Pants children's books are some examples where the Author or Film Writer is not necessarily the Fictional Character Creator for characters in his work.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
From the example above, it should also be clear that Fictional Character Creators are not all Authors. If you browse the Fictional Character Creator type, you'll see co-types such as Film Writers, Comic Strip Creators, and TV Writers, many of which are not Authors. It seems prudent, then, to apply co-types on a case-by-case basis.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005893eb9</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005893eb9" title="Fictional Character Creator: Fiction Writer"/>
    <summary type="html">If you come across topics of people who are both Authors and Fictional Character Creator, feel free...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character Creator: Fiction Writer</title>
    <updated>2007-08-06T19:02:50.0000Z</updated>
  </entry><entry>
    <author>
    <name>pjbringer</name>
    <uri>http://www.freebase.com:80/view/user/pjbringer</uri>
  </author>
    <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;Is there anyway to link that to Fiction Writer, or Author? Because often times authors create their own characters, it would be redundant to describe a Person as an Author, and as a Character Creator.&lt;/p&gt;</content>
    <id>http://www.freebase.comhttp://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005884fd3</id>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.freebase.com:80/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f8000000005884fd3" title="Fictional Character Creator: Fiction Writer"/>
    <summary type="html">Is there anyway to link that to Fiction Writer, or Author? Because often times authors create their...</summary>
    <title>Fictional Character Creator: Fiction Writer</title>
    <updated>2007-08-04T11:02:32.0011Z</updated>
  </entry>
</feed>