unicus pointed out to me that a fake birth year from my local db was inadvertenly contributed in a contribution I made today. I was not provided a check box in which to indicate that I wanted to contribute the birth year (although I was provided a check box for a non-fake birth year in that contribution), and I did not intend to contribute it, but it went through anyway.

I removed the birth year from my local and recontributed, but this is not good.

unicus can comment on the extent of his own personal testing. He did tell me he tested with fake and real birth years and all of them slipped through without a check box being offered or checked.

Something's wrong with the birth year filter... 

It must be an intermitent glitch as I just tested it again with another actor and was given a checkbox for that actor. 

Must be gremlins. 

OK. I got an answer.

The name I was contributing is James MacDonald. A BY of 1906 has been accepted for that name. I had 9901 input for the name James MacDonald in a profile for an actor I knew was not the 1906 actor (but I didn't intent to contribute it). According to the info I received in my support ticket, by design, the system will allow any birth year for James MacDonald after one birth year is accepted.

That wasn't my understanding of how the BY filter works, so that throws a kink into the works. 

Here's exactly what they said:

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"James MacDonald" birth year 1906 was added to a profile on 2008-03-11, so by design you will not be prompted when adding a birth year to any profile with any birth year with the name "James MacDonald"

Quoting Addicted2DVD:

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Thanks for the answer... don't look like I will be using any fake birth years in my collection.

Right. And you can't use real birth years either unless you are willing to document them when you contribute.

So they only require that you verify it the first time it is entered, but not if you want to change it?  I agree, that isn't the way I thought it worked either. 

The system needs a standard for fake BYs and an automatic filter to prevent them. If everyone uses a 9xxx style BY and the contribution system ignores all BY starting with a 9 there would be no problem. But, as it now stands, everyone using fake BYs need to be careful not to contribute them.

I'm really surprised at this behaviour... I don't think I've contributed a fake birth year yet (well, once, but I spotted it and removed it immediately afterwards), but I'll be extra careful from now on.

Quoting antolod:

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The system needs a standard for fake BYs and an automatic filter to prevent them.

Agreed!

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If everyone uses a 9xxx style BY and the contribution system ignores all BY starting with a 9 there would be no problem.

Something like that would work, yes.

Quoting m.cellophane:

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I would prefer that the system would not allow birth years to be contributed from my contributions unless I check a box to indicate that it should be contributed. I have birth years in my local db, both real and fake, that I would rather avoid during a contribution than to have to justify them.

That would work, too.