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For me there's a trade off.
The advantage of using a long text column is that I can use that column type's insert link tool (Ctrl+L) to put a URL 'behind' the name, which is something on which I place considerable value
The downside is that the column doesn't appear in the Tag Browser and I can't put it in a search group. To overcome these deficiencies, I have a Contributors column -- Comma separated text, like tags, shown in the Tag browser with the Contains names option checked -- e.g. Fred Nerk (T) & Mary Smith (I) etc; unlike the Authors column, columns of this type lack a Link field.
And because I find the metadata that publishers include in their products is inconsistent, I don't place any value on having calibre extract it from the format file when I add a book. My experience is that it takes more time to check, correct, and complete what calibre is able to extract, than it takes to enter it directly into the book list cells (that's not a criticism of calibre, it can only extract what's there, and if that's garbage…). I gather the metadata before I add a book and have it pinned so I can see it. As often as not, I can use calibre's metadata copy and paste features to replicate columns from an existing book into the book I'm adding.
BR
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