Option To Keep Duplicate Values When Using a Metadata Template

[PandDLong]

Context:
Repeatable tags (lists within a tag) are a a very useful tool within the metadata and the support through iMatch is excellent with a lot of functionality.   The most commonly used repeatable tag is Keywords and iMatch also makes particularly good use of Person_in_Image through the People function.  There are many advantages of using a repeatable tag over a "regular" tag for any metadata for which two or more values may exist - I wrote a bit more about it here (https://www.photools.com/community/index.php/topic,14077.msg99008.html#msg99008). 

A challenge is that repeatable tags are handled differently when populated through a metadata template versus a metadata panel.  The template removes duplicates and the panel does not (whether entering manually or a copy/paste).  This duplicate removal is definitely a plus when handling keywords but not necessarily other situations (note the Keyword Panel also does this duplicate removal).

Scenario: 
To illustrate using the structured Artwork or Object Tags from IPTC Extension with Title and Creator - I have a photo with five pieces of art and the Title/Creators are:
                 
            Boat/John, Tree/Mary, Dock/John, Mountain/Abdul, and Beach/Petra

If the metadata template is used to populate the tags, the first John is dropped as a duplicate and now it shows as:

           Boat/Mary, Tree/John, Dock/Abdul, Mountain/Petra and Beach/null


Request: 
Allow a repeatable tag to have duplicate values when using a metadata template.  As this duplicate removal is desired in some cases (eg. Keywords) and is the default processing today, this feature needs to be an option or a preference.

I suggest it is best to be a check-box option on the metadata template dialog in the same manner as "Insert only if tag empty", "Merge with existing contents", etc.

Benefit: 
It would make the behavior of the metadata panel and templates the same for repeatable tags and increase the versatility of repeatable tags - both as stand-alone and as part of structured tags.


Happy to provide more context and info as desired -including more realistic scenarios where a metadata template is used to populate a repeatable tag.

Michael