I am not an Invelos employee or in any way does my comments represent that of Invelos.  I just wanted to let out some issues that have been bugging me of late with some of the comments and discussions on this forum.

I don’t know of anyone here that was forced to make a contribution to the Invelos Online Data Base.  It is totally voluntary system and all we are asked to do is follow the contribution guidelines (rules) set forth by the makers of DVD Profiler.

My take on the rules, they were written to make it simple for anyone to contribute to the Online Data Base.  They tell you where to take the information from, over 90% of it is take if from the DVD or the Film, TV episode, or whatever presentation that is contained on the DVD.  Yes there is some data that we have to take else where like original SRP.  But, that aside it really shouldn’t be that difficult the difficulty I see is when we try to be smarter than the data we are entering.

It seems all too often the problems arise when we try to enter data that the program or rules never intended to entered.  Or when we try to force, what is sometimes call ambiguities in the rules to allow data to be profiled that probably should have never been profiled or profiled differently.

All too often it seems our personal preference gets in the way of profiling the data.  Than just profiling the data as it is spelled out in the rules.  I’m I guilty of this too, probably so, I’m no more innocent than probably any other contributor.  Do I try my best to stick to the rules, YES I DO.  Believe me or don’t believe me, that isn’t the point I’m trying to make.  I think all of us agree there are things in the rules or the way we profile certain data that we don’t agree with.  Now we may not all agree the same that is quite evident .

We should however when we contribute the data to the Online Data Base should be profiling it the way Invelos says we should.  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  This means if there are spelling errors in the overview contribute it, if the film credits misspell an actors name contribute it that way.

Maybe I’m alone in my thinking, that some of the stuff has gotten out of hand.  If I’m not alone in my thinking, express your thoughts or take on what to me appears to be way too much personal interruption.

Quoting Tracer:

Quote:
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

You know that would be a good title for a film...with perhaps a DVD release to follow

But apart from that I AGREE.

Steve

I agree mostly.
The only 'issue' that is annoying me today (as well as in the past), is that the rules are way too concise. Surely we don't want to be reading 100 pages of rules. But today they are so concise that you really have to read them over and over again and most people still will not fully get how we should do it.
There would be one very easy solution for that (other than clarifying the rules themselves) : maintaining a simple FAQ. The rules are lacking examples. The actual examples you usually get are from the forums, but there you get the same discussions over and over again, and often even plain wrong answers (I am pretty sure that I once read that Boxset casetype is only to be used if it is holding together separately packaged items).
And please don't tell that we don't need that, that the rules are clear, etc... The numerous discussions, or even my casetype polls, clearly show that some rules are misunderstood by the majority of contributors. A FAQ would be very easy to refer to each time a forum or voting discussion comes up.

Quoting Repter:

Quote:
I agree mostly.
The only 'issue' that is annoying me today (as well as in the past), is that the rules are way too concise. Surely we don't want to be reading 100 pages of rules. But today they are so concise that you really have to read them over and over again and most people still will not fully get how we should do it.
There would be one very easy solution for that (other than clarifying the rules themselves) : maintaining a simple FAQ. The rules are lacking examples. The actual examples you usually get are from the forums, but there you get the same discussions over and over again, and often even plain wrong answers (I am pretty sure that I once read that Boxset casetype is only to be used if it is holding together separately packaged items).
And please don't tell that we don't need that, that the rules are clear, etc... The numerous discussions, or even my casetype polls, clearly show that some rules are misunderstood by the majority of contributors. A FAQ would be very easy to refer to each time a forum or voting discussion comes up.

I'm not going to tell you that they are 100% clear some are very clear some are not quite so clear.  In fact when it comes to the rules and one of the reasons why we don't have 100 pages of rules.  Is the rules are meant to be simple so it can be easy to follow.  So there is a balancing act between what is necessary to make the rule clear and not so verbous that no one is going to even bother reading it.

As far as polls are concerned, what you may not get is those that are voting, are not voting based on the rules but, based on how they personally would like to contribute that particular case type.  That's why when it comes to the online contributions we should be contributing based on the rules then download the profile and change it however we like.

May be a contribution FAQ page would be a good idea so when certain topics come up for discussion, over and over again we can point contributors to the FAQ.

Quoting snarbo:

Quote:
Wonder if we could get Clint Eastwwod and Lee Van Cleef to star in it?

Steve

Might be kinda hard to get Lee Van Cleef to star in this as he's been dead since 1989.  Now if someone had made such a film, such as say in 1966, maybe you'd have something. 

I, too, will continue to contribute to the database - 3915 approved contributions under my belt, and still a huge amount of stuff to do. DVD Profiler V3 has given me a lot of the things that I craved for, and while there's always room for improvement, I'm very happy with what we have now. Now if only we could get more regular rule updates/finetuning, so that we didn't have to keep arguing over the same stuff over and over again.

Heck, contriuting is all part of the fun. Have I made mistakes, you bet, but in the process I have been getting better. I will also continue to contribute.

Quoting skipnet50:

Quote:
I'm right there with you, tracy and have been since the day the Rules were published.

Skip

Ditto!