I think people forget that many people from many different countries contribute to the online database.  This means that there are a LOT of different grammar rules and common usages that people use and they want to stick with the one they know best. However, this means that information will be entered into the database in many different ways which makes it useless.

So, by saying that GERARD DEPARDIEU should always be translated into Gerard Depardieu, it means that we shouldn't get a thousand different variations of his name in the database. I am not French, I would have no idea where to put any accents into his last name and as we all know, sources differ no matter where you're looking at.

This is why we have the credited as feature so we can tie one name spelled multiple ways together. The information on the disc, which doesn't change, is represented but differences are taken into account so the profiles are connected.

I feel if people would actually follow the rules rather than try to get their personal bias into the database, we'd be having a lot less problems with a database that is a mess.

IMDb.com is KNOWN for having incorrect information so they can track who is stealing from them. Also, it is theft, plain and simple, to use their information without paying for it.

I'm not sure why that's so hard to understand. Is it because it's a lot easier to copy and paste the information into the database than physically checking out the credits?

As for other information, yes, there are often typos in the overview. But if you let people start changing things they aren't going to stop at fixing a spelling, they'll start adding in information they want instead.

Time and aspect ratios, the data that will not change is one thing-you can go to your dvd player and see that the film is only 91 minutes long instead of 95. Everyone will get the same result. Names are much less tangible. Like I mentioned before, I don't have the knowledge of foreign names to "correct" them to what they really are. So if I start doing that randomly, how is this a help to the database? It's not.

So, by inputting what is directly on the screen, I don't have to make those random decisions and mess up the data any further. I can however, figure out by using the credit lookup tool, that there are different ways of spelling a name and connect them together without losing what was actually on the screen.

I have been a member of this forum for many, many years. Not as long as some of the originals, but I was using this program before it turned into Invelos. I still frequent it and add to the database when I can, though my buying has died down. I don't tend to voice much here because these arguments have been going on since the program started. And part of that is Ken's fault. I know he's one man (though his wife shows up periodically as well), but putting in a voice here and there and clarifying what he wants would have killed a lot of the arguments that have driven off a lot of contributors.

From what I see, many people just want their own personal opinion to be right and be the way everyone contributes just because they want to be right. Not enough people are willing to compromise. And when people finally do come to a consensus, Ken won't make the final ruling or update the rules.

So yeah, it's very easy to see that the user base is shrinking and to see why, beside the obvious that physical media is not as popular as it used to be. I just keep in mind that what makes this program so versatile, is that even after it dies, I can still use it because I can enter what I want and how I want it without needing to access an online database. Is it nice to have a lot of it done? Yep, but at least I know if I want to make changes I can do so and do so easily. I just don't feel the need to force those changes on others.

/end rant.

Quoting 69samael69:

Quote:
I only use IMDB to check to see the year a movie was released, if it's not on the cover, or obviously not correct. I like to think they can at least that bit of information consistently correct. 

No. But in this case it the rule set is completly responsible for most of the differences. We enter the year of the first going public of a feature, not the copyright year...

This contradicts all other intentions to make the data transparent and easy to find

Yes, I noticed this years ago.  There might be more contributors for DVD than Blu-ray, but Blu-ray contributions have declined long ago in my experience.

Quoting eommen:

Quote:
Hard to tell. Some years ago Invelos claimed DVDp had millions of users, but the site doesn't provide actuals. With only a one-time fee it is harder to tell if someone abandons the product.
The only way to find out by Invelos is to monitor how many different users regularly update their database with the "Refresh Updates Profiles" option. But a diminishing user count is not something any company likes to advertise... The one thing I do see the people on the fora are by and large the same (fairly small) group of people throughout the years.

Don't know about the PC or iTunes app, but the Android app only shows 10-50K installs.

i have noticed a sharp decline as well... whoever does a lot of the pre-order contributions in the US sure loves horror and 70's B movies... all of those are entered and ready to go well in advance lol

at the end of the day i think it's maybe not even user base shrink, but contributor shrink... as physical media becomes more niche fewer young people pick it up, this results in fewer new users who are younger. new younger users are good for contributions because i think a lot have more free time...

i was never the largest contributor to the database, but i would hop on and put in pre-order titles all the time before i was married and had a kid. i would also take the time to do a full update on rare or uncommon things to the exact rules as best i could.

these days i dont have the time for that... if i buy something and it isnt in, i'll contribute it with the minimum amount of info just to get it in there. i flag it locally for update, but im never going to get to those updates.

i suspect alot of contributers my age who have been with this program for a long time are in simmilar life circumstance, and then on the other end i think we had a bunch of older folks back then who maybe arent up to full audits anymore either.

its just complicated. i think everyone needs to just understand that this is becoming more of a niche and we should appreciate each other and ken and do our best.

Quoting LJG:

Quote:
This means that there are a LOT of different grammar rules and common usages that people use and they want to stick with the one they know best.

I can understand that, but how do you explain that before present rules, names were correctly entered without spelling mistakes? And now, some good old profiles are changed to enter an incorrect form just because a common name thread has decided that the incorrect form (= used nowhere (even in credits) except in Invelos world) must be used.

And I also understand that somebody not knowing a language cannot give the correct spelling (as I cannot be sure for Scandinavian languages, for example). But why to forbid knowing users (specially of the same country than the actor) to correct an incorrect entry and explain it in contribution rules ?

Do you really think it is a good solution to have four different variants for the same name in the database ? (Francois Berleand= François Berleand= Francois Berléand= François Berléand ...see CLT....)

Quoting 69samael69:

Quote:
Out of curiosity, has the user base shrunk? I've notice the last year or so that I've been getting a lot more content that I have to enter myself, especially for box sets and collections. Maybe I'm just unlucky.

The user base has never been big to begin with, as this is a niche hobby after all.  Even if movie-collecting isn't a niche, movie-collecting in large quantity to the point that you need software to manage it is definitely a niche thing to do.

Missing titles and missing info in existing titles in the DVDP database have always been a problem.  That's why a few years ago I created my own movie collection using software and techniques that I designed, including the ability to import cast and crew data from IMDb automatically and programmatically, the ability to look up my collection anywhere on the web (cloud feature), the ability to use unicode characters, etc.  I've posted about this on this forum, so check my post history for detail. 

With all the missing info on DVDP and the need for you to do your own entries, at times you feel like you are the one creating the database, not Invelos and the contributors.  So you might as well create one on your own, which is what I did.  If you have programming skills, definitely give this a consideration. 

I also imported all of Leonard Maltin's reviews into my database so they appear whenever I access a title. 
I even put in "disc-specific" cast & crew, such as the people who do audio commentaries, interviews, or any content outside of the movie itself that I deem important enough to be searched for.  In fact, I can put in ANY info I want in the way I want.  And that's because I have the database structure I want.  That happens to be another reason why I ditched DVDP: because its database structure has some major limitations.  I mentioned this in detail in my older posts also.