@The_Vinyl_Junkie
??
I'd have thought that was a pretty straightforward request?, the CD in question must have been made/designated International in error, as it says, this "This Cat/barcode combination was only ever issued in Europe, please change to Europe" I don't understand what you mean??
You might want to check the wording with regards to "International" forum as well, something is International when it involves two or more countries ;)
Anyhow, i'm out of any future discussions on this International debacle, and i'll leave it all up to you. (which, i'm sure you'd prefer anyway;) Ciao.
@The_Vinyl_Junkie
Hold on a minute there, i was merely trying to offer up a suggestion to help sort out your Australian problem, and i don't need reminding where the earth's continents are thank you, i am well aware where they are, and at no point did i suggest that International be replaced by Europe, i said they should be split into their respective countries, and always have done, you and the other Mods/Admin need to get your heads together on this one, the directive clearly needs to be reviewed, and finally sort it out, it's not a problem for me, and frankly, it's becoming tiresome. i just add CD's as i always have, and will continue to do so until advised otherwise, it's no skin off my nose, you guys sort it out please.
Dr Doom wrote:
"International should be used when it's the same identical item used over more than one continent."
The 7 continents of the world are North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
While you might not like "International", they can not be replaced with "Europe". Regardless of whether you like International or not we have been given directives by Admin for the site and until such time when we get a variance on the directives by Admin, we must follow what they initially directed.
Also the release dates for the continents should be put in 'Notes' and not 'Comments' as they get lost.
Lee, i can understand where you're coming from, and this could do with a resolution.
If we are to make a special case for Australian releases, which we should, and enter/register a US/European CD also as an Australian release as previously suggested, then, on average, you will only have 3 entries that share the same label/Cat.No./barcode combination, a US entry, a European entry and an Australian entry, in fact, in most case 2 entries, the European and Australian. or US and Australian.
I'm sure the Moderators could cope with this if accepted practice, and as such, that there will be cases where a European/US CD has been entered first as Australian, and that later, the same European or US entry may also be made using the same label/Cat.No./barcode combination. and that all 2/3 are to be accepted under their respective flags.
This is surely the only way?, if we are against grouping together on the same page (which i think the majority of us are now), then the only alternative is to enter each country separately, and if we are to do this, a special case must be made for Australian releases to allow the European/US stock releases to be added as Australian IMHO.
Whilst adding CD's to this site over a few years, it has become apparent that in the main, any releases sharing EXACTLY the same label/Cat.No./barcode combination and issued in two or more countries, were, firstly, in the minority (currently less than 1% of total CD's on system, blimey!, someone's been working hard to reduce these haven't they, it was much higher as i seem to remember?) and secondly, of those, the majority were only issued in two countries, (Europe and the US) being the most common, there are some that were issued in 3 countries, even four or five, but these are by far the minority, generally only big artists like the Beatles/Stones, were issued in 4 or more countries in reality, and so, i see no problem in splitting these entries with five or so countries into their respective separate 5 country's entries. i.e, it would not be such a big a job as we think "de-interrnationalising", as the majority of entries would be on average just two splits.
I "de-internationalise" when i can, i asked for one the other day for example that was made International to be made European, as that is what the actual CD was, and suggested when the Mexican release comes along (that was the second country that shared the same label/Cat.No./barcode combination) that it be entered separately. in the name of common sense;)
I hope something can be arranged with the Moderators that allows you to enter any Euro/US CD's that we also released in Aus to be added as Australian along the guidelines suggested above.
good luck
Gregs45s says " I say, have an entry for each country, much simpler in the long run" and I agree. In fact this corresponds with how I currently enter items but the problem is everyone can legitimately enter items however they like under the current guidelines. The international category problem is not restricted to CD albums but has migrated to other worlds due to current global manufacturing and distribution processes.
Here are two items I recently entered one from the USA and one from the EU. Both of these are legitimate Australian releases despite being manufactured elsewhere. So I have correctly used the part of the guidelines that say something like use the country of purchase if it's not an import. I don't know if these items were released in the countries of manufacture without having to do research but obviously these two items were. So I could have also correctly identified them as EU or USA releases. Knowing this I could then correctly identify them both as international as per the guidelines but everyone knows that isn't a good fit. Nevertheless, I could correctly enter these items three different ways and that's two too many choices.
Solutions to this problem currently being offered from EU members that don't want to see their catalogue disappear into the unknown territory of the international "bin" as gregs45s calls it are flawed. Consider my two entries above and then think about this prospect. A duplicate EU or USA appears on the site, the MODS delete it and ask the site member to supply release date details and they will add them to notes or the site member can add details in the comments. This of course means the item will not show up as an EU or USA release on the site. The even less appealing alternative is to list these items as international and then no-one will know where they were actually released or more importantly be able to search for them by country of release rendering the database useless. What I have described above is not some weird fantasy it is what has actually happened in many cases to people outside the EU and USA that have entered items and have seen them changed to any of the three valid classifications without notice or when notice is received it is to supply release date information to notes which in turn loses the item from that country's catalogue. Remember also that during the process the onus of proof is on the site member to supply release dates or corroborating evidence that the item was released locally in their country. This is all too much work for site members that have initially correctly entered items and then seen them bounce around until they land in an unsatisfactory classification.
I have purposefully put this comment together this way to try and put the shoe on the other foot and hopefully make EU and USA contributors, MODS and ADMINS see that what some may seem like solutions to the problem are actually more protection of a jurisdictions' catalogue at the expense of others. This is a global site and it needs to work worldwide.
But did anyone ask the Moderators first if it was OK, via the Forum?
Not that I am aware of, I was told after the event.
Whatever way we look at it the "International" will mess up the continuity of releases in each and every continent (minus 1). So why should we pick one continent to be good and the rest can stay in a mess?
"While we await a change, what about adding an Australian entry where the European/US was issued in Aus, i.e, a duplicate entry, same as the European/US only under the Australian flag, with notes, where available, of release dates etc. (of course, this would have to be run by the Moderators). I'm sure space isn't a problem?, and thereby, they would be indicated as Australian releases, whilst still retaining the original European/US entry."
"This was done by a member only to find that it had been deleted as a duplicate entry without any explanation or advice to the member."
But did anyone ask the Moderators first if it was OK, via the Forum?
"While we await a change, what about adding an Australian entry where the European/US was issued in Aus, i.e, a duplicate entry, same as the European/US only under the Australian flag, with notes, where available, of release dates etc. (of course, this would have to be run by the Moderators). I'm sure space isn't a problem?, and thereby, they would be indicated as Australian releases, whilst still retaining the original European/US entry."
This was done by a member only to find that it had been deleted as a duplicate entry without any explanation or advice to the member.
While Australian members have followed the guidelines for entering Australian official releases, it has come to the point they are not going to waste their time doing entries, only to have them changed to something that is not Australian or just simply deleted. I'm certainly not going to waste my time doing the "duplicate" entry under Australia only to have it deleted.
At this point in time with what we have for official Australian releases is either "Australia" OR "International", nothing else.
@Lee Wrecker
I think that the question has never been whether European/US CD's were issued in Australia at regular prices (not imports) there by making them effectively Australian releases, that of course, is a fact, but, rather, how we indicate that on this site.
You know from old Lee that i have never been a fan of the "International" catch-all, as, once you take a European/US CD and designate it thus, it totally loses it's identity in one hit. A European CD which i might have entered earlier for example, gets changed to International, and you have no idea why, unless you physically go to the entry page, where there may be if you're lucky, a few comments as to what other country it was issued in, and why it's been changed. I say, have an entry for each country, much simpler in the long run.
There are (until a new system is introduced) no country indicators at present, and again, i have put forward a multiple flag option as one possible solution.
So that is why, for the time being perhaps, i did suggest just adding to the notes of European/US CD's that were also issued in Aus, rather, than change them to International, until we have a way of adding an Australian flag (or wherever)
It is disconcerting to find a European CD you might have added, "lost" in an "International" bin and wondering where it has gone.
While we await a change, what about adding an Australian entry where the European/US was issued in Aus, i.e, a duplicate entry, same as the European/US only under the Australian flag, with notes, where available, of release dates etc. (of course, this would have to be run by the Moderators). I'm sure space isn't a problem?, and thereby, they would be indicated as Australian releases, whilst still retaining the original European/US entry.
(and the debate goes on....and on.....:)
Australia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since their debut in 2015 and has been in the top ten four times. They are the second country outside of the Eurasia region.
Yes, Australia is not in Europe so why are Australian CDs listed as EU releases Quad5point1? Or why aren't they listed as international as the guidelines indicate they should be? Sure Australian releases may be made in the EU or USA but they are our local releases as well with different release dates as The_Vinyl_Junkie has pointed out. Surely the site can accommodate a separate Australian release with a different release date or even the same release date if that were the case.
The Eurovision question is a separate matter - imagine if we ever won and Eurovision had to be held in Australia.