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Topic: Admins & Mods

7th Apr 2017, 12:49 AM
	Lee Wrecker If you can't dig me, you can't dig nothin' Member since Nov 2013 2283 Points	Hello Apollo and Everyone Else, Apollo, in your post regarding country of issue for CDs you mention that "We really need a Mod who knows the score here back to front". Well, I think we all know the score back to front and that's because we've largely invented the International category and that has caused a raft of problems. I know CDs are different to LPs and indeed some are International releases but the criteria we use here on 45Worlds to identify international releases seems to capture a lot of releases that are really not international. In particular here I'm referring to CDs that are made in a specific country for that same market yet have the same cat#, barcode and label as the CD produced in a different country. From an Australian perspective I see that a lot of our Australian made CDs carry the same basic details as USA and EU releases. They are other global multi-national music corporation regional connections that are less obvious. For example it is quite often the case that an Australian CD will have the same details as a South American CD (north and south hemisphere is sometimes used as a division) CDs from Mexico and Australia often have matching details. The problem here is that for the site user cataloging there collection the guidelines are not clear enough. Site users cannot be expected to be up to speed with the machinations of the global music industry in order to enter a CD. Site user are then often perplexed by decisions made by MODS and other site users to change the origin of their entries to international on the basis of matching details existing somewhere (anywhere) else in the world. CD entries on the site are slow and seem to be slowing down when compared to vinyl LP entries on the site and the confusion confronting users in CD World is in my view a significant contributing factor. The problem here is that we are asking users to apply knowledge that is beyond the article at hand using guidelines that are not clear at all and in fact cause friction and division among users of the site. Here, I'm referring to the vast gulf between the CD Guidelines on the entry page which states a matching barcode alone makes a CD an international release and the other criteria as described by Dr. Doom that to be international CDs must be "identical". Some users take this to mean the very same CD and using this logic rightly point to secondary cat#s, different local distribution and marketing companies and place of manufacture as reasons for separate entries to be made. However, both methods of determining whether a CD is international or not are inadequate and confounding to the site user. We need to develop a user friendly way to enter CDs that doesn't require extra research by the poster and has one set of clear guidelines. The way we are currently operating is creating a murky international CD graveyard rather than a functional CD database. It may well be the case that globalisation has made products more international than they once were but after entering about 600 CDs myself I can assure you that there are still many differences that need to be accounted for. This topic has been the elephant in the room on CD World and I think we need to deal with it before we reach a point of no return.