[sothis]

this spawned from the idea of a bootlegger list, and i think i will do no matter what (still waiting on word about legality of the bootlegger list).

my original thought was, perhaps along with the bootlegger list, i could have a page of very common series (bebop, trigun, etc) and what the region 1 cover looks like. kind of a quick reference.

but now, as usual, i have grandiose plans and think i can incorporate it into the database... so bear with me while i explain:

there would be a new icon, perhaps a dollar sign. you'd click it and a medium sized window would open up. there, side by side, would be three images: the R2, R1, and R0 (bootleg) box cover. each one would also be listed with its # of disks, subtitle languages, and expected price. (so for bebop, it would be duly noted that the box set would be several hundred dollars if you could actually find it). some series might have also some versions of single dvds, so there could be more than 1 picture for each region.

at the bottom, there would be 3 small banners: rightstuf, animenation, and amazon. yes, this would be basically a "you can buy them here" link section. the advantage to having this would be as follows: lets say you want to help out with the site, but dont want to paypal actual money. instead, if you already were planning on buying from rightstuf, or animenation/amazon, you could just follow the link from the site. it would cost you nothing, but i would get a small kickback from your purchase.

the site does take up quite a bit of bandwidth. in the last few months, it has risen from 15 to 20 gigs of usage per month (due to the graphic heavy nature of the themes, screenshots, etc). when i add this new dvd cover feature, i suspect that it will generate quite a bit more bandwidth. i would hope that by putting these seller links, that i wouldn't be considered as selling out or spamming, but more like, if people planned on buying things there anyways, they would be helping the site out by clicking ^_^. win win situation, really. if it was me, i'd feel much happier by being able to click a link to donate, than actually opening up my paypal account.

anyways, i just wanted to hear some feedback. i think this kind of feature would be INCREDIBLY useful, regardless of if i am able to make that list of vendors. this way, if people wonder "hmm, is this a bootleg?", they could open up the database, click the dollar sign, and see what each region's cover looks like, the correct disk data (obvious to show what version it is), etc. plus then i'd have a new form of fundage for the rising server costs, that would be reasonable for people to use ^_^

thoughts?

if you are interested in this idea, i would ask that you help out in the next week or two (since i have spring break and actually have time to do this) by SCANNING EVERYTHING. i will need box covers of R1,R2, and bootlegs. especially R2/bootlegs, since they wont be as easy to get. you can send anything to my email address, and ill probably start a list sometime soon of what i have already. this will definitely be a community effort to get it off the ground, and i know you guys are great about helping out ;)