Trigger

I hope I'm wrong, but usually this is a bad sign - I went to AsianDVDGuide.com tonight because that's how I usually get to the forum which he so kindly "left up"... There is nothing there now. It's completely gone. Is it sold? Will it return? I don't know - but instead of a page telling to to F off back to where you came from or else click to go to the forum, the page cannot be found. Up until now, there was the possibility that the site might come back when the creator cooled off - now it appears that that hope is gone. Very sad indeed.

In case you didn't know:
Asian DVD Guide was the best resource on the net to figure out what HK DVDs were good and which ones weren't. This site had more info than you could dream about - like which DVD version of (name of movie) had the best transfer and the most extras.

The guy who ran the site (I'm sure someone will post his name) got pissed off because other sites were posting news that he felt he broke (scooped, whatever) without giving proper credit to him for being the source. Thus he decided to take this database away from us and basically close the site down. There was alot of begging and pleading, but the site never came back. Those accused of swiping the news bits without giving credit were either eager to apoligize or else turned the tables to accuse the guy who ran the site of doing the same thing. In fact, many people accused him of stealing reviews and such without giving credit or else without asking permission.

My personal opinion on the subject is quite unpopular, but it's how I feel anyway - When you put something on the web, it's for everyone... free information. Images, music, thoughts, ideas, news, whatever - it's all free. Just because you type something up and post it to the internet doesn't mean it's "published," copyrighted and due royalties. There are other ways to get something published if you want to make money off it or ensure getting credit for it. News is news. I think the people who posted news stories on their own sites that they first saw on the Asian DVD Guide site should have given credit to the originator, but I don't think it's anything more than rude. The guy who ran the Asian DVD Guide essentially acted like a baby (IMHO) and took his ball and went home like a child spoiling the game for everybody. He didn't have to take the database away like he did. If he was fed up with the whole thing to the point of not wanting to bother anymore, he could've posted the existing database to a free webspace and just not done more updates - that way he could still collect revinue from sponsors and allow the database (that many other people contributed to - he mainly just compiled other people's data) to be available to the public that helped create it. I'm sorry if my view of this guy offends, but I just think he's being a big baby. Perhaps I don't have the whole story.

Anyway - I'm upset that the database is gone and apparently will NOT be coming back. Unless the site is not found because it's changing hands - it looks like it's over. I hope I'm wrong though.

Yellow Hammer

the site has been gone for a while actually now. Although I do agree that it was one of the most useful sites on the Web, the fact is that it is no longer around and probably won't come back. We can either bitch about it or try and rebuild it. It's not an impossible task, people are trying. All the information is available elsewhere, we just would have to do Operation Humpty Dumpty. I would do it myself except that I would want to find a site that would be able to host more than 300-4000mb for cheap or free and still get a good domain name that is representative of the site. (Haven't found that yet). In fact if we put our collective heads together we could make a site better than before. Wouldn't want to see 10 competing sites though.

yangshouwen

It'll be rebuilt, but that's if everyone chips in follow the thread to see http://pub5.ezboard.com/fhongkongdvd...icID=852.topic . Currently it's gonna be a little patience and discussion before any giant leaps will be taken (that sentence just sounded funny, didn't it? ) Some of you DVDtalkers could give a helping hand by suggesting ideas that could be implemented, because at the end of the day it'll be people like you that will be using it and it's your opinions at this time that wil count.

Trigger

oh nevermind - the page telling you to go back where you came from or click through to the forum is still there - must've been a server problem - my bad.

YH - I know it's been down for a long time - sorry to bring it up again, I just thought it was worth mentioning when I got a "page cannot be found" thing.

dleedlee

Since yesterday, I haven't been able to go
directly to the forums. My browser (netscape) just hangs up

This is the link I'm using:
http://pub5.ezboard.com/bhongkongdvds

I just retried and I couldn't even get to

http://pub5.ezboard.com

[Edited by dleedlee on 06-29-01 at 05:07 AM]

dleedlee

I did a whois search on asiandvdguide.com. It seems
the domain name expires Aug 20, 2001, unless the owner
renews it.

Trigger

working fine right now - even used your link. Must be the same phenomenon I experienced earlier.

hongkongdvd

I have personally found that I could live without the Asian DVD guide. Yes it is hard, but I have found that if I look hard enough on the net, I could find the same info. Or use the forums.

dleedlee

For some reason, I can get into the forum with IE but not Netscape as I usually do. It must be part of the global Microsoft conspiracy.

Back to the asiandvdguide. I'm afraid what's going to happen, and it's already surfacing, is a flood of
"Which version should I get?" postings. And as much
as I will try to refrain myself, I can see myself doing
the same. Besides the reviews, Muldoon's pre-release notes
were invaluable for me. Consider the Bichunmoon and Time and
Tide releases. Instead of a one stop shopping, now it's
back to grazing for tidbits of hopefully reliable info.

Oh well, all water under the bridge now, I guess.

Shane....Come back, Shane....

[Edited by dleedlee on 06-29-01 at 09:29 AM]