JIF

In that case, can I borrow your T2?

crazyrabbits

Well, how far away do you live?

JIF

Canada.

crazyrabbits

...

(shakes head) I mean, which part of Toronto? Near Union? What?

visitor Q

I was going to respond, but I fear for my life after reading a thread on what I thought to be such a simple philosophy.

First I was commanded not to speak about politics, religion .... or, hrrrm .. what was that other thing in public engagements? .... oh yeah, DVD lending!!!

MovieExchange

Don't forget The Great Pumpkin.

Good god, don't forget that one.

JHBulls

I once let my Brothers partners son borrow Fight Club and it came back 6 months later unrecognisable, so i went out and bought the same movie for about $10: For starters why would anyone keep a movie for that long? The film goes for 140 minutes so thats approx less than a minutes viewing time over 6 months, i've let my brother borrow stuff but with strict conditions that his partners son doesnt catch wind that he's got the dvd and he never borrows movies that are blockbusters and that i'd stress about even if i wont watch them for a long time... He still asks me why im a tight arse with my dvds...

Jah-Wren Ryel

And we have a winnah!!!! No wonder you've got your knickers in a twist -- you run a business that is probably already losing money (come on, only 2K discs, what kind of inventory is that?) and stand to do worse the more that people share for free.

You've got your financial ass in a sling, stuck in a bad business model and you need to vent those frustrations on someone. Could you be any more transparent?

DeputyDave

I think the point is that you seem to be feeling superior to those of us who do not lend out our DVDs. I used to and learned the hard way. NO ONE respects my property as much as I do.

The anger towards you is simply because you feel you know better than us what we should be doing with our property.

I wish you joy in your lending practices, and I would never tell you that you shouldn't be giving them out willy nilly. It's not just MovieExchange though, I also thought you were being a bit condescending and "holier than thou" with your opinions.

Jah-Wren Ryel

Show me one place where I said anything of the kind.

The closest you will come to is me pointing out that movies are meant to be watched, not left on the shelf to gather dust as a "shrine of holy purity." That is the line that set MovieExchange on his tirades. When people are posting things like

• "no lending, no touching"
• "I took the whole situation as disrespect,"
• "wash your fucking hands before you touch the case"
• "I'm not blockbuster you cheap bastards you!"
• "No friggin' way will anyone touch my DVDs or CDs again ... Not my soon-to-be-wife ... not my friends (EVER!), and least of all... *shudders*...family."
• "I don't even let people touch my dvds. if I had my way, except on-line through my sig, I would'nt even let someone look at the library"
• "i dont like anyone to even touch/look/breathe on them"

my point was no exaggeration. MovieExchange clearly has issues with the entire concept of free sharing, if evidenced by nothing more than his deliberately thin skin.

Pizza

I love how people feel it's okay to say something like that instead of showing a little respect toward someone else's property.

mijorico

So? I didn't know everyone was obligated to share their personal property.

You may not exactly be dictating what we should do with our DVDs, but you sure are trying to guilt anyone who doesn't lend them out as freely as you do, while patting yourself on the back for your generosity("you've made the world a better place by sharing with everyone else").

You are right in that a lot of DVD collectors are extremely anal about their collections. But what you don't seem to understand is that they have every right to be, since it is their money that paid for those collections.

You can still subscribe to your lending philosophy without shitting all over those who are more discerning lenders.

And, for what it's worth, I think attacking MovieExchange's business was a desperate move by someone who's been backed into a corner with no other argument.

philip74

why do people want to borrow movies in the first place?? because they are usually too cheap to rent!!
if i really want to see a film, i am willing to pay for it and purchase it.
as many posters have already mentioned "no one treats my property as good as myself"! unfortunately that is true!!
i have been to friends places (friends that i would lend many things to, because they are genuine friends and i like them) and seen a stack of dvds (without cases!) on top of each other lying on the tv!
if those were mine i would probably start crying instantly!!
why do many people treat their dvds like that? because they dont give a f*** about material things, for them it is just something that might just as well be thrown away after a while.
i agree that many collectors are overly anal (including myself) and should not care about objects that much, but thats just the way we are. i dont judge people who care less, but dont judge me either! live and let live! just not by borrowing my movies anyhow
i have spent lots of money and since i know how hard it is to make such, i tend to take very good care of my things being car, furniture...or dvds!
if i really like a friend, I give him movies as a present, but i dont like the concept of lending that much in the first place. i am not a video store and like many other users have had many many bad experiences in the past!!
when i was still collecting videotapes, so many tapes i never got back at all!
or my personal favorite; i had a very cool indonesian friend, but he used to cook heavily with curry. i swear to god, when i got tapes back from him, i might just as well have tossed them immediately; they smelled like curry from meters away, and that strong smell never faded anymore.
unfortunately, it is always the people who want to borrow things, who always seem to have the worst manners in the first place.
the way i was brought up, when i borrow someones property i guard it like my own eye apple!! i would be careful more than with my own objects, simply because it is not mine!
also, most of the time the people who want to borrow are the same ones who download movies illegally from the web. why? because they are cheap and take advantage of their friends!
when i would borrow movies from someone, i would buy them a dvd every once in a while, just in order to show my appreciation and respect! something today unfortunately many of the younger people dont seem to have anymore.
if someone would call me anal for being super tidy with my collection; "go f*** yourself you cheap piece of s***!!" did you spend so much cash on it?? NO!! it is those same people who would probably scream loudest when i put a dent in their car!
they always make fun about what idiots we collectors are for spending so much money, instead of downloading off the web, but then all of a sudden we are good enough to borrow from!! i dont think so mister!
of course i am not as antisocial as i sound, i lend to my father and one very good collector friend! why? because they take very good care and show me respect!
as for the other users story about the rude female visitor; i am totally against violence towards women, but if she disrespected me in my own home in that way, i would have knocked her the f*** out!! no, of course i wouldnt have....i would have kicked her out and treat her the way she deserves to be!

LorenzoL

LorenzoL

Cool! Just tell me which city you live so I can come over and borrow your car for a day or two. Free sharing, right?

islandclaws

I only loan DVDs to very trusted friends and the general rule is simple: "Return it exactly as I gave it to you. If it's not, don't even bother bringing it back and go buy another one." Pretty simple, and so far it's worked. Plus I only loan out easily replaceable titles, nothing OOP, collectable, no slipcovers, etc.

And CDs never go out, period. Too many horror stories. They ALWAYS come back to me scratched no matter who I loan it to.

DJariya

I pretty much never ever loan movies to people because of all my 2 bad experiences with it so far.

1. I loaned a few movies to a colleague trying to sell her how great Hong Kong Cinema was.......6 months later I bugged the shit out of her to get them back and she never ended up watching them.

2. I loaned House of Flying Daggers to another colleague because we both enjoyed Crouching Tiger and this came up in a conversation. It's been 2 years and I still haven't gotten it back. My colleague has since left the company and I ended up re-purchasing the disc.

Mr Pixies

I lend lots of dvds to lots of people, well, 4-5 people. I don't even remember all that I lent out, but they're in good hands.

asianxcore

I explained why I felt that way in a couple of my posts.

It wasn't that she borrowed the DVD that got me upset, it was the way she reacted when I told her she couldn't borrow them, in front of my guests no less.

Telling me, "I asked politely, now I'm just taking them", then putting 3 of my DVD's in her purse? Am I supposed to be happy and not annoyed?

Pizza

Everytime I read your story, my jaw drops. I'm still confused why you let her walk out of your home with the DVDs. There's nothing impolite about stopping someone from taking your stuff without your permission. She's the one who's being rude and I can't imagine any of your guests being on her side. Did anyone else at the party comment on this guest's unusual and brazen behavior? Did she leave immediately after stuffing her purse with your stuff? (And have you gotten your DVDs back? I'm guessing no.)

asianxcore

No one else made a comment, everyone kind of laughed it off. Everyone was having such a fun time I'm sure no one really cared, which is fine. She did leave quickly after borrowing my movies, maybe 2-3 minutes after telling me I'd get them back by Sunday.

It's Sunday and I haven't got them because she forgot. I'm supposed to pick them up tomorrow at her workplace, hopefully.

As I said in one of my earlier posts, it wasn't worth it to make a big fuss in front of my guests. Everyone was having a good time and I really didn't want to ruin that by yelling, arguing or whichever. Now making a big fuss on a messageboard because I was annoyed, that's fine with me

eedoon

So? Did you get the DVD at her workplace?

dalsh327

I have videotapes that I'm more protective of than DVDs. However I've had some of my rare DVDs sold, but nothing I couldn't replace.Thankfully.

Copy the stuff you're the most protective of, it's extremely worth making personal backup copies. I have unopened copies because I'll get first or second dibs from library copies before they're passed around. Netflix, mom and pop stores, libraries, Blockbuster and neighbors have helped in getting a reasonably sized collection. This started from getting videos from different regions and buying a multiregion DVD player.
Add to that the file share sites and it becomes an international collection.

Criterion and Disney movies never see the light of day unless they're used and OOP. The Disney videos are the ones most likely to upset the most people because of their silly limited issues, and you know what most people like, so just burn 10 copies each of the popular ones.

Most recent movies you can find at Blockbuster and Hollywood on sale weeks after they hit the shelves. Few are going to be collectible, "Special Edition" is only rare if there is something on that video that winds up not being on later editions, like commentaries or behind the scenes stuff.

asianxcore

Yup, picked them up yesterday.

I have some other friends that work with her, so I stopped by and chatted with them. She came up and handed me my movies looking extremely pissed off because "I couldn't wait for my DVD's".

Oh well.

philip74

you are just too good hearted! i think most people would have smacked that bitch by now