After being sold and purchased last year, Aficionado was again shut down a few days ago.

This has left a lot of collectors in a lurch as that represented years of work submitting and maintaining that database.

Could DVDTalk purchase those assets and make them part of the site? This would bring in many new users and help give the site new traffic.

thank you!

Agree. And maybe look into helping or integrating DVD Compare. If we had a cataloging feature along with the compare feature as well as our expansive Easter egg section, it would go a long way to making DVDTalk have a greater base of users (and traffic).

I've sent it onto our business team, but I would not get your hopes up. I also think logistically it would be near-impossible to integrate their film collections onto our software.

That's an interesting idea. If our moniker remains DVDTalk these sorts of databases give us some clout in the nostalgia or "vintage" niche market, to a degree.

Maybe keep the site named Aficionado, but put DVDTalk branding all over it. Color scheme and all that.

Great point, there's so much information in that database, it breaks my heart to think of it all gone.

I haven't used it for years, but it would be a shame if the info was all lost. I sometimes think how it would suck if that happened to Discogs with all the invaluable information they have for decades of music releases.

The group is now saying on their Facebook page that they're looking to offer up the database to anyone wanting to use it, I'd like to suggest again that DVDTalk use these assets to add to its value.

Maybe not integrate it into the site directly, but brand it with DVD Talk and Internet Brands. If it’s too difficult or not possible to integrate it into the site as is couldn’t there just be a tab or button that redirects or something?

I'll send this along again, but again, me trying to turn cogs at a billion-dollar multinational (part of an investment firm with half a trillion in assets) is a little difficult.

Please do what you can. It would be great if DVDTalk could acquire this!

Agreed, getting it probably would help attract eyeballs that haven't used DVDtalk in years. It would be interesting to know the traffic data behind FilmAf's site before it ended. The data was very valuable and the database was comprehensive for most DVD and Blu-ray releases.

The people who have the data are on Facebook and they're asking for somebody to hose the 170 GB of data for people to download.

Not sure how we can make that work.

Anything new to report on this? Is DVDTalk considering acquiring filmaf?

Didn't it start off as DVD Aficionado? Maybe re-re-brand it as DVDTalk Aficionado. It looks like they're just giving the info away now. They can no longer host it but offer it to anyone who can.

Free is free (except for the storage and bandwidth). It would certainly drive traffic to a DVDTalk site again.

Great idea, Milo Bloom.

I've given our department general manager this new info.

Any update on this? Wow, it just feels like a really good opportunity and the longer it sits the tougher to get a good ROI. Let's go for it!

I still find myself flabbergasted that there's no good replacement for Aficionado. I've resorted to dumping my data into a Google Sheets page and using that on my phone when I'm out shopping.
If this could still happen, I would be over the moon.

I unfortunately do not believe that this will go forward. Travel and Leisure (the department of which DVD Talk is part) was obviously hit pretty hard in the last year. Combined with the general decline of physical media... you can see where I'm going. I would suggest however, writing into corporate: https://www.internetbrands.com/contact-us/

Probably under "Acquisitions". Might be helpful if someone came up with a boiler plate of FA's value?

Thanks for the update, IBJoel.

Okay, milo bloom, how do we develop a pitch?

I have no idea what the monetary value would be, it's more of a user experience value. I know the other big forum has an integrated collection system and a lot of their uses make use of it. I always thought the Aficionado format was the cleanest looking of all the collection sites out there. It didn't go into the nitty-gritty details like others, but it still had a lot of great information.

Could we get more people to comment on what it would mean to them?

It would increase the value of DVD Talk to it's users, likely drive more users to the site, increase traffic on the site. More eyes and more clicks equal more advertising dollars.

I'd love to see it come back but some site would likely have to eat the server costs. It was only kept afloat when the DVDcompare owner took it over but then he suddenly died.

Yeah, I loved how the imdb-linked movies,shorts,episodes and documentaries/featurettes were always easily on display to give you an idea of what the disc(s) contain. Rather than getting on the web and exhaustively searching for a review that goes into detail of what's found on a particular disc. One of the many reasons why I miss that place.

I will take this time to plug our reviews section. Our reviewers are quite thorough with that stuff.

"I mean, it's one banana server, Michael PhantomStranger, what could it cost, ten dollars?!"