Discogs

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suckadmin
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Discogs

Post by suckadmin » Thu Apr 20, 2017 5:51 pm

Some of you may be familiar with Discogs.com . It's sort of like wikepedia and ebay but for recorded music only. The database is user contributed and moderated mostly by volunteers who earn the right to vote on the validity of contributions by making a lot of contributions to the site.

I think because the focus of the site is so narrow that it has fewer problems with accuracy than wikipedia. Generally speaking people are entering data based on the release they have in their possession but over there years there has been grumbling about various issues.

I suppose unlike wikipedia it is extremely hard to get an entry deleted even if the entry has not been voted on for approval. Established "moderators" (I'm not really sure what voting users call themselves) get this arrogant attitude about completeness in areas where the release is DIY and obscure. Again unlike wikipedia.. vanity pages are hard to get rid of at Discogs and not discouraged.

As for the marketplace one of the bigger problems is the grading of vinyl. There's alot of debate about what is VG+ vs NM and sellers will often seller blatantly overgraded records and then offer discounts if the buyer complains to avoid negative feedback and discogs seems to ignore this problem because they want the sales.

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Re: Discogs

Post by Flip Flopped » Thu Apr 20, 2017 11:13 pm

I haven't heard of Discogs. I think it's great that there's on online ebay for vinyl.

Offtopic: Do you think that all large online communities are destined to be somewhat dysfunctional? I do. I suppose it might work if a place has a very clear culture and pays the staff to enforce rather strict policies.

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Re: Discogs

Post by suckadmin » Thu Apr 20, 2017 11:43 pm

Flip Flopped wrote:I haven't heard of Discogs. I think it's great that there's on online ebay for vinyl.


Well it's not just for vinyl but as far as collecting and prices go the grading of vinyl is problematic.

Flip Flopped wrote:Offtopic: Do you think that all large online communities are destined to be somewhat dysfunctional? I do. I suppose it might work if a place has a very clear culture and pays the staff to enforce rather strict policies.


I guess that depends on what you mean by large.. but yeah the problems grow as the membership does. I'm not sure how being paid plays a role in it but clearly there can be a conflict of interest when there is money involved. Presumably people who give their time for free to maintain a forum are getting privileges in exchange that can be abused. But there being leadership and clear rules definitely help.

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Re: Discogs

Post by Flip Flopped » Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:29 am

suckadmin wrote:
Flip Flopped wrote:I haven't heard of Discogs. I think it's great that there's on online ebay for vinyl.


Well it's not just for vinyl but as far as collecting and prices go the grading of vinyl is problematic.

Flip Flopped wrote:Offtopic: Do you think that all large online communities are destined to be somewhat dysfunctional? I do. I suppose it might work if a place has a very clear culture and pays the staff to enforce rather strict policies.


I guess that depends on what you mean by large.. but yeah the problems grow as the membership does. I'm not sure how being paid plays a role in it but clearly there can be a conflict of interest when there is money involved. Presumably people who give their time for free to maintain a forum are getting privileges in exchange that can be abused. But there being leadership and clear rules definitely help.
Hmm. I don't have much vinyl, but I have no idea how to grade it.

Someone on an earlier WP criticism forum had suggested hiring professional mods like they have for online World of Warcraft. Apparently, that's a large community, the staff are professional, and the community doesn't complain about them much? It's interesting to consider whether paying staff would be better or worse in a large community like Wikipedia. I think it would be better because now obsessive addicts self-select for those volunteer administration jobs. Better that someone does it for a living rather than living for their online volunteer role.

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Re: Discogs

Post by suckadmin » Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:42 am

Flip Flopped wrote:Hmm. I don't have much vinyl, but I have no idea how to grade it.


Well there are guides .. the typical complaint is with Mint and Near Mint. Mint is basically an item that is brand new so it should have no damage from handling or playing. I've bought records that were advertised as M or NM that had scruffs on the vinyl or cleaner residue.

Also in comparison to ebay it's not required or even convenient for the sellers to upload pictures of the sleeves. Granted certain types of damage aren't easily noticeable in pictures and if the seller made a point of pointing them out in the auctions wlel.. they'd probably not beable to sell it for as much.

Flip Flopped wrote:Someone on an earlier WP criticism forum had suggested hiring professional mods like they have for online World of Warcraft. Apparently, that's a large community, the staff are professional, and the community doesn't complain about them much? It's interesting to consider whether paying staff would be better or worse in a large community like Wikipedia. I think it would be better because now obsessive addicts self-select for those volunteer administration jobs. Better that someone does it for a living rather than living for their online volunteer role.


Ah well WoW is huge and it's also profit driven so they can afford to pay people to moderate. Also even though WoW has a social aspect to it people are there to play a game so any behavior that interrupts the game is gonna get the boot. Also I suppose in the context of it being a game it would be unfair be an severe conflict of interest to give volunteers any kind of power they could abuse in regards to the game. I suppose what would prevent a WoW mod from abusing their power int he game somehow is the threat of getting fired?

Paying staff to work on or moderate content on wikipedia would probably be a good thing but it would be expensive.

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Re: Discogs

Post by Flip Flopped » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:01 am

Ah, now I see why there would be arguments over M and NM.

The WMF is rolling in money, but with "anyone can edit" even without an account you are right that I have a hard time visualizing paying staff at scale. Having paid staff is really the only way for the place to improve (not that it ever will). The "volunteers" need to be vetted and those who can't do the work they currently do need to be limited to simpler work or thrown out. The community is filled with toxic people who harass other volunteers; this keeps better volunteers away.

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