Cel Registry

[kenshikenji]

i agree, all we need is a web programmer, but even one with the bare minimum skills of programming should get some sort of test model up. it wouldnt take that much effort to get some crude prototype up and running where we can contribute, and debugging happen as we go along.

can anyone program?

I'm a web programmer, and I can tell you this: this idea is nowhere near as simple as you might think. To write something like this would take an enormous amount of time and effort - far more than anything in simple HTML takes. A project such as this would most definitely require as much (and possibly more) effort than it took to create Rubberslug. And that is no small feat!

And if anything has been pretty evident in the cel community -- there is very little payoff for such efforts other than a lot of time spent handling requests by users/members,some of which would most certainly be rude or demanding. This is not something most volunteer programmers would probably have much patience or time for in the long run.

While it is a cool idea, it would take someone with the skill needed to actually want to do it and devote their time to it. For example: I spent a month (8-10 hours a day) writing the base programming and creating the database for my own cel gallery software that runs my personal non-RS site, and I've spent tons of time since then writing new modules for it and/or tweaking it and fixing bugs. It's really unlikely that someone would volunteer to do that kind of work casually... without any kind of incentive unless they really really wanted to do it.

Just my 2 yen, feel free to ignore.

i dont see it deviating too much from the rubberslug format, all that is added is sequential order, and that it is a community gallery. i just wanna start some crude one for now, the bells and whistles can be added later. is this feasible?

[Cloud]

"Without your space helmet Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult" -- HAL.

[duotrouble]

While it may seem like a good idea, I have to agree with Moop here.

wouldnt a registry site make it a lot easier hunting for your dream cels?

That's another issue. I'm afraid a lot of people will consider such a listing to be a make-an-offer smorgasbord. That could get pretty annoying for those who bother to register.

Since I started selling more, I've had more people ask me about cels that aren't on my chopping block. And while I typically don't mind the ocassional inquiry as I could change my mind, I have had a couple people downright rude about it. I'm one of those who would be more afraid of a tons of offers coming in on a few "primo" cels. I have a few A1ends as well as a couple that there are 6 or less cels in the sequence. If that's your dream cel and there aren't many, your options of who to bug are limited.

Collectors doing individual links for cels in their galleries they really adore such as sensei's example is fine. But to have my entire collection linked like that, I don't know. It just unnerves me. I would most likely delist my entire gallery. I already don't hand out information regarding who I sold a cel to. I can instantly think of a member here who's looking for a dream sketch that I used to own. I refuse to hand out my info on who I sold it to since I know for a fact it's not being displayed in their gallery as they don't want to be "bothered" with inquiries.

Sorry for being such a downer on this but I value my privacy. I realize I have the info out there on the web but it's not in an organized fashion. Nice idea in theory but I don't see it working in the practical. Like I mentioned earlier, you would just force some collectors like myself to become recluse.

[kenshikenji]

While it may seem like a good idea, I have to agree with Moop here.

wouldnt a registry site make it a lot easier hunting for your dream cels?

That's another issue. I'm afraid a lot of people will consider such a listing to be a make-an-offer smorgasbord. That could get pretty annoying for those who bother to register.

Since I started selling more, I've had more people ask me about cels that aren't on my chopping block. And while I typically don't mind the ocassional inquiry as I could change my mind, I have had a couple people downright rude about it. I'm one of those who would be more afraid of a tons of offers coming in on a few "primo" cels. I have a few A1ends as well as a couple that there are 6 or less cels in the sequence. If that's your dream cel and there aren't many, your options of who to bug are limited.

Collectors doing individual links for cels in their galleries they really adore such as sensei's example is fine. But to have my entire collection linked like that, I don't know. It just unnerves me. I would most likely delist my entire gallery. I already don't hand out information regarding who I sold a cel to. I can instantly think of a member here who's looking for a dream sketch that I used to own. I refuse to hand out my info on who I sold it to since I know for a fact it's not being displayed in their gallery as they don't want to be "bothered" with inquiries.

Sorry for being such a downer on this but I value my privacy. I realize I have the info out there on the web but it's not in an organized fashion. Nice idea in theory but I don't see it working in the practical. Like I mentioned earlier, you would just force some collectors like myself to become recluse.

since it is a community gallery anonymity would be an option.

[klet]

i dont see it deviating too much from the rubberslug format, all that is added is sequential order, and that it is a community gallery. i just wanna start some crude one for now, the bells and whistles can be added later. is this feasible?

Soooo . . . are you basically envisioning a huge gallery with all the cels available online in it? I have no idea who would want to host something like that. We got special permission a while back for a Beta RS gallery, but that was because people were only allowed to put 2 cels in it, and we had to have one curator for the entire thing.

If you're thinking of something being added to Rubberslug . . . well, something tells me that Jason does not have the time for that. Besides, the search feature is already there. I think that's as good as it's going to get.

Like zerospace said, it sounds like a really complicated coding process with very little pay off. Seriously, cel collectors don't really show appreciation for things like that.

But, basically, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by registry . . . when I think of registries, I think of wedding and baby ones at stores. But the thing is that those lists of products already are online in a list format for the store to access. All they are doing is making a certain list available to the consumers. We'd have to start from scratch, and very few people would reap any benefits.

[kenshikenji]

what if you just open up a new gallery on rubberslug? and let everyone access it? that way no programmer needed, and it is a community gallery that runs like a regular gallery no extra work needed.

[klet]

what if you just open up a new gallery on rubberslug? and let everyone access it? that way no programmer needed, and it is a community gallery that runs like a regular gallery no extra work needed.

Well . . . then you'd have to trust everyone not to do something stupid to the gallery. Even Wiki has moderators . . .

Another thing that would be an issue is that Rubberslug is a free service, so any gallery would have to be approved by Jason.

[moonrabitt]

Agrees with ^

I know that some people like to mess up and I think that "deleting" all the entries could be something that an S.O.B with no life would do to make us all angry......

I do think that some people would not like to post their stuff since they fear that people will Hassel them with offers. so the idea about being "anonymous" sounds nice. But then I though that the point was to locate where your wishlist item is.....
I think that an easier idea would be to have a massive "Wish list" maybe by ep and then when someone locates an item, they could message the person who wants the item, but even that poses problems...

[Cloud]

What kind of people?

[moonrabitt]

Many types

[zerospace]

i dont see it deviating too much from the rubberslug format, all that is added is sequential order, and that it is a community gallery. i just wanna start some crude one for now, the bells and whistles can be added later. is this feasible?

Feasible? Of course it's feasible. But that really isn't the question here. The question is, can you get someone with the necessary skill to actually DO it?

Firstly, if you want to use Rubberslug's existing programming as a starting point, you would absolutely need Jason's cooperation and permission. You would probably need to be asking him to do it, actually. And with how busy he seems to be with RS and real life, I'd imagine he might tell you that he'd consider working on it down the road if at all.

Beyond that, in order to even make such a crude site, you would still absolutely need quite a few things that are time consuming. You would first need someone or a group of someones to start thinking about such things as:

Basic site functionality...
How many pages would need to be written?
What would these pages do?
Login & registration system?
Moderation system?
Allow site members to communicate with each other via the site?
Member permissions system? (To give moderators more privileges than others?)
How will you store all this information?
How will you deal with bots?
How will you prevent hacking attempts?

Once you answer these questions, you'd need to decide how the information will be stored -- database? If you use a database (which Rubberslug does), it needs to be well-designed. A poorly designed one would most definitely crash... probably often. Not only that, but you need to have well-written code that accesses and updates the database, else your site will crash.. often, especially with the number of users it would likely have.

If a programmer such as myself were starting from scratch, they would need to sit down and outline everything that needs to be done--and design the database before they could even BEGIN to write any code. It would also be wise if the design allowed for future changes - changes that would not cause the entire site or database to crash or be down for an extended period while the changes are implemented.

Basically, if you try to just run with a really poorly-done crude site, you will most certainly spell doom for yourself. Sure, it might take a little less time (though likely, not that much less than a decently crude site), but you'll end up re-building it in the future or it'll just die and be left dead. My point is, to do it right.. will take a lot more time than I think you realize (yes, even for a crude site), and you need someone skilled enough to do it right who is willing to devote that time.

And I'm not even going to discuss the hosting costs/issues...

[glorff]

There are tens of millions of cels out there if not hundreds of millions. Most of these are trash that are either sitting in a box or gone forever.Most of the rest are not posted on the net or available to add to a project.

There are many thousands of titles that have been made, the vast majority of them vanishing into obscurity withing months of the time they air.

If you are really interested in something like this you should start with one show and try to make that work.

I think that the overwhelming nature of this project is escaping you.

[sensei]

At the risk of adding a little ray of light into the gloom and doom of this discussion, might it be sufficient to think about a database that is simply constructed at the series level and doesn't attempt (at this point) any further detail?

That is: a list of who's collecting the major-league series, like Inuyasha, St. Seiya, Hunter x Hunter, CCS, Sailor Moon, etc. And (more interesting to me) who's collecting the relative rarities: Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Condition Green, Grimm Masterpiece Theatre, Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club, etc.

Yes, yes, you can get an answer from the RS search. But there are an increasing number of non-RS galleries, and happening on them (as I did on Metheus' wonderful Sasami collection during the Open House) can be an exciting meeting of kindred minds.

That (like my idea of each-one-catalog-one) would still involve labor, but I think it would be more feasible than the cel-by-cel one that is being floated.

[beatrush]

That is: a list of who's collecting the major-league series, like Inuyasha, St. Seiya, Hunter x Hunter, CCS, Sailor Moon, etc. And (more interesting to me) who's collecting the relative rarities: Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Condition Green, Grimm Masterpiece Theatre, Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club, etc.

This is more of a realistic database idea and would a lot easier to make then a full cel image registry.

[Cloud]

You want more?