tofferman

I just went to DVD Beaver this morning (mod...please move this post if necessary) and Gary Tooze has indicated that he is losing too much money to keep the site up and running on a daily basis. It appears he may soon only be providing reviews around the holidays and/or only reviewing more main stream titles. What a shame, as I have used his site for years for foreign and indie dvd reviews. Just an fyi to those who may care...

OldBoy

just search Beaver...

DVD Beaver...
Save the Beaver...
Save DVDBeaver...
Beaver may go under...

cgray

i have also used beaver for quite sometime, and never contributed. i guess now is the time. if gary gets an outpouring of support at this point, that would certainly help matters.

tofferman

Thanks scott1598 for the links. I neglected to search first (and should have), but seeing that dvdbeaver was "saved" back then, almost a year ago (and two years ago), most probably have forgotten about Gary's financial troubles with maintaining his website and yet visit frequently for his reviews.

Also, seeing that Gary is taking a few days to reassess yet again whether or not to continue his site, a new posting seems appropriate imho. Maybe Gary needs to have a yearly fundraising drive going forward in order to maintain his website, or have a membership fee annually. If memory serves me well, hometheaterspot did something similar a few years back when Paul Carleton was having financial troubles. Just my two cents...

OldBoy

all you need to do is post in the already existing. there is NO need for yet another thread. closing...

tofferman

We agree to disagree, and seeing that you are NOT a moderator on this board, move on...

FilmFanSea

I agree that this deserves a new thread. Here are Gary's comments posted this morning:

PayPal contributions can be made from the Beaver homepage here, about three-quarters of the way down the page. The other way to help the site is to use the affiliate links to buy from Amazon, YesAsia, and CDWow (links also available from the Beaver homepage).

This site is truly indispensable for any DVD buyer/collector who loves classic, indie, foreign, and arthouse films.

tofferman

Thank You FilmFanSea! I feel slightly vindicated now. My concern is for Gary's website simply because it is a great resource; not for "elitists" on this board (who shall remain nameless...see post #5) who think they have the "right" to be a pseudo-moderator.

illennium

You are the last person who should be complaining about unnecessary threads.

canaryfarmer

I'm getting tired of scott1598's constant "closing thead in..." shtick as well. You're not a moderator, and every thread you've said that in has stayed open (that I know of). So knock it off, dude.

OldBoy

not really. there have become an increasingly # of duplicate threads started my newer members who simply don't know yet. i am not faulting them, i am simply pointing out as so many others have done as well. it just clogs the boards and makes it look so darn uninteresting seeing the same exact thing over and over. i have learned and do not do this.

OldBoy

i don't claim to be. i simply am doing what everyone else has done to me and to be honest they were right, as i am. like it or not. duplicate threads (especially 5 of them) are not necessary. simple as that.

purplechoe

"Nice beaver!"
"Thank you. I just had it stuffed."

I hope Gary decides to stick around. They're the best comparison site around and I visit it almost daily.

zombiezilla

Yeah, people who freak out about "duplicate threads" (especially where the so-called "duplicate" is over a year old!) are really a drag, and need to form their own fucking board, IMNSHO. A thread about a news post on another related site, especially about the possibility of said site closing, rates a new thread. "Like it or not." "Simple as that." If I were a moderator...hhhmmmmm.....

OldBoy

talk like that will only get you banned. i am so glad this has turned into a bash thread.

GeoffK

Hate to say this, but he's done this before. While I appreciate what Gary does, telling people you're going under to fuel a donation drive AGAIN is a little suspect.

Why not be honest and say he'd like people to support the site and/or donate.

It just feels like crying wolf.

tofferman

That's a great point gkleinman. My thread has gotten off topic unfortunately, but over the years that the dvd format has been around, there seems to be less and less "good" dvd sites worth perusing on a daily basis. My favorite site has been dvdtalk for several years now, but I also find value in other sites that are referenced frequently on these boards.

If Gary can't make it work financially, he needs to either make it a membership only site (or have a section for contributing members only), partner it with another site (or sponsors) or shut it down. That's the reality since the dot.com boom went bust back in 2000/2001.

Ron G

As somebody who hasn't been around here for a very long time, and who only posts infrequently, I find the snarkiness and the open hostility towards people who post--God forbid!--a duplicate thread extremely offputting.

I'm not about to engage in a lengthy search using as many search terms as I can think of to try and see whether or not a topic has been brought up before. And if a piece of news appears to be new--as the current announcement on DVDBeaver is--and there's nothing on the first couple of pages about it, I'm going to proceed on the assumption that the subject has not yet been brought up. And even if it has, if it's no longer on the first couple of pages, who gives a shit?

This is the kind of stuff that prevents new people from joining and taking part, and creates the insider/outsider dichotomy that kills boards.

OldBoy

tough. i am tired of this constant bashing of what so many around here do just to keep their and everyone else's boards tidy. just read the damn rules already and get a thicker skin. all i said was "just search Beaver" for fuck's sake! others are much more "snarkier" than I. of course, bc of my rep i don't get backed up and well, what can i do, and since the founder now posted i guess it will stick around but i don't care. i was simply pointing out what was posted 4 times already!!

Ron G

How about saying nothing? You know, the whole "if you don't have anything nice to say" rule?

People come in here to talk about things, not get shitty replies from people with nothing better to do than patrol the last several years of a board's history looking for duplicate threads.

OldBoy

nah. i didn't say anything off putting to deserve the responses.

FilmFanSea

While I respect your opinion, Glenn (you know as well as anyone the vagaries of keeping a popular website financially stable), I would point out that Gary has been *extremely* creative in trying to find a viable business model that would allow him to maintain his independence from possible studio influence. It also kills him to have to make special financial appeals to keep his site from going under.

For those unfamiliar with DVD Beaver, it is (mostly) a one-man website that posts new content at a rate that would embarrass many larger operations (I would wager that only DVD Talk and DVD Verdict post most reviews). And Gary's site is unique as far as I know: he compares screencaps for a given film from different DVD releases from around the world, and/or previous US releases. In the process, he is able to comment on the original film and DVD aspect ratios, cropping of the picture, region encoding, color correction and saturation, sharpness, contrast, film grain, artifacting, etc. His method is less about critiquing the quality of the film, and more a Consumer Reports-type analysis of the quality of the DVD. Further, the reader doesn't have to rely on Gary's opinion, but can use his or her own eyes to judge which DVD has the best transfer.

The sad thing is that the site is first-rate, has never been more popular, yet can't even break even under his current model. In my experience, Gary doesn't cry wolf--if anything, he waits too long to ask for help. Besides, a lot of his personal income has gone toward this project, and he has a family to support.

Those of us who rely on this site and who have contributed money to keep it afloat have kicked around a lot of ideas for keeping the Beaver on firm financial ground: banner ads, pop-ups, expanded merchant affiliations, subscription-only content, broadening the kinds of films that are reviewed & compared. Personally, I think the only way for it to survive in the long term is for Gary to compromise some of his principles and solicit click-through advertising. The switch may anger a lot of his loyal visitors, but I feel his service is too valuable to lose.

Lemdog

I wouldn't be mad one bit if it were to keep the Beaver afloat.

Breakfast with Girls

If he's making appeals on an annual basis, then something's wrong with his financial model.

zombiezilla

Originally posted by scott1598:
talk like that will only get you banned.

My reply: Why? I didn't call you any names, or do anything else against board rules.


Originally posted by scott1598:
of course, bc of my rep i don't get backed up and well, what can i do?


My reply: Your reputation DOES precede you. You could...ummm..not post? Down with the posting police.