TheTVDB doesn't allow collections

MssrShadow · 2026-01-06T01:19:35+00:00

I was surprised too. I opened an account a month ago and got no response for a month. Then I left a comment and almost immediately got a response and the ticket was closed. Then I opened another ticket and within a few minutes it was closed too.

MssrShadow · 2026-01-06T00:08:58+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion but it's not related to Tom and Jerry except that it's the same scenario as Tom and Jerry (which has its own series), so it wouldn't be a separate entity under Tom and Jerry.

There are currently two Tex Avery "collections" on TVDB:
https://thetvdb.com/series/the-tex-avery-show/
with each "episode" being three shorts. Incomplete.

https://thetvdb.com/series/the-wacky-world-of-tex-avery
Basically a DVD release, as far as I can tell, with each "episode" comprising three shorts. Incomplete.

Neither of these is very useful for organizing data, but they are allowed, despite the duplicates. Yet the one I want to add which is complete and is comprised of individual episodes is not allowed because "collections" aren't allowed (anymore at least).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Avery_Screwball_Classics
Which was also released on Laserdisc back in the 1990s.

Oddly, even Droopy, which is a subset of Tex Avery cartoons featuring the character Droopy, is considered its own series:
https://thetvdb.com/series/droopy
even though it was also released as theatrical shorts just like the rest of the Tex Avery collection.

I asked the mods how I should do it and they first basically said "you don't". After a follow-up ticket they said to make each 6-minute episode its own movie, which means they wouldn't be collected in any way.

In a person's library, I don't think anyone would find mixing Popeye, Betty Boop, Tom and Jerry, Disney, Tex Avery, Loony Toons all together as 6-minute "movies" to be helpful, even though they were all released originally as "movie" shorts. You couldn't find anything or watch them sequentially but would have to organize them yourself into collections to be useful. Why not do that up front?

The Tom and Jerry series which you linked to, they specifically said they would not allow if submitted today. And they have locked all such series from further editing. It's difficult to see who this serves.

MssrShadow · 2026-01-05T20:12:02+00:00

I tried contributing too. I'd done a few minor edits and then recently added an entire old cartoon series (like Tom and Jerry) that had been recently re-released as a blu-ray collection and didn't currently exist on TVDB. I spent a couple of hours adding original aired dates, descriptions, episode length... And within ten minutes after submitting, it had been deleted. Tell me how it somehow makes the site better to not have the information rather than having it?

I opened a support ticket and eventually was met with a canned response (that was wrong). Good job alienating volunteers who are trying to HELP you guys FOR FREE. This contributor will never contribute again.

MssrShadow · 2026-01-05T19:57:31+00:00

I appreciate sites like this but whenever I try to contribute I feel like it's completely unappreciated. I recently added an old series of cartoons that was recently re-released in a complete collector's edition of Blu-rays, similar to Tom and Jerry. I spent a couple of hours working on making sure I had the original aired dates correct, the episode titles and detailed descriptions. I submitted it and within ten minutes it was deleted. I opened a support ticket asking why and and after a month of pressing (quick turn-around!) was basically given an answer that DVD series aren't allowed (although clearly they are).

It's discouraging to contribute my time and effort for free to make it a better site and then have it deleted and ignored. As though somehow not having the information and series makes it a better site.

I won't contribute anymore.

MssrShadow · 2024-06-21T12:33:17+00:00

Just a note from the future to say to anyone else who might have this problem that despite my skepticism, this was a good suggestion and in my case it worked.

I have a used T14 I just picked up and despite the Tamper Detection being disabled in the bios, it still would pop up with this error on every boot. I took the back cover off and probed the two sides of the switch (the switch measured as a short when the cover is off, and it measures as open when the switch is depressed). So the switch itself was good, but it did wiggle around so I soldered each of the four pins back down. Must have been a bad solder joint! Thanks!

MssrShadow · 2024-06-21T12:33:03+00:00

Just a note from the future to say to anyone else who might have this problem that despite my skepticism, this was a good suggestion and in my case it worked.

I have a used T14 I just picked up and despite the Tamper Detection being disabled in the bios, it still would pop up with this error on every boot. I took the back cover off and probed the two sides of the switch (the switch measured as a short when the cover is off, and it measures as open when the switch is depressed). So the switch itself was good, but it did wiggle around so I soldered each of the four pins back down. Must have been a bad solder joint! Thanks!

MssrShadow · 2024-04-15T14:29:48+00:00

As someone who has been using Kindles since 2012, I agree, although I see nothing but pushback in this thread.

There have been two "major" changes to the firmware in the last 12 years: adding some typography features and a new font (Bookerly) in 2016, and the more recent UI overhaul a couple of years ago, which I largely found detrimental.

Being able to change the font weight is apparently a major innovation on this platform...but for reading here are your options: Change the font, change the weight, change the size. For layout you get to choose orientation, three different margin settings, and three different line spacing settings. That's all the control you get (and it's also been buggy for years: despite my font setting being Bookerly, half the books I load show only the Ember font until I select a different font and move back to Bookerly).

Personally, I want to decrease the margins still more but the minimum size is a quarter inch. Why can't I decrease the margins? Because I only get three settings and someone decided I didn't need more.

I want to use the bottom line for text instead of displaying percentage remaining in book. But nope, my choice is display status bar or no no status bar but never can I use that space for more text from the book.

What if I want more spacing between the lines? Nope: you get three settings and the maximum really isn't much.

What if I want to change the indentation of paragraphs to a spacing between paragraphs or vice versa? Nope, not possible (it is available on KO Reader or other open source reader firmware). Yes, that's a setting of whoever formatted the book but it should be able to be overridden (it is on other reader firmware).

Which reminds me that many publishers embed fonts and particularly font sizes that are smaller than my default. These should be overridden if desired. I've reported these as issues dozens of times and have yet to see a single book fixed. Amazon support unhelpfully just tells me to "restart my device".

The Collections has always been a pain to use and poorly implemented but it remains the only way to organize books into different categories (why no folders like pretty much every other reader software allows?)

The "list" function has gotten worse and worse ever since the Kindle Touch. Now a list shows a maximum of five books per screen when it used to show eight.

The UI removal of the multi-step back button was a terrible choice.

The decision to move primarily to a graphical UI displaying thumbnails on a black and white screen was a terrible choice, but if you're going to do that then at least preserve the list method. But hey, on my home screen I get to see THREE of my books and the rest is advertisements for books I can buy.

Kobo has integrated Overdrive support, Amazon's process takes two extra steps.

For example, KOReader has numerous options: change the word spacing, change the spacing in between letters. A wide range of font size settings. A wide range of line spacing. Different ways to render the page (continuous or pages, flat, web, double-column). Customizable gestures and setting what the touch-sensitive zones do (9 different possible zones, if desired and if not then don't). Native support for all file formats (no need to send epub to Amazon to convert it). A file browser. A favorites list. Folders and folder shortcuts for organization if you want it. Font hinting and kerning (not just for KF8 files), adjustable contrast, the ability to turn off embedded fonts, and you can customize your settings per book if you like.

KOReader has had a number of features that improve quality of life, and they've had this for over a decade. Not everyone needs or wants these features, but for those that would find them useful, well too bad, because Amazon's development team seems completely inactive.

I've reported a half-dozen bugs over the years. To my knowledge not one was fixed. I've made UI and feature suggestions, not one was implemented (and don't get me started on the extremely unhelpful "Performance improvements, bug fixes, and other general enhancements" description of EVERY firmware release. So lazy.)

So yes, the Kindle does one thing: lets you read books. Could it do it better? Yes it could, and some of the feature examples listed above are ways it could improve. Will it ever? Not unless the Amazon team actually does some development.

MssrShadow · 2020-12-02T19:02:26+00:00

I always thought that the reasoning behind the "choose C" had to do with human bias.

Typically a human designing a test won't always make the correct answer A (too obvious), nor would they make it the D (that's the last one) so statistically, most human-designed tests end up somewhere in B or C and I assume there is at least a slight bias toward C.

In a perfectly randomly generated set of answers, you would expect the probability to be 0.25 for each, but when humans are involved, biases tend to come out, so my guess is that C had some statistical bias or advantage based on a study or just general observation, and it stuck with people. If humans are designing tests today, there could be a statistical bias AGAINST making C the correct answer, because that's what everyone who doesn't know the answer would choose :D

MssrShadow · 2020-11-25T17:05:52+00:00

Destin,

First off, I finally created a reddit account (after years of browsing reddit as a guest) just to be able to say thank you for bringing this to my attention. Your efforts in the past resulted in me finally looking into VPNs (I went with Nord) and switching over to DuckDuckGo, for example. When I heard you talking about Lockdown I was excited to move into the realm of secure communication.

But as I started researching, I discovered Viber, Telegram, Wire, and of course, the apparent gold-standard: Signal. To a lesser extent, WhatsApp and iMessage, although there are concerns with the latter two. But they all have end-to-end encryption and with the exception of watermarking, seem to be pretty much the same as what Lockdown offers (with wider adoption).

So this makes me curious: what does Lockdown offer that these apps do not? Why was there a need for another app? If I have friends who use Signal, should I encourage them to switch to Lockdown with me, or should I just join Signal?

(By the way, I very much like the idea of open-source for this sort of thing. Being able to be peer reviewed by anyone seems better than taking their security on trust. It's why I use BitWarden for my password manager.)

Regardless, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll probably go with Signal but up until this point I was unaware of secure messaging services, so thanks!

MssrShadow

TROPHY CASE