"Ten years on Discogs"

On July 18, 2012 I joined Discogs. The poorly maintained and updated website pop.nu made me do it. I was forced and compelled to future-proof my record collection. Now, it's time to summarize 10 years. But, first some basic facts. Discogs is a website and crowdsourced database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Discogs is a place for perfection and distinction. Every album is to be identified with accuracy (the exact copy). You need BaOI (Barcodes and Other Identifiers), which is a collective name for identifiers. An UPC/EAN code is an unsufficient identifier. The purpose of joining was twofold. Firstly, to buy rare cds. The marketplace is integrated with the database, making it easy for sellers and buyers. Secondly, to keep track of my record collection. I got over 4 000 cds. When you're standing in a thrift store casually browsing through tons of used cds it's good to have acccess to the Discogs app on your smartphone. You might think that all Discogians have joined the community for their love of music. Most of them, but not all. Quite a few doesn't want to play with the tractor that cost top dollars. They are more interested in the box it came in. They are zealous formalists and totally obsessed with structure and order. They are happy when they can send a message that begins with "Please check" and a link to the database guidelines. In this case, guidelines are actual rules (the notorious policy of Hector Barbossa inverted). Some Discogians are engaged in detecting and correcting errors. In most cases they just detect and alert. In other cases, they lecture you in a diminishing way. Anyway, they are an annoying yet influential minority. You're bound to come across some more or less odd behavior when you are a Discogian. Here are some examples. A first example is when I had an album for sale and a guy (it's always a guy) asked a lot of questions (and I mean a lot). Then he declined. Obviously the guy was a talker, not a buyer. A second example is when I was contacted by a guy who wondered if I wanted to sell my rare Woodcat album. Asking for this is a big no-no in the community and can be equated to an unwelcome sexual contact. I must admit that I once stepped over this boundary myself. Desperate times call for desperate measures. A third example is when a guy asked me if I could rip two songs from a Barry White compilation for mastering comparison. What an odd request. A fourth example is when a guy asked me if I could take some pictures of the lyrics from the new Anna Ternheim album. Why me of all users? Am I a magnet for odd requests? My experience is that the majority of the Discogians are knowledgeable, kind and helpful just like most people are. However, you should beware of Discogians with no seller or buyer rating, no collection, no wantlist and no submissions. Idle hands are the devil's playthings.