I'd like to know how it is going on...

[Christian_Bütikofer]

... and who owns it now. Who does dvdcompare.net belong to? For whom do I new entries/corrections? I am in no seat to "demand" what's going on. But in a way I want to know. Please make a statement, give me what's happened. I'm Swiss - we like to know - very transparently - What is the road? The first most important thing is: Who owns it? What is the idea? Because I will not spend hours to give this very precise info for a release, if I don't even know how it is going on! (I always did it voluntarlily, because I love movies, no stringe attached). If I do that in the future, I HAVE TO KNOW whom I do that for.

[Ulrich_Christensen]

I guess, I can do a Q&A.

Who does dvdcompare.net belong to?

That would basically be me. Hi, I am Ulrich Christensen and I've been the maintainer/developer of the site since 2015.
Sam was a long-time friend from another site (DVDSpot) we both contributed to, and it was him who brought me in. I was already a user and past contributor of the site since at least 2005.
I "took over" as Sam's family passed the reins to me (and the team).
My bio along with the other team members is here: http://www.dvdcompare.net/about.php.
I'm Danish.


How is it going?

I would assume as normal, since nothing has changed in the operation of the site and I basically have no plans to change that. We didn't make a big deal about the ownership change, when the site changed hands from Craig to Sam, and I don't want to make a big number out of it, now that it has passed to me, although you are forcing my hand.
Sam had already been pretty busy and not very active on the site for some time, so the Rewind team members / moderators you see around day-to-day have been "running the show" with me in the background for a while before his passing. Thus I don't see any changes.


For whom do we make new entries/corrections?

The entity that is this site (Rewind), as it always was. We are all enthusiast about this hobby of ours.
My role as "owner" is making sure it stays up, which only expands on my existing role as site maintainer. It is more a formality than anything else.


What happened?

On June 22nd, I got word from Noor that Sam had passed away, so Noor and I tried to work out a way on how to proceed. Noor was in contact with Sam's father, who wanted us to have a chance at continuing the site. Sam's father worked with the hosting company to allow them to transfer the assets in Sam's account to a new hosting account owned by me. I was already a registered contact on Sam's account, so I was able to ensure that everything needed to be transferred was transferred over, before Sam's account would be closed as Sam's father had requested.
On June 25th, the rest of the team were informed by a joint message by Noor, Eric and me. Many condolences and questions were had.
On July 13th, after giving Sam's family some time to grieve in private, part of that message was posted publicly on the front page of the site. I guess we had a bit of trouble posting anything else afterwards, since it would be so "trivial" in comparison. This November I did add a new post about Rewind having its 21st year to make it clear that we are still active and as a way to get our news feed rolling again.


What is the roadmap / idea / plan going forward?

Well, in my role as developer it is to continue updating the backend and add new functionality. I plan on fixing more than I break.
In my newer role as owner, it is to keep the site running. I plan on doing that for as long as I am physically able, and when the time for it comes, I hope to be able to pass it on to someone who shares the same passion for it, preferably someone who is already part of the team.


Why don't we see you around a lot?

This is a hobby, and I tend to spend most of my time here fixing things in the backend, so you won't see me as active here on the forums. I figure that my time is best spent that way. I am pretty busy in my day-job, so I want the time here to be well spent.


Does this answer your questions, Christian? If you want more personal information about me, you can contact me privately.

[Christian_Bütikofer]

Hi Ulrich, thanks for your detailed reply . And sorry for my little outburst... . I am happy that it goes on and I also have to say, I'm proud to be a small part of it - hopefully for years to come. And thanks to all other contributors and especially all moderators who have to deal with my - hopefully rarely wrong - input. . It's what makes dvdcompare so special, that the entries are as perfect as it is humanly possible. And also what I think is very refreshing: It's the most civilzed forum I know. No silly rants and complaining/bashing like in other forums.