Video Box Covers

[Len801]

I don't really recall if this subject was broached in this forum.
Early on when EGAFD was in its infancy, Alec was very reluctant in putting up photos of performers (in the database) as he was fearful of complaints and possibly legal actions from the movie producers/distributors.
At first he would only put up only screencaps taken directly from the movie proper.
Later on, and I believe even when direct permission was not obtained from the copyright owner, some pictures were put in the database taken from web sites, photo galleries (Private, etc).
IAFD does pretty much the same thing without obtaining any direct permission from the copyright owner.
However video box covers (VHS, DVD) were never considered (for EGAFD) for reasons that are not too clear. I believe box covers are very important for a variety of reasons:
=a lot of those movies are out of print and hardly any info is available any more.
=Box covers often provide cast names and small thumbnails pictures of the performers and scenes in the movie, which help in identifying performers.

Wikipedia does publish when discussing performers (adult and mainstream) their pictures, and even movie posters, etc. I believe they explain the reasons for doing so in stipulating that it constitutes a "fair use" of such material.
I am not aware of ever hearing of any controversy relating to the publishing of such box covers/movie posters either by Wikipedia or any other web site/blogs that review movies (adult and mainstream).
In any event, video box covers are frequently linked in many of the topics in this very same forum. So if it was not considered illegal to post suck box covers in these topics, why should it be illegal to place them in the respective movie page for archival purposes.
Thoughts?

[alec]

Len801 wrote:

> In any event, video box covers are frequently linked in many of
> the topics in this very same forum. So if it was not considered
> illegal to post suck box covers in these topics, why should it
> be illegal to place them in the respective movie page for
> archival purposes.
> Thoughts?

It never has been thought illegal. It's just that we didn't think of it at the time when the pages were being designed and therefore - a technical matter this - there isn't a space allocated for them on the pages. Plus it would be yet more work to divert us from adding to and correcting the database itself.

I agree about their usefulness though.

[Len801]

I basically wanted to determine whether EGAFD had adopted a different approach and position than was originally conceived.
But there IS sufficient space on the movie data page (I am referring to the the "Notes" section) (EGAFD has on occasion added male cast names, some observations and on occasion a long and detailed review).
I was not suggesting to go crazy and start digging all over the place for box covers. But since there is a certain amount of backlog of posts for the mods to go through (more than a year as I understand), in posts where box covers have been posted would it not be possible to insert the pic of the video box cover, while the mods are dealing with making the required modifications relating to information gleamed from those posts?

[jj]

I believe the Notes section is formatted for text only- so one could add
a link to a cover but not the image itself?
I agree covers are a useful resource- but many are already posted on VEF
and other sites. To be fair, once the info has been garnered the cover is
then in large part redundant. And using a cover-pic for an actress is I
feel very much a last resort.

[Len801]

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the situation.
I will give you just a small example.
All that was known by EGAFD for
MAMA ALLEIN ZU HAUS
(2011,Create-X)

was ONE performer Stella Fox who was billed there as Martina.
I have just informed you that Vivia also appears in the movie

If you would not have examined the video box cover, would you know who Vivia or any of the other still unidentified actresses are?
Unless some solitary soul has the movie, is willing to view it and analyse for the benefit of this forum other people just have no clue who the performers are in a movie
In many of the movies in the EGAFD database you often see one or two performers listed. If you had a box cover there, perhaps someone who looked at the film listing may come up with other clues? Perhaps posting box covers may generate further helpful discussions as to the true identify of actresses that may appear there.
Just because the "notes" section may only presently be formatted for text only does that mean that some modifications (for picture inclusion) are expensive or impossible to excecute?

[jj]

I think you've misunderstood me somewhat.
I have absolutely no issue with covers being posted on the forum- on the
contrary. As you say, the info is thereby made available to be extracted
by the admins and added to the db.
AFTER that process any user can go to the relevant film or actress page
and view that info. At this point the forum post becomes less useful [albeit
still not without value, as it may give a 'feel' of the movie's content and
furnish other 'intangibles']- the db entry will hopefully have logically-ordered
the info and cleared up loose ends such as perf. IDs [often on the strength
of reply-contributions to the initial posting], and in that sense will supersede
the post.
The forum posts also of course allow users to access the raw information
while it's still in the queue for db-addition.