RA has not moved on data wise for 4 years and there is a danger the data could be lost. Since Discogs is a similar music archival website I was wondering if a merge with Discogs might be a way of safe guarding the data.
I pasted a similar request concerning merging of data and here are the responses I received:-
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Slight probem:
1.1.1. You must have the exact release in your possession when you make a release submission. Basing your submission only on information from websites, images, or anywhere else is forbidden, as is entering information for planned releases that haven't been manufactured. Items can be submitted before the release date, but you must always have the physical copy in your possession when submitting.
Theres several very good reasons why we dont just dump reams of data from other websites into the database.
If you want to point users of that site to this site to add the information contained on items they own, then that would be great.
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As Jayfive pointed out, we require that the user has the release in their possession when they submit it. We can add onto this that I am unsure of the data licensing terms of roots-archives.com, which is another block (if one were needed) to simply manually transferring the data right across.
Regarding the forums there, I would not want to be apparently 'poaching' another website of it's userbase. However, if the community over there felt that they would be better served by Discogs, all the tools are here for them to do everything they want straight away:
* Enter data to the Discogs database - http://www.discogs.com/help/quick-start-guide.html
* Start a new Discussion Group (forum) - http://www.discogs.com/groups/create
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Would be great to have more roots reggae submitters / buyers / sellers on discogs!
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why not bring up the topic of discogs in the forums and recommend that the users who have the records available and at hand to add them to the discogs database?
this is a user built website, built by users who love music - just the kind that are posting on the roots archive forums.
Hope that helps!