[mythtv-users] Data Direct "service"

[Yeechang Lee]

Bruce Markey <bjm at lvcm.com> says:
> One post from an uninformed user claimed that that the issue
> was that of myth marking generic showings as repeats and was due
> to a "*BUG*" [sic] in MythTV and we should be thankful for what
> we get from "Tribune". I posted a response with the following
> points:

[...]

> - DD was not provided merely as a favor to it's users but was
> created in response excessive traffic from scrapers like XMLTV.
> 
> - If description information is not available from DD but is
> from tvlistings.com this will surely lead to people using
> scrapers which would increase tvlistings.com traffic ten fold
> then one-hundred fold or more.
> 
> - Therefore it is in everyones best interest that TMS take this
> issue seriously.

Bruce, I hate to say it but the first reaction I had upon reading the
above (not to mention your choice of subject line) was that you were
issuing a threat of the DataDirect servers melting down if the
data-accuracy issue isn't fixed pronto. "Not I," you will surely
say. "I never said *I'd* do it!" That's what's called
passive-aggressive threatening. (Besides, would you yourself really
hold off on using a screen scraper and therefore contributing, even if
only fractionally so, to the 10-100X traffic jump?)

The uninformed user was just that, uninformed and not affiliated with
Tribune Media Services user. There was no reason to, in addition to
correcting his mistaken impression of the methods by which MythTV
select which programs to record (methods that are certainly far, far
superior to the baling wire-and-masking-tape recording methods that
non-MythTV DataDirect users use), also say anything like the above, at
least in quite such a way.

I agree that a fix of the data really is best for all
parties. However, I know better than to make any kind of ultimatum,
however veiled it may be, because *Tribune Media Services isn't
obligated to do anything*. The company is doing us a huge favor, and
would be doing so even if we had to fill our surveys every three days
instead of every three months. That's not to say that there isn't a
certain amount of quid pro quo occurring here--there is--but in the
net tally of who is benefiting more, us or TMS, I know how the
arithmetic works out.

Again, there is no moral or legal obligation on TMS's part to not pull
all XML access to the data immediately should it choose to do so. Of
course, then there's nothing that prevents us from returning to the
screenscraping days of yesteryore. But guess what?  *TMS knows this
very well*, and its employees don't need your or anyone else lecturing
them about it. If you don't like it, they will surely be happy to
refund you the money you've forked over to TMS for the data feed. (Any
resemblance to the first sentence of the sixth paragraph of the GPL is
purely intentional.)

For the record, here's I responded to the same post by the ignoramus
poster, before I read your message here (I never saw your actual
response on the forum itself):

    MythTV assumes--and I think rightly so--that a generic episode for a
    TV show that has a recording rule is one that could be one the viewer
    wants to watch. This behavior can be overridden, if desired, but
    better safe than sorry; better that an episode of that big new TV show
    be recorded without a description than not be recorded at all.

And, FYI, later in the thread, from one 'labadmin':

     We are aware of this and are working to fix it.

I wish the TMS luck and godspeed in getting the issue fixed soon.

-- 
Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> | +1 650 776 7763 | San Francisco CA US