Talk:Dvdrs.net closes - "can not recover from recent events"

Original Reporting
The content of this was taken from Google's cache after receiving an e-mail from descds telling me that his site would have to close - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 05:25, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * The Google Cache link in the sources takes me to a Yahoo search page saying that it can't process the request. Even if you can't find a direct source, it should be okay, as long as you are explicit here on the talk page as to exactly what information in the article is verified by you (i.e. that you are the source for). - Borofkin 05:47, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Meh, it was working, I used it to get the PDF I have. I have posted the statement below - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 10:47, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

What was Dvdrs.net?
A little backgournd would be helpful for those not familiar with the site. What was it? Was it a dupecheck? Was it a release scene news site? Was it a forum? Was it a database of DVD covers? I have no idea, there's little in this article to help. 210.210.10.78 11:20, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Statement posted on the website before it's closure
This was posted on dvdrs.net before it was closed. Unfortunately I can not find a permanent link as the site is gone and the google cache has purged it.

STATEMENT OF CONCLUSION Many are now aware that the MPAA have filed a lawsuit against us regards the indexing parts of the site. We have expressed and believe that these sections are not illegal and have tried to work with the MPAA to a satisfactory resolve. The MPAA however have failed to respond to our requests and we feel we must act on this situation ourselves.DVDRS has been evolving for sometime and has been steadily moving away from its initial purpose. Indexing Usenet is still a part of the site granted, but we are now far more than that with in depth articles on DVD-R/W, DVD+R/W, DVD+R DL, DVDRAM, BLU-RAY and HD DVD media, software and hardware technology We also have a healthy movie, game and hardware review section as well as active news. Our forums are also more about technology than Usenet.

To this end we feel its time to drop reference to Usenet entirely. We understand that this may be seen as defeat or guilt by some parties but we feel its more about compliance and adaptivity. If a governing body feel that what we do is illegal we wish no part of it and will show willingness to comply by removing areas that may be in dispute. This isn't about acceptance of guilt, this is about removing anything that people deem offensive.

DVDRS will reach its final evolvement and we hope you understand why and where we are heading. We also understand that DVDRS will always be seen, in light of recent press, as a site that dealt in illegal file sharing. We feel there is no way we can recover from this and thus will re-launch Talk DVD with some of DVDRS database and ideas. This decision has not come easy for us and it pains us to do so.

We understand many members will not appreciate these changes and all we can do is apologize. As a site we must evolve and hope you can likewise do so. If you do not wish to be a part of these new changes we hope you will vote with your feet and not your negative opinions. What we do now is for the good of the site and any negativity will only result in instant removal. Any site that wishes to slam or slander us may do so willingly, we will not fire any shots back and quite frankly are not interested in your adverse opinions.

I have to confess that the site has caused my family a huge amount of stress over the last year. We have had many issues to deal with and the recent lawsuit is the final action that has decided our course. “I am a family man and this is not a business, i cannot take the fight to anyone without fear of risk. Money has changed hands but remember i have always invested this back into the site. If you feel i have got rich from these dealings i feel for you, however many will see that this simply wasn't the case. Granted some will not be happyabout that but at the end of the day this is a hobbyist site and one i enjoy working with. Talk DVD will feature the same morals and goals as DVDRS and we will re-invent and invest a huge amount of time in sections there to make us a fun, friendly place to be.

We will move the site to that location, streamline the member base to active membership and hopefully develop as time permits. We hope that you see our actions as the only recourse and that we feel passionately enough about what we do to try and evolve.” The site will be closed for restructure. All reference to Usenet will be removed, the logo adapted (its a long time coming anyway) and NZB indexing sections dropped. We will prune our membership database and remove any inactive member who have not logged the site for 6 months. Members who are still active and wish to be removed after this time will be allowed to submit a request for their account to be terminated.

Site supporters will still have all benefits of their donations minus the NZB section and Usenet reviews. We will not issue any refunds under the grounds of our TOS and no funds to do so :- (a) Payment Obligation and PayPal® Authorization. There shall be no Refunds, except in demonstrated cases of payment fraud or under the terms agreed to when purchasing a product or service as agreed to during the payment process. (b) Termination of Your Subscription DVDRS may also, in its sole discretion, at any time discontinue providing the Service, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to the Service under any provision of this Agreement may be effected without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that DVDRS may immediately deactivate or delete your account and/or bar any further access to the Service. Further, you agree that DVDRS shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Service. (c) NZB Section Access Access to the DVDRS NZB section is considered to be a Site Supporters Club membership free benefit and is not a condition or entitlement of the membership fees. You acknowledge that DVDRS, in its sole discretion, may terminate your access to the NZB section for any reason, including, without limitation, if DVDRS believes that you have violated or acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of this Agreement or any DVDRS Terms of Service or User Agreements.

All site supporter funds have been used for that, to support the site. There is no funds to issue our members refunds, if there had been, we would willingly give them.

Danish speaking sections will be removed. We understand that we have a large population of Danish speaking members and encourage them to stay as part of the active membership base but they will, unfortunately, need to speak English from now on. This is not for racialist reasons but so we can better effectively moderate our forums. We will be moved to shared hosting as the services of a dedicated server will no longer be required. We understand that these changes will bring some negativity and expect the worse. However we also feel that its this or close the site entirely and we have worked far too long and hard for this to happen.Since the PR press release broke we have been seen as an organized pirate network and this is unacceptable. In the first day of the press release we had 100 new members sign up looking for pirated movies. This has continued everyday since and we will not allow DVDRS to be used this way. We have not, will not and never shall host illegal files here. To this end we tried to control the situation with locking out both site supporters and new registrations.

We feel our actions are justified to keep the site free from such problems in the future. These decisions are not open for debate and have been thought over long and hard. We still voice we have done nothing wrong but feel that the stress of the last few days has not been worth it. We hope that the MPAA can finally see that we are willing to work alongside them to resolve any disputes they may have on anything we do and hope they will next time contact us directly before they decide on a course of action.

D9 at binnews has expressed his dismay at our actions but understands them. We feel we are far more than an indexing site and although what we have done is not illegal, feel its not worth risk for us to pursue. However D9 has expressed he will continue the fight and would welcome your support on these matters. We wish him well. If, after we move, restructure and remodel, negativity becomes the main voice on the site, we will be forced to close. We hope it doesn't come to that and hope each and every member understands our need to evolve. If you still have a passion for DVD in any form (be it games, movies, or technology) we hope you'll become an active member.

We wish to thank every active member and hope you can see our actions as just. Thank you Descds Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 10:47, 6 March 2006 (UTC)