An entry that gets converted to another (by changing barcode or artwork) is in error and should not be done except in some circumstances.
God of War III: https://vgcollect.com/item/15612
- chwarg created this entry with EAN 711719158066
- in the past 7 years, this item became a franken-entry as people added covers and item numbers that did not match.
- Item entry was corrected by removing the /P from item number, and putting the front and back art that matched the EAN on the entry, and added the TLD as required.
Now in the entire 7 years that the entry had been on the site as just "God of War" and at least 3 years of having the wrong front art, people have added it to their collection. Why did they do this when the EAN had been there the whole time? Did they not know to look at the EAN on the thing they had and see there was a problem with the entry or attempt to ask anyone about it or get it corrected?
As for this complaint that someone can come along and change an entry you made into something else, isn't the response here the correct one? Wouldn't the appropriate admin response be to revert the item to what it was intended to be if apparent? This is what we did with the God of War III entry, we undid the changes that had occured over time to change the entry into a different release.
As for the God of War III European English version, if it is not in the db currently, it can be added sans TLD. If there is a UK specific release already in the db sans TLD, it should have [UK] added so that there doesn't end up being more than 1 item in the same category with the same item title.
I think people added the game to their collection by the title itself, not because of the EAN. When I registered in this database, I had 500 games to add, I guess I spent 2 or 3 days adding all of them. That's what might happened to all other people: they simply wanted to add their huge list of games to their collection, they didn't care about the description or information in it - that's what I think.
Now, it all depends of what's more important: the EAN or the title. If that version was supposed to be, since the beginning, the german version, the title should have its TLD. If not, people will assume that's the standard english version of the game, they won't spend time checking the EAN of the game to confirm if it's correct.
I must be honest about this: I don't care if there is a EAN in each game I added, I don't have time or patience to look at every single game I added to my collection and check if that information is correct or not. With me, I believe there are plenty more other people. The day I started this topic, one user was creating games that already were in the database, without any cover, any information, wrong title scheme... If some people can't even do a simple search in the db, it's wrong to believe that other users will verify every information of their games.
A friend of mine has way less games then I do, she spends time copying the box text of each game she owns. In my case, if the game has the release date or EAN wrong, it doesn't affect me much. It's optional information there. That's why I wonder: if the EAN code is so important (or more important then the title) shouldn't that section be obligatory when creating a new item? I mean, when you submit a new item, the only thing you can't edit on the second step is the title you previously inserted. Wouldn't be easier to make both descriptions obligatory when submitting a new item?