Interview with the Hungarian Bear

MG has covered a bunch of different aspect of collecting, maintaining and such. Today we're glad to present you with an interview with SunCo.

SunCo is one of better known maintainers whom have become an often talked about subject, because of his choices and doings, through the last 10 or so years. SunCo is the beginning author for VG collection series like: MET-Art, Hegre, Galitsin, ArnoldSK, Domai, FemJoy, Harris, Slastyonoff, TSM and others.

Today SunCo is in cyber exile for reasons you can read in the interview.

Happy reading.


[MG] SunCo, you are one of the old timers in this business, how long have you been in collecting?
[SunCo] i've been collecting for 10 years now
[SunCo] i started with modem and downloading sites etc.
[MG] 10 years, that is a long time, have you ever felt like quitting all of it?
[SunCo] never
[SunCo] in the past 2 years i spin on a bit lower level
[SunCo] but still collecting
[SunCo] and i will do
[MG] impressive, pure dedication. You have also maintained alot of csvs and you started some famous collections.
[MG] which collections are you most proud of?
[SunCo] all of them
[SunCo] i'm proud all of them
[SunCo] i cannot decide
[SunCo] especially now, when the good old nice colls look really old and bad compared to the new collys
[MG] You mostly do Fine Art Erotica collections, has it been an easy job?
[SunCo] nope
[SunCo] I've started to make csvs for 2 reasons
[SunCo] 1 nobody had them and i made them
[SunCo] 2 the "official" csv wasn’t good and i made better
[SunCo] .)
[SunCo] for the FAE group
[SunCo] nobody had them before and they were nice and unique sites and in the beginning they were not nude enough for the main channel or they did not like them
[SunCo] so i CSV’d them
[MG] You started MET and HEGRE among others, how do you feel about the increasing Gb size of the contents today?
[SunCo] one of my eyes is laughing and the other is crying
[SunCo] I’m always happy to have more stuff
[SunCo] but in the real life
[SunCo] ppl cannot check, watch and enjoy that much amount of stuff
[SunCo] i remember how happy we were with 100 pieces of 800x600 pics
[SunCo] but now with 2000 pieces 4000x3000...
[SunCo] it starts to become too much a bit
[MG] True. Is it true that you have not watched most of your stuff?
[SunCo] i watch
[SunCo] i always watched at least 1 time everything i get
[SunCo] that was the reason why i stopped some collys
[SunCo] i saw that they are unable to show me anything new
[SunCo] always the same girls in the same positions etc
[SunCo] became boring.
[MG] how much time do you spend on collecting on a daily basis, or shall I ask: how much time does your box spend on collecting every day?
[SunCo] my box is up 24/7
[SunCo] always downloading or uploading something
[SunCo] and as a big download is finished i always sort and watch them
[MG] You decided to go into exile a little away from the main channels, why is that?
[SunCo] ?
[SunCo] why i left the main channel?
[MG] yes
[SunCo] i had many reasons
[SunCo] those colls i collected, i collected from the sites and i made the csv, so they needed me, not needed them
[SunCo] the other reason is
[SunCo] when sometimes i needed something
[SunCo] it was really pain in ass to get it
[SunCo] slow or incompletes
[SunCo] i made my own channel to be together with my FRIENDS
[SunCo] and the big reason is
[SunCo] i did not like the ops behavior
[SunCo] some of them were really a bitch and God maniacs
[SunCo] i earned much in the real life and in the net life and irc
[SunCo] and did not want someone to bitch on me
[MG] Completeness is something you've accomplished a lot of. Many times you have managed to get stuff others could not get, are you simply better?
[SunCo] as i said
[SunCo] i always watched what i got
[SunCo] and then i sometimes saw that the official csv was not good
[SunCo] i really spent my time on it
[SunCo] I’m not better
[SunCo] surely not
[SunCo] just i really spent my time on it
[SunCo] and of course
[SunCo] for me, it was a bit easier to get into those nice sites
[SunCo] but i don't want to advertise that
[SunCo] in this stage i always helped to the others too
[SunCo] with how to make csvs
[SunCo] or pw's etc
[MG] You made a channel, with some friends, as you said. Have you ever experienced that people have left or disappeared or even died?
[SunCo] all of them
[SunCo] i got new friends
[SunCo] many for long time
[SunCo] some for short time
[SunCo] i don’t like those who come when they need something and then leave
[SunCo] we are small channel. Enough to be friendly group
[SunCo] of course i lost members and friends too
[SunCo] some of then just never came back
[SunCo] some of them quitted
[SunCo] and we had some ppls gone with death accidentally
[MG] One of your friends Joker1962 passed away some time ago, how did that make you feel, when loosing a friend like that?
[SunCo] he was my very good friend
[SunCo] his death really shocked me
[SunCo] rip jokey!
[SunCo] our friendship was not w/o clouds
[SunCo] but we were friends
[MG] have you ever thought of going back to the main channels again?
[SunCo] yep
[SunCo] i thought
[SunCo] and in the past
[SunCo] i got back
[SunCo] but years after i just went away from them
[SunCo] i still got bitching from the op's side
[SunCo] but i keep the right
[SunCo] to decide that any time i will go back
[SunCo] every few years i check back
[SunCo] maybe things changed :)
[MG] Some of the op's are also in your channel, how do you feel about that?
[SunCo] we are friends
[SunCo] we have no problems here
[SunCo] we have almost the same rules as like in the main channel
[SunCo] just more friendly
[SunCo] and with their experience they help me
[SunCo] on the channel
[SunCo] and in the collections too
[SunCo] to synch the 2 channels
[MG] it sounds like a really friendly place, what is the main things required in your channel, is that friendship?
[SunCo] hmm
[SunCo] how i tell
[SunCo] the bad order
[SunCo] any can come here
[SunCo] and most of them become a friend of us with time
[SunCo] not the other order
[SunCo] like only our friends can come here
[SunCo] we are too few to behave ugly
[SunCo] btw i never wanted a channel bigger than 30-40 ppls
[MG] There are some special collections which are not in the main channel, and only in your channel, how do you feel when collections migrate over to the main channel?
[SunCo] that is why i stopped many csv
[SunCo] we always had special collections
[SunCo] that was a main reason to have my own channel
[SunCo] to collect on our way
[SunCo] some trigs were banned in tpf
[SunCo] and when they saw they are nice
[SunCo] they got them too
[MG] so the channel is a birthplace for new collections?
[SunCo] yes, new collections
[SunCo] with guys with same taste as mine was
[SunCo] with the migration
[SunCo] i have no real problem
[SunCo] sometimes, i am unable to get the site updates
[SunCo] and i cannot subscribe to all sites i want
[SunCo] sometimes it takes months to update a set
[SunCo] this causes someone to take them over
[SunCo] i have no problem with that
[SunCo] just tell and ask me first
[SunCo] and make as good
[SunCo] or better csv than mine
[MG] You've csv'd for many years, what kind of tools do you use?
[SunCo] the very basic tools only
[SunCo] for a long time, i did not use any spec programs for downloading
[SunCo] many times i downloaded by hand
[SunCo] that gave me many times the extra files i found against the official csv
[MG] Internet Explorer?
[SunCo] yep
[SunCo] explorer
[SunCo] mozilla
[SunCo] and i played with the url-s
[SunCo] of course for the mass dl i used dl managers and site rippers
[SunCo] for csv’ing i used for many, many years The!Checker
[SunCo] now PSC
[MG] What kind of programs?
[SunCo] flashget
[SunCo] offline explorer
[SunCo] total commander
[SunCo] mostly i make a dl list by hand
[SunCo] and excel or batchmaker programs
[SunCo] and then dl it
[SunCo] with flashget or total commander
[SunCo] long time ago i used getright some times
[MG] how about organizing then, any special tools used there?
[SunCo] mainly i organize by hand
[SunCo] in the structure i like
[SunCo] in the most cases i make batch files (.bat files)
[SunCo] they are making the unpack and the dir making and etc
[MG] you introduced the layout of YYYY-MM\DD - title, which is widely used today. Are you proud of that?
[SunCo] hmmm
[SunCo] thanks
[SunCo] i did not know that
[SunCo] no need to be proud
[SunCo] I’ve always used that system
[SunCo] the only way to sort, organize etc a big collection
[SunCo] of course now i know
[SunCo] deep in my heart i'm a proud, a bit
[SunCo] btw i never forced anyone to use my methods
[MG] What kind of advice would you like to pass on to a new guy who want to become a maintainer?
[SunCo] first of all
[SunCo] always watch what you collect
[SunCo] enjoy it
[SunCo] and you can find the bad's, missings and corrupts too
[SunCo] be professional
[SunCo] in the way you collect
[SunCo] nobody likes those who start something
[SunCo] and does it only for few months
[SunCo] and stops
[SunCo] talk with others
[SunCo] to find out about the missing files and problems
[SunCo] nobody can make good csv alone
[SunCo] not even me
[SunCo] and
[SunCo] only do as much
[SunCo] as much you can handle
[SunCo] if you want too much
[SunCo] you will get much less
[SunCo] i hope you understood it
[SunCo] :)
[MG] yes, understood
[MG] anything else you would like to add before we finish?
[SunCo] just thanks to everybody
[SunCo] i wasn't able to do this alone
[SunCo] thanks to those who helped
[MG] anyone in particular you would like to send greetings to?
[SunCo] i don’t want to pick anybody
[SunCo] i like them all
[SunCo] but for those who had to gone
[SunCo] like joki
[MG] well, thanks for taking some time for the interview, have a nice day SunCo
[SunCo] I thank

SunCo

Hard Labour of Maintaining

Well, maintaining can be a bitch sometimes, and most often demand quite some of your time. And you have to look out for pitfalls and every other nasty thing a webmaster can pull on you.

But sometimes it can also be easy. Take a look at the screenshot.

Click to enlarge

What you see is 2 scripted update maintainig scripts, which are hooked into Windows' Task Schedule program (Start -> Accessories -> System Tools). One of the scripts even unzip's the contents after download (if you look closely).

This is just for inspiration and not a production run.

Shopping for CSV's ?

Well, we do not actually go to the local 7/11 for getting a new fresh csv when the old one is worn out and used to the fullest. Instead we can visit places like VG.

So in an ideal world we could just blindly grab any csv and trust that things were in order. But that far from reality.

CSV's have errors, and missing stuff. Comparing csvs posted on usenet with csvs from VG or some other place may be nessary to figure out which is the better.

But in the end, it is most often the case that the csv set which is maintained the longest tend to be the better choice.

So, what is this article all about ?

Answer: "Finding the better csv and csv errors"

To do that you can use a tool like CSV Workshop. And furthermore you can watch a video of how to do it.

Click to enlarge

Download video: MG.CSVWorkshop.XViD.zip

CSV Workshop has alot of other uses but you should explore them yourself. And bare in mind that the tool is 5 years old and at that point it couldn't handle DVD sized csvs, and still cannot. The size is reported wrong, but the dupechecking still works like a charm.

Making a directory list

Here's a small video example of how anyone can create a list of directories. The example uses some lines from some html pages. It is raw html, which we turn into a nice list.

Click to enlarge thumbnail

Download video: UltraEdit.DirectoryLists.XViD.zip