How ctlgs works

ctlgs is two things in one site. A shared catalog of collectable objects, edited by anyone signed in, the way a reference database should be. And, on top of it, a private record of which of those objects you own.

If you know Discogs, the shape will be familiar: that site catalogs a record one pressing at a time, and ctlgs does the same for everything else people collect — a Discogs for books, for movies, for gigposters, for comics, for gear and for video games, each with its own catalog. ctlgs is not connected to Discogs in any way.

What is a catalog?

A category with its own fields, its own entry types and its own contributors. There are seven: books, home video, gigposters, comics, hi-fi, music gear and video games.

They are separate because the fields are. A poster has a run size and a printer; a Blu-ray has a region and an aspect ratio; a turntable has a drive type. One schema for all of them would describe none of them.

What is an entry?

Each catalog separates the work from the object. A Book groups every printing of a title; an Edition is one printing you can hold. A Film is the movie; a Release is the disc. The object is the useful unit, because it is the thing that exists, gets bought and sold, and has a condition.

Editions and pressings is the long version of why.

What is a copy?

A copy is one of those objects, owned by you. It carries its condition, where you keep it, what you paid and when you got it. Own two of the same edition and you record two copies, each with its own condition and its own shelf — a normal thing for a collector, and impossible on most sites.

Copies are the foundation of everything personal on ctlgs: your collection is a set of copies, a shelf is a group of entries you put together, and a listing is a copy you are willing to sell.

Who can edit the catalog?

Anyone signed in. Entries are shared, every change is kept in a history you can read, and fixing a wrong year or adding a missing credit needs no permission. That is the only way a database this size gets accurate: the people who own the objects are the people holding the evidence.

What a field means, and how to fill it in, is worked out in public on the forum, catalog by catalog.

What is private?

Your copies are yours. Each list — collection, wantlist and the rest — has its own privacy setting, and what you paid and where you keep something are never shown to anyone else whatever you choose.

The exception is a listing: putting a copy up for sale makes that one copy public, with its condition and price, because that is the point of it. The listing form says so before you post.

Do I need an account?

Only to contribute or to record what you own. Browsing needs nothing. Sign in with a forum account at forum.ctlgs.org — one account covers the forum and the catalogs.

How does ctlgs make money?

It does not take payment for anything, and it is not a marketplace: when you sell a copy, the conversation happens in a forum message between you and the buyer, and ctlgs never handles the money.

What happened to Bookogs, Filmogs, Posterogs, Gearogs and Comicogs?

They are no longer online, and this is the revival — the databases were kept and they are the catalogs here. There is a page for each: books, movies, gigposters, gear, comics.