The contribution rules committee is currently discussing heatedly about child profiles for TV series. I would really like to know the opinion of the community. We're talking about single seasons here, not complete series TV sets like the "Buffy Chosen Collection" (there is a different poll in this forum for that).

As I see it, there are three options:

1. Use the box set rules for TV series (create child profiles for single discs in the set, do not enter cast and crew in the parent profile, instead enter all cast and crew data in the child profiles only)

2. Your are allowed to create child profiles for TV series, but you have to enter cast and crew data in both parent and child profiles

3. Do not use child profiles for TV series at all


Edit: Description for option 2 slightly changed after comment by "reybr" (to clarify intention)

To give you my personal opinion on this topic: As I see it, now that we have the new dividers for cast and crew we need child profiles for TV series as much as a fish needs a bicycle. To me they are a pointless and unnecessary inflation of the database, because they don't contain any extra information I couldn't enter in the parent profile. And that is exactly the difference to "standard" box sets containing different movies.

The arguments for child profiles (being able to have the different cover scans for the single discs in the set, shorter cast and crew lists, being able to see which extra is on which disc) don't hold for me at all. I don't need to see cover scans for single discs, the cast and crew lists in the parent profiles look absolutely fine to me and bonus materials is on the last disc for most sets anyway.

Edit:
@reybr
Of course there is an option for what Ken wanted in the poll - it's option 2 (you can use child profiles but cast and crew data has to be entered in both parent and child profiles). Maybe I should have made clearer in the option that you can use child profile but you don't have to.

Quoting reybr:

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Thanks for the small change in the options. And I agree with you, I don't see the need for child profiles, but I don't want to stop those that want them

Then you should vote for option 2, because the result of this poll should make clear how the community wants TV series handled in the rules, not what you prefer locally.

That is a quite reasonable way of handling TV series locally, Boykin, but since this idea is not being discussed in the rules committee, I didn't include it as an option. It also seems too complicated for a general rule to me.

Quoting TigiHof:

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To give you my personal opinion on this topic: As I see it, now that we have the new dividers for cast and crew we need child profiles for TV series as much as a fish needs a bicycle. To me they are a pointless and unnecessary inflation of the database, because they don't contain any extra information I couldn't enter in the parent profile. And that is exactly the difference to "standard" box sets containing different movies.

The arguments for child profiles (being able to have the different cover scans for the single discs in the set, shorter cast and crew lists, being able to see which extra is on which disc) don't hold for me at all. I don't need to see cover scans for single discs, the cast and crew lists in the parent profiles look absolutely fine to me and bonus materials is on the last disc for most sets anyway.

Edit:
@reybr
Of course there is an option for what Ken wanted in the poll - it's option 2 (you can use child profiles but cast and crew data has to be entered in both parent and child profiles). Maybe I should have made clearer in the option that you can use child profile but you don't have to.

There are a number of things that make dumping everything into one profile a really dumb idea.  You can't list the Features on each individual disc, you can't display unique artwork if any, you can't keep Overview to a reasonable size, searching for specific information becomes nearly impossible.

TV season sets should be profiled as boxsets because that's what they are, and virtually everybody - except for those here in Profiler - knows that.  Online, brick and mortar stores, media reviewers, etc., all refer to them as boxsets. 

Ken's option is the only one that should be considered - first and foremost because its Ken's, but also because it let's both sides have their preferences.

Quoting Boykin:

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The way I handle TV series is to have a parent profile and then one child profile for each thin case no matter how many disc are in each thin case.  Example, Stargate Atlantis season  has  disc in 3 thin cases.  I have on parent profile with 3 child profiles.  The first 2 child profiles have 2 disc in each with the third having just 1 disc.  Packaging does matter to me. 

If it is digipak, then there is only one profile with the disc listed in the disc section. 

This way I get to have all the cover art, but I don't clutter up my db with a profile for each disc.

You're not cluttering anything up.  Packaging should not determine how many profiles you have, because you aren't being consistent across the board.  You're not getting complete information by dumping multiple discs into one profile.  The only format that gives you maximum data usability is disc level.

Of course, you can do your local however you want to, but all the data should be available to everybody from the online master database.  Its better to download more than you want and then delete the parts you don't need, then it is to start out missing pieces because somebody didn't allow it.

Quoting ya_shin:

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Quoting Rifter:

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TV season sets should be profiled as boxsets because that's what they are, and virtually everybody - except for those here in Profiler - knows that.  Online, brick and mortar stores, media reviewers, etc., all refer to them as boxsets.

Funny, but in here only the online community matters, not the brick and mortar stores...

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Ken's option is the only one that should be considered - first and foremost because its Ken's, but also because it let's both sides have their preferences.

Agreed.

While I had wished he would have commented even stronger than he did (like, "yes, it will help to set up my future plans for this"), but he did "allow" child for now, asking for cast & Crew in both. respecting that, I voted for 2.

The reason I made the point about everybody calling them boxsets except some in here, is that it is those HERE that have created this problem in the first place.  If all of US called them boxsets like everybody else does everywhere else, we wouldn't be having these brawls over how to profile them.

Also, since Ken did say what he said, as you acknowledge, I don't understand why people are voting for #3.  That is just further illustration of my first point.

Quoting Rifter:

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Quoting Squirrel.God:

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Quoting TigiHof:

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We're talking about single seasons here

Option 3 for me then.

No, this should be about ANY TV set, not just single seasons.  They can all be done according to #2.  In any case, there is no difference between one season and six seasons except the number of discs involved.

Wrong. A single season tends to have consistent aspect ratio, audio tracks, etc. Not true across multiple seasons. X-Files started out 4x3, then became 16x9 for example.