The contribution rules are well defined, but the contribution process is so daunting that I've just stuck to updating relatively easy profile items, like running time.

I've searched Youtube and there's really nothing there for Invelos / DVD Profiler in the way of tutorials that show you how use the various tools available to make accurate contributions as quickly and easily as possible.

I'd love it if we had something by a number of old hands at this showing exactly how you make the mouse clicks and which menus you use, particularly in situations that are thorny, like cast and crew submissions.

The other general tutorial I'd benefit from is one showing how to use the various parts of site. This could cover what it means to "View/Submit Links" vs "View Edit Locks", etc.

I have no idea how to create a video tutorial, but contributing ultimately is not that hard. I think the easiest way to get a handle on things is to learn through experience. If you make a mistake, others will tell you and you can always fix it.

I'm not really sure what tools you allude to in the post from 2 years ago.

Actually, I think voting is a good lesson in contributing as well. You get to see what and how people contribute and what mistakes people can make when items are voted against.

I've had this program for years, but was pretty hands off for the longest time. I used to just use it to log the DVDs/Blu-rays that I bought without a thought to the accuracy of the information, cast linking, filtering, tags, cover scans, etc. I started adding pictures to the cast in my database and would notice when things were amiss (pictures not showing up when I knew a certain actor was in something or vice versa). Then I started fixing common names and BYs. As my collection ballooned, I started to care more and I started figuring out how to use things incrementally. I think I just figured out how to use tags a few months ago.

I was afraid of contributing at first, but at the end of the day I figured what's the worst that could happen? After a while you start to get the hang of things. I think I started contributing regularly maybe a year ago?

As for the CLT, it's not too hard to use. It's for determining common names of cast & crew members. Plug in a name. And it spews out the number of titles and profiles. The numbers can be incorrect due to bad data, or due to TV shows which contain many child profiles - CLT usually counts each as a separate title. In cases where the results are suspect, there are common name threads on these boards.

As for other tools, I personally don't use much. I use Freestyle CastCrew Edit, which comes in handy for TV shows. AddingTime is useful for finding total running times of TV shows as well. I've recently dabbled with BulkEdit but don't really know how to use it. CastCrewEdit2 can be used to grab some cast & crew data from IMDB but isn't contributable as it is. It can be a convenient start, if say, you're adding a TV show's cast & crew for the first time. But you still need to make sure everything matches the episode credits and it probably is a lot more trouble than it's worth with regard to common names, etc.