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WantedList

Open-knowledge reference entry

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 11, 2025
Entity authorityQ7968142
Source-derived summary

WantedList was an adult DVD-by-mail service established in 1999, offering flat-rate subscription-based rentals by mail to customers in the United States. It was based in Van Nuys, California with an additional distribution center in New Jersey.

WantedList had approximately 25,000 subscribers and 20,000 adult DVD titles in stock. It was founded by Anh Tran and Danny Ting, two Asian Americans who were formerly consultants for Arthur Andersen. The technology for the entire operation was designed and implemented by African American / Canadian First Nation software architect Matthew Lopes.

WantedList attracted the attention of several men's magazines between 2003 and 2006, resulting in a number of adult industry novelty publications. One such innovation, the "Pornotron" suggestion engine, drew legal attacks from Hasbro toys, who claimed the product "damaged the good name" of the Transformer's Decepticon line, from which the original artwork was inspired.

Acquisitions

WantedList acquired competitor websites FlickSmart and RentFlixxx in Q4 of 2004. Shortly thereafter they acquired additional competitor websites Video Takeout and Flick Central, both holdings of VTO Enterprises Inc. founded by Dennis Consorte.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “WantedList” is open-knowledge reference entry. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through WantedList, Open-knowledge and entry, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1999, 2003, 2006, 2004—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, WantedList, Open-knowledge and entry is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “open-knowledge reference entry” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7968142. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1999, 2003, 2006 and 2004.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “WantedList”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow WantedList primary sources, WantedList archive and WantedList research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “WantedList”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from WantedList” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.