I'm starting to think about the next things to add to the Stamporama website and I'd like to hear your input and comments. Here are a few thoughts that I have had. Please tell me if you think it is a good ideas, bad ideas, your just not interested .... etc.
1. Gallery to Show Stamps/Album Pages/Covers etc
This would be something similar to the Exhibits but would be very easy for you to scan and load pictures to be hung in your gallery without having to ask me to do it for you.
2. Want Lists
This would enable you to build and display want lists so that you and other people can see the stamps/covers etc that you are looking for.
3. Invoicing Function for the Auction
This would work off the closed Auction Lot information and would enable sellers to easily select stamps/covers that have been purchased by another member, give the seller the ability to enter Postal and Other Charges, and would email the invoice to the buyer. It would also note on the Stamp/Cover Lot that it has been invoiced.
OK, those are the thoughts that I have had. I'm very interested to know what you think about these or any other options that you would like to see. It is also a reasonable option to say, leave the site alone don't touch it for the moment, if that is how you feel.
I obviously can only work toward one new function at a time, so give me your priorities.
Regards ... Tim.
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Invoicing! (Please)
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for me, the idea of some sort of wantlistgenerator is very exciting.
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Hi Tim
Invoicing would be wonderful
sincerely
Lee
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Want lists would be great "IF" they do not interfer with the auction. If people post their want list then it could effect the bidding process on the auction. Part of the fun of this club is never knowing what will show up in the auction.
A gallery to show a stamp page is also nice but I believe it should be included within the "Exhibit" section as a separate entity. Such as click one for exhibit, click two for page gallery ....
Invoicing looks like a lot of extra work for Tim. Usually when I buy a lot I do my own thing with them and that's that. If I have to contact another member about something concerning those items I email direct. However, these are only my opinions ...... Perry
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Woudn't want lists simply add wanted material to the auction? I expect that it would mainly be dealers who would be looking at the want lists, plus maybe some traders. To me, it seems like a good idea.
I'm a bit confused by the suggestion for a gallery. How would it be different from the exhibits section? Are you (Tim) thinking about a sort of Show & Tell section, where people could show just a single stamp or cover, or a single album page?
Bob
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The idea behind the Gallery was that it would be an area less formal than the Exhibits area, where members could share different pieces that they liked and wanted to share. It could be an album page, a series of album pages or a singe stamp. I'd like to have it so that an individual could have as many "albums" for want of a better term at them moment, as they would like. Within the albums they could have one or many pages. An example of the type of things could be, I'm really enjoying putting together album pages using the AlbumEasy program, from the Guernsey stamps that I have been accumulating. I'd quite like a place to easily be able to share them with others. I'd like to have it so that the owner of the Album has complete control over the posting and the sequencing of the images. At the moment with the Exhibits, there is a manual process that I have to do to be able to post a new Exhibit. Obviously, there would have to be a moderator who had the ability to take down inappropriate image posting, in the same way as we have moderators on the Discussion Board.
Does that help give you a picture of what I was thinking of?
Regards ... Tim.
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Thanks, Tim. That's clear enough. Sounds good. Let's go for it.
Bob
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For me, the most important feature of stamporama is the discussion board. Thus, my primary concern is how we can make the discussion board more attractive (and active). I would like to see some more activity, because I like to read about philately, but increasing the number of stamp related discussions is not a top-down process and has to come from the members.
Here is my suggestion for improvement of the discussion board:
I believe the "Discussion Topics" structure is outdated and not practical. Almost everything is lumped together under "General." I suggest a reorganization according to "mainstream" collecting interests: US - Canada - Europe - Asia - etc. plus the necessary administrative categories, i.e., Member Business, Trading, and Auction Discussions. Within each category there should be at least one more level, e.g., under Europe there would be separate categories for the UK, Germany and maybe 2-3 other widely collected countries, the remainder being lumped together as "other". It can be debated whether we should have a third level, e.g., UK pre-1945, UK post-1945, UK military, UK cancellations, UK postal history, UK "other" etc. Categories should neither be too narrow nor too broad. The "Mentor", "Help identify", "Catalogs" etc. sections become obsolete as there are now more specific categories where to post the question. If a thread is started in the wrong category --it turns out the stamp to identify under Russia is actually Chinese-- moderators can move the thread into the right category.
I believe a lot of great information that is now passed down the list (even though we have a great search function!) and, thus, eventually lost for good, will get better and permanent visibility, if we change the organization of the discussion board. If I am interested in UK pre-1945, I will find all threads related to this category grouped together. And if I collect this area, I will read all threads even if they are older. If I can't find the information I am looking for, I may feel incited to start a new thread in this sub-category. If I read something and have additional information, I may want to add to an older thread. Also, I hope some members will be encouraged to populate a sub-category if litte or (initially) no information is present.
If this is programmed as a menu structure that expands by clicking, it will not take a lot more space then the current structure. I hope at least some key threads containing information that should be preserved can be moved into the new structure (don't want to burden Tim too much). Even after the old structure is grandfathered out, all discussions of course should still be accessible (read-only)through the key word search.
I don't want to make it too long, but this is what I hope we can do to improve the discussion board with an eye on increasing activity. Once we got a rough outline, I am sure member input for fleshing out the new "tree" structure will come in rapidly.
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I must argue against Rhinelander's proposal. I won't say that the current topic structure of the Discussion Board is perfect, but to further segment it seems to me to be a philatelic can of worms.
There are certainly no restrictions against introducing any topic for discussion, but to create what would inevitably be a complex topic structure would do nothing to promote discussion. As the discussion board is at this time, a well-worded subject heading is all that is needed to alert other interested collectors. I have set my e-mail preferences to alert me to new posts in any of the discussions except for the Test forum. I simply delete those that don't interest me and look at those that do. What so hard about that?
Rhinelander's proposal also doesn't take into account human fallibility: it's not at all uncommon for people to post new threads to inappropriate discussions. That would continue regardless of the structure of the board.
And then there is the problem of topic drift: A discussion might well start out with a discussion under Europe / UK / UK pre-1945. But what if the query or comment includes UK military and UK cancellations? Inevitably such a discussion will drift far beyond the original parameters.
I think that philately as a whole is far too wide ranging and complex to fit neatly into rigid categories. That is especially true when it comes to postal history.
For example, I have a cover which was posted in Germany on December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. It was addressed to a hotel in Kyoto, Japan. Before leaving Germany, it was censored by the Nazis. It made it to New York City where it was again censored and then "interned" until the end of the war. In 1948(!) it had gone as far as San Francisco, where it was backstamped. Finally, on an unknown date, it was delivered in Kyoto. Now just how would this cover be classified? It's pre-1945 and post-1945. It's also a censored cover, an "adversity" cover (delivery and routing affected by the war), a registered cover, and an airmail cover. It's even a "returned cover," because it has the postal instruction "Return to Sender" on it, but of course it wasn't returned. It would also fit into the Third Reich, which is a popular collecting area, and it could even be a hotel thematic coverl!
Finally, as someone who has put in more than a few score hours working as a Stamporama volunteer, I strenuously object to any change which puts unnecessary work on any volunteer. Moving old threads to new subject headings would be a monumental task, and pointless as well (see comment above about "topic drift"). And we don't need to ask any volunteer to monitor all posts to see if they fit properly within a given topic. As far as I'm concerned, "General" works just fine.
As far as I know, there is only one other useful philatelic discussion board on the Internet, and that's actually not on the Internet but on Usenet, an entity which I've never understood. Anyway, the group, actually a "newsgroup", is rec.collecting.stamps.discuss ("rec" is short for "recreation". It's been around a lot longer than Stamporama, and in its day it had far more specialist collectors taking part regularly than Stamporama has ever had. If "r.c.s.d." people couldn't answer a question, there probably wasn't an answer.
The group has fallen on hard times in recent years for a couple of reasons, but not because of the structure of the posts. In fact, there are no topic headings at all -- it's just one big, on-going, free-wheeling discussion, with participants creating new threads at will. If it were moderated, and if people didn't have to display their e-mail, it would be much busier, but it's still a darned good source of information.
Summing up: Structure is not the secret to a good discussion. Participation is the secret to a good discussion. Let's not fix what isn't broken.
Bob
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Hello Bob,
You have a couple of good points that we must consider. If we re-organize, we certainly still need a "show all" function with the ability to list all recent posts regardless in which specific category they have been posted. The ability to subscribe to all new posts and to be notified by email has nothing to do with the organization of the topics, though. You certainly still can subscribe to all posts. If at all, more categories allow folks to subscribe to more specific topics of interests.
I agree with 'if its not broken don't fix it.' However, nobody said it is broken. We are talking improvements. Even if it is not broken it might still be improved upon. And honestly, the crude way of organizing discussion topics never served its objective very well in my opinion.
I am not proposing to change things around just for being a neat freak and for order's sake (of course I collect stamp, so some of that is running in the family). My rationale is for the simple reason that your statement "a well-worded subject heading is all that is needed to alert other interested collectors" is simply incorrect. After three days, seven days at most, a discussion topic has lost its freshness and will not be accessed again. Nobody is looking after one week, regardless of a well worded subject heading.
In my contributions to the discussion board, I strive to provide information that is "timeless", i.e., can serve as a reference for days to come. Many knowledgeable members here attempt to do the same. However, I perceive the transient nature of the forum which is not much different from "one big, on-going, free-wheeling discussion, with participants creating new threads at will" detrimental to contributing to the best of my abilities. Who wants to write a litte primer on how to distinguish common cancellations etc. if that gets attention for one week? However, if discussions on cancellation are filed in a permanent easily accessible sub-folder "USA -- Cancellations" any discussion / write-up /information someone contributes will have permanent benefit.
Topic drift is a reality. As are certain postal history items that fit more than one category. We will have to live with it. Whoever starts a discussion determines the category that a priori fits best in the starter's opinion. If the discussion drifts and evolves into something else, so be it. I still prefer it to having no structure. Also, there is a difference beween more "serious" discussions, say of the plate-flaws of some issue, and general "opinion-type" discussions. The former tend to stay on topic fairly well -- and these are the ones that I want to save from oblivion. The latter are more unstructured, which is great because we all want to have fun here.
As to the role of the moderators. If there is a discussion that totally does not fit the category they may move it into the right category. If not, that's fine too. I have no doubts that the vast majority of threads will be opened in the right categories for the own benefit of the person starting the thread. In our auction, I have not noticed that fellow members were unable to select a fitting auction category in 99% of the cases -- so why should this all of a sudden be different when there are discussions categories.
I hope my intention become a little clearer now; more input would certainly be helpful. Structure may not be the secret to good discussions, but it may lay the groundwork for them.
Arno
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it is in a way ironic to read about topic drift here and see it happening. Changes to the discussion board are not an option here. Simple changes like new categories can be created without much problem, the only question is do we want it and if so, what categories should be made?
At this moment, we are talking about new functionality (gallery, wantlists, invoices) and not about changing existing functions.
Feel free to discuss the latter in a separate thread.
Jan-Simon
(Message edited by jan-Simon on March 25, 2009)
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Jan-Simon,
This is from Tim's initial posting: "I'm starting to think about the next things to add to the Stamporama website and I'd like to hear your input and comments ... I'm very interested to know what you think about these or any other options that you would like to see."
I think you are splitting hair drawing a distinction beween discussion of "new" functions and modifications of existing functions. I don't see irony here, but maybe we have a different sense of humor. I am very serious about improving our discussion board and creating an environment which brings about increased use. In my opinion, the next thing to add could be a better organized discussion board. If you feel this is off-topic, it is in your power to create a new thread and move the last couple of contributions. I believe I am responding exactly to what Tim was asking, i.e., what suggestions we have to further improve stamporama.
Apart from that I would be interested to hear your opinion on the issue: how to increase the "memory" of the discussion board, specificially, its usefulness as a permanent philatelic source of information, its "navigateability," and its attractiveness. If you have other ideas to that goal, I welcome your views. After all, you are one of the moderators and I highly value your contribution.
Here is another one: I got the hang of it, but the picture uploading process is still akward. Maybe that is another reason for the underutilization of the discussion bard. Making the exisiting board, i.e., the core functionality better, in my opinion is at least equally important than adding new functions.
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I agree with Bob that the discussion vehicle certainly has been working very well since the inception of the message board. I subscribe to the adage"if aint broke don't fix it". It aint broke. Some other message boards that I belong too are over organized, they are difficult to navigate.
Joel
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I can see both sides of the discussion board debate having merit. I would personally like it, if covers had their own board. Without worrying about the 'where' of an item we could keep the 'General Stamp Discussion' and have also a 'General Cover Discussion'.
Another DB issue for me is thread size. Some of the threads become so long (or large with pics) that they will not load for me. Can a thread have more than one page?
Peace,
Doe
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I have a hard time imagining what could be done to make this discussion board more attractive and more navigable. It's a dream compared to most web sites of a similar nature.
Tim and I have recently been discussing some design issues and the fact that the entire Stamporama web site avoids most of the critical mistakes that cause so much frustration for everyone who uses the Internet. We have no bouncing bunnies or flashing text, no pop-ups, and no unreadable fonts. We do have seamless navigability, logical design, help pages, and easy contact with the webmaster and volunteers. I have found the search function adequate -- I suppose that the addition of a few basic discussion areas -- popular countries and regions, themes, etc. -- could be useful if they had their own search field. How else could it be improved?
There is one basic factor that we need to consider. My understanding is that the enire website is based on a commercial template and thus has built-in restrictions. Tim simply might not be able to implement some suggested changes. Perhaps Tim could comment further on that.
Bob
(Message edited by bobstamp on March 25, 2009)
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I'm not sure about splitting from stamps and/0r covers for message boards. In the past I have usedthe search utility to bring back a prior disscussion. Sometimes the discussion elapsed for days or weeks or month and, yes, prior years. By adding a message at the current time it brings up the whole thread to a current status. The mechanics are already in place. I think by adding certain other aspects, the mechanism will become unwieldy.
Joel
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Hi Everyone,
I'd just like to clarify about what can be done with the Discussion Board software. The Discussion Board is a purchase package from a company called Discusware.com. Check them out on the web. This is a package and just like if you purchased Microsoft Word, you can configure it but you can't change it.
What I can do is add extra topics. I can add a thing called a Category, which is like a heading that you can put in between groups of topics to visually separate them. I can reorder the sequence of the topics on the page, but that is about all that I can do I'm sorry.
The method of loading images into a discussion posting is a little clunky and you have to learn how to do it, but once again there is nothing that I can do about that.
I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful here.
Regards ... Tim.
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Something else comes to mind when talking add ons and changes. I am on dial up and for some reason the Stamporama web site is the fastest loading website I have ever encountered....faster even than the Google home page. Are any of these changes going to make things slower loading?
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Hi Elliotcreek,
I sure am glad to here that you are getting good performance from the website over a dialup connection. There are a few reasons for that. We have very few images on our pages relative to most websites. We have kept the program behind the website simple and streamlined and the server that we are running on (thanks to Roy) gives us very good response. And to answer your question, no the enhancements that we are talking about will not slow the website down. I'll make sure that they don't. If I am in doubt on that point, I may come back to you and ask you to test a function for me to make sure that it is still working effectively for you.
regards ... Tim.
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Tim needs a BIG round of applause for all his hard work on this site. I quite like his idea of the 3 added categories. I think that each has their own merit.
Thanks Tim
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Well, I guess I'll throw my 2 cents in here;
I think we need a middle ground here. I see some asking for what sound like major changes, some asking to leave it alone ("if it ain't broke...") and so on. Many of the ideas expressed here sound fine. I say, enhance it - don't overload it - improve on it, but don't change the basic structure. Adding a few more categories, as Doe and others mentioned, is a good idea, like covers and/or postcards and such.
But I don't feel we should overload ourselves with major change. Enhancement is always my first choice over restructure!
Randy B.
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Speaking from hard experience, middle ground is always a good place to be, unless people are shooting at you from all sides!
In thinking about it more, I like Doe's suggestion for separating the General Stamp Collecting Discussion into "Stamp Collecting Discussion" and "Cover Collecting Discussion" (the adjective "General" would not necessarily apply).
How about a third section titled "Cinderella/Collateral Collecting Discussion". I am very much into Display Class exhibiting, which allows considerable leeway in showing non-postal collateral items such as train and airline tickets, baggage labels, cheques, receipts, photographs, drawings, maps, cinderellas, collectors' cards, bogus stamps, forgeries, etc.
OK, going for broke now: How about changing "Stamp Show Roundup" to "Stamp Shows/Exhibiting Discussion"? We have no place on the board where exhibiting logically fits except for the current "General Stamp Collecting Discussion", which looks like it will probably be changing anyway.
These suggestions don't exactly fit Rhinelander's initial thoughts on this, but I do think they will add some depth and interest to the discussions. Many new collectors know nothing about cover collecting, so just having the category in place will be educational. And many collectors have not exhibited but are curious about it.
A final thought: Perhaps we could combine the "Mentoring Forum" and "Can you help identify this?" discussions into just one discussion titled "PLEASE HELP ME!" or something similar. This amalgamation would at least cut down the number of discussions by one (assuming the ones that Doe and I have suggested are first approved).
Bob
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I thought it would be interesting for younger members who are not aware of this and perhaps other earlier discussions to reactivate this topic. This is the thread out of which the Cover Corner section was born.
The discussion concerning having more categories on the discussion board starts about half way into the thread.
As a 'progressive' member, I remember that I was quite frustrated at the time. My perception was that essentially the main argument was "if it's not broken, don't fix it, shut up, sit down." Nobody wanted to discuss the underlying reason why I was asking for more categories at the time. It appeared everybody liked it just the way it is -- the level of participation and the quality of the content.
Now it seems everybody participating in the "How can we increase member participation" topic agrees that things must change to increase the attractiveness and relevance of our club's discussion board. I cannot even express how excited I am about the vibrancy being displayed right now; the prospect of an evolutionary leap.
Arno
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I am a fan of Arno's suugestion IF it can be implemented. I would absolutely love to have addl categories at make organization and search easier and more comprehensive. His contributions on US cancels alone deserve eir own heading and,perhapsmsubcategories.
Of course, for this to work fully, some one will need to retrofit stuff into the newly minted categories. If we move forward with Arno's proposal, folks oughht to be thinking about volunteering to help.
The headings will be only as good as the data inside.
David
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The discussion about changes to the discussion board as it took place three years ago should be seen in the context of how the website was built back then. At that point we had an antiquated system that could not easily be updated. Right now, everything has been rebuilt from scratch and it should be a lot easier to change the categories. A good thing.
I wonder though, if we will not be creating far more categories than threads. But perhaps a more intricate breakdown into subcategories is what everybody has been waiting for and the messages will start coming like an avalanche 
Jan-Simon
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09:55:00am
Jansimon - I agree 100%. I think we will have a lot of fabulous categories and not so many threads.
Does anyone have ideas about how we will fill all of these categories with posts? Is the thought process that by adding the categories, more people will post?
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So many in this club are locked in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode. Such constant resistance to suggested changes is not healthy for any group, and is a frustrating gauntlet to have to deal with time after time. The Commodore 64 was a great, little computer. It wasn't broke, but needs beyond its control made it obsolete. As new, younger members hopefully join SOR, they will bring with them, their perspectives of how they would like the site to work based on the web sites that younger people utilize, and their collecting needs and habits. If you want membership to grow by gaining younger people, you will have to get out of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode. Also, the mantra "If it means more work for the volunteers, don't do it" needs to be dropped. The volunteers can speak for themselves as to whether they have the time and ability to effect the suggested changes. If they need help, they can ask for volunteers. There are too many here who's first word at suggestions tends to be "No" followed by one of the two mantras stated above. SOR is not an old fart's club, unless that's what you want it to be. It's not obsolete, thanks to the work of the volunteers, but if the wind blows "No" too often...
When someone makes a suggestion, it would be more appropriate for the subsequent discussions to focus on what are the benefits, and what are the negatives to the group as a whole, and especially what are the benefits and negatives to the members who would be using or benefiting from the suggested changes. At that point, it's not a vote of whether someone likes the suggestion or not, or whether one person would use the suggested changes or not. For example, someone who is not involved in sales or buying obviously would not use a function that could improve the sales aspect of this site. Changes that are made are often not for everyone. How the changes benefit those who would use or be recipients of the changes is what matters.
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Dear All,
Coming back to David's caution above, is now the time for those interested in the topics/changes being suggested to think about the "how' as well as the "what"? David is suggesting that to implement, we need to be willing to commit.
So far the commitment has been to think and to suggest, and we've been doing a fine job of that.Are we ready yet to make the jump into bringing our suggestions into existence?If so, we need to select the areas(s) that we personally are interested in and offer to make the time to become involved in its birth.
Speaking only for myself of course, the Back Of The Book area (B-O-B)speaks to me and I would be happy to make time helping that section along.In that section I would envision Match & Medicine, Errors,Freaks,Oddities(EFO's),Essays. Proofs,Tobacco, Narcotics, Wines, Alcohol to name just a few. There are many other areas not mentioned, like Airmails, Cut Squares and such, but you get the idea.I am also quite fond of fancy cancels and would love to see that category explored as well.
So dear clubmates, do you have a favorite that speaks to you yet- or am I getting ahead of myself here?
Dan C.
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Michael's post is a great segue into a discussion of what the volunteers are doing.
We have been discussing 4 areas, based on these discussions: improved links area, expanded discussion board topic structure, auction self-promotion, and a sales area. We are likely to move forward on the first two, but, and here's where Michael's comments come in: we will want volunteers.
On links, Tim thinks the programming is possible, but that's only one aspect of it. Links will need to be checked, perhaps categorized, and then maintained. This might be two separate people, or one, or one supervising several. I'd like volunteers to contact Tim (and copy me) about their willingness to take this on.
On the discussion board, we will need several volunteers working under a head volunteer. Here, the work involves taking the 30,000 extant posts and organizing them into the new structure. Three volunteers will get 10,000 posts; 10 will get 3,000; 30 will get 1,000, so the work load will be determined solely by you. I believe that one of the threads was inaugurated with the question: how do you get members to be more involved? one way is to ask. Consider it asked.
Tim and I have talked about these two areas, and neither of these move forward without help. I will be happy to coordinate this aspect, so feel free to contact me directly.
The discussion area isn't finalized in terms of topics or structure, so that can still be refined, but I suspect that the folks who head this up can help do that as well.
As to the other two recommendations, the volunteers have been talking about them, but haven't reached consensus yet.
Finally, regarding Dave's comments on adding new auction areas, Tim and I are also talking about that, but we're not decided, and we're wondering whether the search function might be sufficient.
This is a very simple response that doesn't come close to broaching the depth of consideration that the volunteers have given this behind the DB.
Not all ideas are embraced, but all are considered, and, if practical (in terms of implementation) discussed.
All right then, time to stop talking and get volunteering. Write Tim (and copy me) for the links; write me (and copy Tim) about the discussion board.
David
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Dave and Tim,
I will gladly assist reclassifying discussion topics once the final structure has been established. (Putting my time where my mouth is).
I would like to open for discussion however if in order to cut back on the reclassification effort, and scarce volunteer resources, members would be OK to eliminate anything older than three (two, four?) years. Also, there was some kind of a migration of discussions already a long time ago -- but not sure if I remember correctly -- when older discussions where archived, usually without preserving pictures (?) and these potentially could be tossed for sure (?). Moreover, there will be a very good number of threads that have served their purpose and could be safely deleted, e.g., announcements for stamp shows, looking up most recent catalog values, etc. etc.
Also, Tim recently provided a list of the most popular discussion threads. So, one other way to approach this could be to migrate only threads with at least 10 (50, 100?) hits in the last year?
Or a combination of the two? Anything older than three years will not be migrated unless the topic had at least xx hits?
I am not sure if you had planned to put the migration criteria up for discussion or if that was a top down approach. To be honest the message "we must reclassify 30,000 topics to make this happen, or it will not happen," may discourage us to follow through with a reorganization of the discussion board. I also do not understand the 30,000 number. Since June 2008, I find -- as of today -- 897 discussion under our by far largest category "General Stamp Collecting Discussion." (Yes. I counted them).
In the other areas that would have to be reorganized there are a lot fewer discussions (for instance, about 110 discussions total in the Cover Corner). And some areas need not to be reclassified at all (Off topic, Auction discussion, Member Business etc.). Are there additional topics not listed when you click on the list of topics? If all are listed, my estimate of discussion topics over the last five years cannot run higher than 2,000 (??).
Arno
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Arno,
i'd hate to lose some of the older stuff; all of it still exists and all remains accessible. more recent doesn't necessarily mean better.
Glad you're in on this.
i'd like to move the discussion of the topics off the DB and allow the volunteers (the NEW volunteers) to hammer out details with the (OLD) volunteers (we call ourselves the VC). A few of us have some refinements, but there's a point where the people who are going to do the work should have the final say.
David
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David,
Can I suggest an email to all who volunteered etc. Many thanks,
Alyn
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yes, you may. At this point, that immense herd consists of you and Arno. Not the stampede I had hoped for, but it's early.
Now that you all have provided this veritable fountain of ideas, all we need are a few horses to sip the nectar.
Tom Smith
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David,
I agree that it would be a shame to lose all of the older stuff. In fact, some older topics may be brought to light again and may get new attention once properly classified and thus more visible. However, since someone will now look at every single discussion thread, using the opportunity for a little bit of housecleaning may not be a bad idea either. If the only message in a thread from 2007 concerning Australian stamps is that the orginal message has been removed because of a violation of the advertizing policy, you or I should be able to hit the delete button instead of moving the message into the Oceania folder. I guess I am simply advocating some common sense and wiggle room for the volunteers as we go through all of the topics (as opposed to slavishly and time-consumingly recategorizing every little bit of scrap.)
If this is primarily about the 900 topics in the general discussion area, this may not be bad at all. Perhaps you were counting 30,000 postings, while the unit of reclassification really is the entire discussion, of which there are many fewer?
Arno
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Tim & David.....
I am a relative newbie here, but a grizzled veteran stamp collector and philatelic enthusiast!
I read this thread with great interest. Also, the thread concerning 'Increasing Member Participation'.
Please call upon me to assist in any way that can help advance the mission of Stamporama or improve its benefits to members both old and new.
Sincerely,
Terry.
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Let me clarify what I meant about "Archiving".
I did not mean that the posts should be moved to a special "Archive" section and deleted from the discussion boards. If I said that, I didn't mean it...oh well...
What I meant was that when a topic ran its course and was dropping down into the nether regions of the posts, it would be good (if it was a pertinent topic, and not one about someone washing their car, for example) to have someone take the topic, go through it, edit out all the non-pertinent responses (off-topic banter, etc.), and in effect create a type of article that would be saved in a Discussion Board archive section. The original posts would remain in all their glory to keep the full context. The editor could also put a link to the archived topic in the original post. Also, should a similar topic arise as new, a link could be provided in the new, similar topic as a reference.
That is what my thoughts were regarding the archiving process.
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Invoicing, please. Make it as easy to get to PayPal as possible.
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Sharyn - We already have invoicing capabilities in the auction. It is entirely up to the seller if they chose to accept PayPal or not and if they do accept PayPal the PayPal logo for payment will appear on their invoices, subject to whatever terms or minimum PayPal payments they set when they set up their invoices.
Liz Jones
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09:11:24pm
I agree with Michael's proposal on how to work with the archives. I know I personally would be happy to help with that. That's right up my alley.
Kelly
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@Brian,
A good suggestion. I'll put it on the list.
@Arno, Michael et al,
I like your suggestion re archiving. We have an Archive category that holds old posting from previous discussion boards. As part of the revamp, I can give our volunteers the ability to move thread to the Archive topic.
Regards ... Tim.
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not sure what needs to be done to invoicing, seems all right to me. what i would like is some kind of paging so we don't have to go from the first lot to say item #600 (i.e. U.S.) in
20 separate steps, then again i'm just glad to be back and on line.
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I would like to see the option to change the date format at which Discussion Board entries are shown, relative to what is common in your place. Now the standard (or rather the only way) is the American way, which is often confusing for Europeans. For instance: 02-11-2013 is read by me as 02 November 2013, and not 11 February 2013. Of course one gets used to it in the end, but still, it would be nice to see regional setting options.
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06:54:27am
I have often wondered why a universal standard has never been established. It would make more sense to me to use the year-month-date format (2013-02-12) as this permits easy ordering of entries in a database.
Then, of course, there is the metric system, driving on "wrong" side of the road, and whirlpools that spin clockwise in one hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the other. 
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Tim,
Is there any chance that we might get an auto-relist function for a relist up to a certain number of times? I see many lots being relisted over and over by listing them as new lots and avoiding the otherwise mandatory 10% less on a relist. My thinking is three-fold on this. First, the club is attracting different people all the time and the auction is a major draw for the club so relisting at intervals makes sense since a partially difference audience would then see the stamps for sale. Second, stamps are relisted as new anyway to avoid the reduction in price so why not simply acknowledge that as the norm that it is...and allow a member to auto-relist lots so that the members have an ever increasing amount of material to chose from. Third, adding an auto-relist function would put the club's auctions on a functional par with just about every other auction site I've seen out there and eliminate the need to list items here...wait till they close..and then move them to another site that offers auto-relist anyway...and remove those items from consideration by our members simply because it is too much of a time issue to list the same unsold items at intervals..over and over again. Personally, if we had an auto-relist function, I would put my lots here..and leave them here...and refer my customers to the club rather than to another site where I can put them once and not worry about them for a long time. It seems to me that they key here is the rate at which the club attracts new members...and the auction is, as I said, a major draw to do just that...in my opinion. I understand the desire to not clutter up the auction with a million 1 cent lots..and to attract more expensive material but to date I have listed lots of all price categories...from 1 cent for the charity I support...up to lots cataloging several hundred dollars...and guess what it is that sells....yup...mostly low priced material. If the low value of the material offered is still a concern..then let the club charge say...1 cent for each time a lot is listed...regardless of price..and soon those lots that perpetually never sell...will disappear from the list..especially the ver low value lots that might be a concern. Besides..then there would be some funds for the club to use to buy those improvements that people are always talking about. Anyway, it's an idea.
Thanks!
Dave
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07:52:02pm
I am sure that is a fine idea, Dave, but would add to your concern about clutter. A few days ago there were some 1,300 "New items" offered that I began to wade through to see what might excite me. A large amount of that material looked very familiar to me which seems to indicate that I'd seen and checked through it before, probably more than once.
On the other hand sometimes I see something but decline to make a bid for some reason at that moment and then later during the re-run through I decide that I can live no longer without posting a bid.
So to make things work well, I think that some way would have to be available to discriminate between absolutely virgin lots, so to speak, and re-listed lots as their are times when one or the other is desirable.
I have no idea how complicated that would make things for the cyber wizard, I have enough of a problem just navigating between the choices already available and not losing track too much between;
open lots,
watch listed items,
won lots,
won and invoiced,
won, invoiced and payment sent,
and finally,
done lots,
but it is an exciting prospect, sort of like entering a darkened maze in a haunted house at Halloween.
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Dear Tim Auld:
Need I remind you that I am very much in favour
of removing some functions from Stamporama?
John Derry
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1) I do like David’s suggestion to allow relisting multiple times without a price reduction. Or perhaps extend the action listing to 60 or 90 days. At least we wouldn't have to look at the same stamps being posted every 30 days.
2) I know there was some hesitation allowing a "buy it now" feature without the bidding option in the auction but I would be open to trying it out.
3) Lastly, I think the selling stamps in the discussion board are more bother than they are worth, just use suggestion 2.
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I haven't been here long enough to know for sure but it seems to me that the vast majority of the auctions are essentially "For Sale" listings.
For example, there are currently 522 U.S. items listed for auction, 25 of which have bids but none has more than 1 bidder and most will likely close that way.
Perhaps a simpler solution to the long-term relisting problem is to have both an "auction" section and a "sale" section.
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Jan-Simon I agree with you and the rest of the world that uses a different system than the USA does, for basically any dates or measurements. I don't know why we can't use a system that uses the written name of the month, such as you suggest: 11 November 2013 or November 11, 2013, as examples. Actually using 11 November 2013 would be less confusing for everyone in the world and is very self explanatory. I'm sure there was never any intention by Jerry or any of the original group to slight anyone, but there was probably no thought that SOR would ever grow to such a size and cover the entire world, when they wrote the original plans.
As far as re-list go, I'm sure that all seller re-list items, not necessarily the following week, and have very good success with those items. Mostly rel-list items are sold at a discount, so that does offer a good benefit for re-listing anyway. From a sellers standpoint I have seen items re-listed, at a discount, sell for more than the original listing.
Mike
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Jan-Simon, I'm sorry that I missed your request. Let me look into it.
Regards ... Tim.
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I am not sure if the tweak I'm asking for is already made or someone else has mentioned it before, I'm requesting it here.
In the 'Post a New Item' form a small field could be added for mentioning "used" or "mint" and the same feature incorporated in the search function for auction lots so that when looking at new lots a person could choose whether to go through all the listed items for a particular country/seller or just the "mint" items.
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12:07:24am
I collect both mint and used stamps and I would love to be able to separate the two in the auction listings. Great idea!
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07:36:49am
What is the more common Canadian usage when writing dates ?
If it is similar to the US custom changing SOR to the European system would create a far greater level of confusion.
I suppose if this is a real problem using the three letter abbreviations that most US date cancelers use these days, thus 11 NOV 13 would solve it as far as humans are concerned, but might that not make things more complicated for the robots who run the inner workings of the website ?
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Charlie, I like your idea with the date format i.e. using 11 NOV 13. Jan-Simon and members who live in a non-US oriented world, would this date format work for you?
Regards ... Tim
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It's good enough for NATO, so it's good enough of me.
John Derry
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Ahhh, perfect date solution. Obviously derived from someone using the KISS system.
Saleem, as far as the "new or used" category for newly listed items is concerned, that option is already available. When someone goes to the "NEW AUCTION LOTS" listing, just click on the "CLOSES" title at the top of the listings and that will change the order of the all the listings to either ascending, or descending order. We are also able to click it back and forth whenever we choose to see one or the other. It is also possible to click on any of those column titles to be able to find all kinds of good information, or rearrange the listings to better serve ones purpose.
It doth seem as though thy magical Wizard, which designed thy wonderful website hath considered many designs thee common subjects hath not even thought of, by them own selves.
LONG LIVE THE WIZARD!
Mike
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Dave and Saleem, I'm looking into your requests and will get back to you.
Regards ... Tim
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Please please please use a four digit year and not a two digit year.
Thanks,
Josh
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Josh,
You seem to feel strongly about the four digit display of the year e.g. 2013 rather 13. What are your thoughts behind this. I rather liked Charlie's compromise on the date display. If I make a change I want the display of a date to be consistent throughout the website and in some places space on the screen is a premium. So, I was considering the 2 digit year display. Please let me know your thoughts either on this thread or contact me directly.
Regards ... Tim
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Tim,
As a computer repair guy, I want to warn against two digit years!!! Let's all remember the global impact of Y2K!!! What will happen to SOR in the year 3000? I'll tell you what... cats and dogs living together... mass hysteria!!! Oh wait, I'll be dead then. Never mind, don't care, carry on. LOL. Sorry, was in a goofy mood this morning.
What ever the final format is though, it definitely should be consistent across the website.
---Pat
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10:01:14am
As a frequent buyer on the SOR auction board, I would like the ability to exclude several sellers' listings as opposed to just the present limit of just one. Or, in the alternative, to select more than one seller at a time whose listings I want to view.
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10:14:46am
Mike,
Although your post was very informative and we all agree that Tim is a Web Wizard to beat all Wizards, I think Saleem meant that he would like to distinguish between mint and postally used stamps with the click of a button. Then people like me, who collect both could search the auction for just mint stamps or just used stamps.
Saleem, please correct me if I'm mistaken.
I'm all for this addition as I have just mint copies of some stamps and just used of others.
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Pat and other IT people, I just want to let you know that the way we display dates on the website (either 2013 or 13) doesn't change the way the date is stored in the data base. Pat's thoughts and concerns going back to the Y2K problems are valid, but the database that the website uses takes care of that for us.
Regards ... Tim.
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Yes Lisa - you are correct in pointing out what I am looking for. This tweak will help in going through only mint or only used stamps of a particular country or by a particular seller. I have full faith in Tim and soon we will see this option available.
As for the date I think that two digit year is sufficient for all purposes.
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04:30:27pm
" .... I would like the ability to exclude (Or select) several sellers' listings as opposed to just the present limit of just one. ....
This would be a great addition to the magic.
Several times I have wanted to do that for various reasons.
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Tim,
For 11 NOV 13 - I would never remember if 2013-11-11 or 2011-11-13. I do IT/database work myself and have come to prefer the ISO 8601 style.
Josh
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Tim, I would like to see a "visit counter" added to the listings. Nearly every other stamp auction site has it. It is an invaluable tool for sellers to judge how their listings are perceived. Many thanks for the attention.
Luis
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Hi Luis,
I'll look into this for you.
Regards ... Tim
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When I upload images, they are inserted in random places, never at the position of the cursor. A minor inconvenience, but since you are soliciting comment, perhaps you can look into it as well.
I support Salleems suggestion of a filter for used and unused stamps, but this may require sellers to check a box. It is a minor point to me, because the number of lots on our auction overall is still manageable.
Arno
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Tim,
Thanks..I appreciate that! It sure would save sellers a lot of time and keep a wider selection of items available for buyers to view..whatever filter they use!
Dave
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I have read these posts so many times and I'm confused as to what is really on the drawing board. I think enough great ideas have been submitted and Tim has told us what he can or can not do, let him decide what he will implement....."what Tim giveth Tim can taketh away" if the function does not work properly. Perry
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I have implemented Jan-Simon's request re the US formated dates. I have taken Charlie's idea and Josh's request and changed the date display right across the website. You will notice dates are now in the format "06 Apr 2013".
If you see any screens in the system that I have missed that still have the old date format, please let me know.
Regards ... Tim.
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05:37:39pm
The Wizard strikes again!
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When responding to stamporama messages through the internal message system: is it possible to have the orginal message, or thread of messages, show at the bottom? Being able to see the message that is being responded to while responding would be very helpful.
Arno
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Good idea Arno. That would then be just like responding to items on the DB.
Mike
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Or more similar to responding to an email message.
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10:47:18am
When responding to specific comments either here or in the message system as well as regular e-mails, I just highlight the reference comment, copy and then, paste all, or a part of it like this;
" ....When responding to stamporama messages through the internal message system: is it possible to have the orginal message, or thread of messages, show at the bottom? Being able to see the message that is being responded to while responding would be very helpful....."
Somtsimes to accentuate that it is someone else's comment I italicize;
" ... When responding to stamporama messages through the internal message system: is it possible to have the orginal message, or thread of messages, show at the bottom? Being able to see the message that is being responded to while responding would be very helpful. ..."
Then I add my remarks below.
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pertaining to the above response -
"" .... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard may not be what I thought I meant. .... " "
Just love it Charlie!!!!!
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I nominate that quote, posted by Charlie, as the banner for Stamporama's auction board; to be waved in the faces of buyers having the temerity to question stamp descriptions authored by sellers. C'est plus que parfait.
John Derry
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Daveanddeb,
I just want to respond to your question about the Relist function. I have looked into it and think that it will be best to leave it as it is for the moment. If the Relist function isn't working for you, try using the batch loader function. It should do what you want.
Arno,
I should be able to add the list of messages below the message response textbox.
Regards ... Tim.
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Dear Tim,
I have a small request maybe you could look into it and implement as necessary.
Look at the current discussion for example and you can see that we have to scroll a long way down to read the latest postings - can you make it so that after every 25 or so postings a new page is displayed. Page numbers can be added to the top or bottom of the discussion topic (similar to the auction listings - where I would also love to see the page numbers at the top). If this function can be utilized than we only have to go to the last page and see the most recent postings.
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06:25:37am
RE:: Saleem's comment about the auction pages;
" ... (similar to the auction listings - where I would also love to see the page numbers at the top). ..."
Hear hear !!!
There are times when several sellers enter a large number of lots and we seem to have to pass through several pages to get past a section that has already been viewed.
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Hi Saleem,
I'm sorry, I can't do the paging here in the discussion board. It is designed to position you at the first posting that you haven't read, so unless you haven't read a particularly long thread you shouldn't have to scroll a long way. Please let me know if it is not working as designed.
Regards ... Tim.
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Every time I login and start reading the discussions it is from the first post so I have to scroll all the way down to read new posts.
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Hi Saleem,
I'm sorry that you are having problems with this. It appears that each time you log into the internet your internet provider gives you a new IP address. The program that displays the postings within a thread uses the IP address that you are using to identify you so it can work out what postings you have read so it can position you at the first posting that you haven't read.
Could you please try something for me? Could you login to Stamporama and then go and look at a thread that is showing that there are postings that you haven't read. That should fix it for you. Logging into the system lets the system know who you are (obviously) so it can then work out what you have read and what you haven't. Please let me know how you go.
Apart from that, there are ctrl keys that you can use that will jump you to the bottom of the page so that you don't have to scroll. Some of our members might remember what these ctrl keys are.
Regards ... Tim.
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The problem persists. Checked my IP address a few times after each login to the net and it stays the same. Cntrl + end works well but if I login after a few days I have to look for all those new posts.
Another small request (all my requests are small!) - please add a few more Smileys to work with.
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Hi Saleem,
I'll email you offline.
Regards ... Tim.
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Hi Tim
The ability to select more than one seller in the "exclude "sellers dropdown menu in the auction. As several of our members will not accept Paypal ,and that is the only way I can pay ,outside of Australia. So it seems pointless to have to scroll through their lots.
I will never be able to purchase any items from them,even if it was something I really needed!!!
I do know this will not affect many members as most of our members live in the US and Canada.
I have tried several different key combinations to see if I could get it work,without success
Brian
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Hi Tim,
I became aware of what is going on at Bidstart / Delphi / Virtual Stamp Club due to Michael's posting. I am not a member of the VSC or any of these groups. My curiosity triggered, I poked around these websites a little bit. We really have a MUCH more robust and user friendly platform for our discussion board. However there was one function that never crossed my mind that really caught my interest: an integrated spell checker! This to me is pure wizardry (or how do you spell that? ). I am not sure how this works, perhaps when previewing the message before posting all misspelled words are highlighted? In any event, is that something that could be done?
Arno
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Hi Arno,
A spell checker is something that I could look into if we feel that there is a need, but most of the browsers these days have a spell check function already built in. We are a Mac household so I can't check IE, but the following browsers: Safari, Firefox and Chrome, all have spell checking automatically built into them. Which makes me think that perhaps you have something a little different in mind than what I'm talking about. I had a look at BS but couldn't see anything with a spell check button. In fact I couldn't find many threads that had real postings on them. Most of them just had "Content Pending", so they must be still in the process of moving everything over there.
Regards ... Tim.
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Well, I guess I must be feeling the need because I am using Internet explorer ... I will have to look into one of the other browsers.
The loss of the spell checking function when moving from the Delphi forum to Bidstart was one of the items that was complained about loudly. This is how I got the idea.
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FireFox spell check works real good. The problem at BidStart Forums is that the spell check functions in the browsers would no longer work. The upcry was so loud, and administration had plenty of typos in their own responses that they quickly fixed the problem. Browser spell checkers work again over there.
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Tim, this is not a critical request, but from the "nice to have" category. When listing auctions would it be possible to have the auction term default to 7 days, or when relisting an auction item default to what the term was before the item closed? If sellers don't care for the term to have a default set when listing a new item, that's fine. Leave it blank. It would, however, speed up relisting if there was a value in that field. (I'd get less error messages that way too.) Thanks.
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11:42:19am
I'd like to tweek Michael's suggestion. I would like 4 days to be my default number of days. Perhaps number of days could be part of the sellers profile for the default so each seller could make that determination.
Bob
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Michael and Bob,
I'll add your requests to my list of todos. I'm going to have to make a list of quests and publish it.
Regards ... Tim
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Guess what -- I am responding using Firefox. Believe it or not, misspelled words are underlined as you type. Nifty.
Thanks for the tip Tim and Michael.
Arno
P.S. Suggestion for an integrated spell checker withdrawn.
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This is the one thousand, eight hundred and first viewing of this discussion, and this is my final suggestion concerning the topic, Mr Tim Auld: recommend you proscribe the use of the exclamation mark and the term quote wow unquote on Stamporama's discussion board, and use your wealth of technological savvy to back it up.
John Derry
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WOW!!!!, whatever happened to freedom of speech, or has that also been eliminated?
Sorry John, but that's not something I will ever agree to!!!!
Mike
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04:06:37pm
2 things I can think of right now:
(1) emotes in SOR messaging; and,
(2) tags within tags (such as bold italics, bold red, large red, etc.)
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Bobby,
I'll add your two suggestion to the list.
John (dryer),
I'm sorry my friend, you have lost me completely. How can I help you?
Tim
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On the auction seller edit/view lots page, would it be possible to add the Auction Lot Number to each listing? The way I file and track stamps I'm selling, that is an important number for me.
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just a quick thought, would it be possible to "like" an article in the same way we can "like" a message?
regards
martyn
p.s. I am going to try and write an article but as its my first ever attempt it might be of no use at all so is it possible to send it to someone else first so they can give it the "once over"?
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Hi Martin,
Ralph (heyralph) is our articles editor. He does a great job. He will be happy to assist you.
Regards ... Tim
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06:00:22pm
Just noticed that we have spell-check on the board now. This your work Tim?
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Hi Bobby,
No I can't claim credit for the spell checker. It is part of your browser.
Regards ... Tim.
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I have cut and paste from this thread and created a list of Development Requests. You can access it from the bottom of the Home drop down menu on the Discussion Board page, or you can click here to go directly. I'll add to this list as people post requests. I'll update the status of each as I work on them.
Regards ... Tim.
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From another thread - 'Error Message' due to slow connection - the message could be made to read as such and not 'Contact the webmaster'.
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You will notice when you go in to post a message or respond to another's posting, that I have implemented Saleem's request for more Emoticons. I have you enjoy them.
Saleem,
I have made a change to the way the database connection is done which I hope will assist with the timeout on the slower connections. I'll respond on the other thread as well. Please let me know either way if this change helps or not.
Regards ... Tim.
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Tim, you're too good! 
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Tim you have me floored with all these new emoticons 
Thanks for all the tweaks - everything implemented is working fine. 
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10:28:59am
I love the new emoticons! 
Great job, Tim!
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Hi Tim,
At least using internet explorer, emoticons, pictures, and other formatting selections are usually not inserted at the cursor position, but at some random place in the message, which must then be edited. Not sure why that is.
I hope for a moratorium on new formatting features now.
I like our simple look. I would hate to have to restate this sentence in the simple past.
On other online websites, postings in five different colors using three different font sizes and three different levels of indentation, needlessly seeded with two emoticons after each sentence, discouraged me from participation.
Before adding any more new formats -- how about flashing fonts? --, we should observe if formatting options are used wisely, or impede legibility and annoy members.
Arno
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Hi Arno,
Glad to see you are enjoying the formatting features. You're safe, I have no more plans for extra formatting features. I'm going to work on getting some of these features working in the Stamporama Message function next.
That is annoying that it is not working properly in IE. I'll see what I can do about that.
Regards ... Tim.
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I keep going back to the auction area. Sorry, Tim...
Regarding invoicing, when looking at an invoice that has already been created and sent, would it be possible to have an additional option button on the bottom to resend the invoice?
The process as I know it is:
- go to invoices (the list of all invoices opens)
- locate the invoice
- open the invoice
- scroll down to the bottom of the invoice
- click on REOPEN (the list of invoices re-opens again)
- scroll down the list of invoices again to find the invoice again
- open the invoice again
- scroll down to the bottom of the invoice again
- click on email invoice
The above process is good if you need to edit the original invoice, but if merely resending it to the buyer as a friendly reminder, no editing is necessary. If there's a short cut that I don't know about, please let me know!
Thanks!
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The Emoticons are working correctly now for IE.
Tim.
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Michael,
I'll add it to the list.
Regards ... Tim.
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Great emotion choices
who needs a keyboard!
rrr...
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To be able to link our paypal address directly, instead of just listing it, on our terms of sale page. Thanks, Ted.
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Ted, the system here does provide direct links to PayPal for buyers to pay for their purchases. After a sale, the seller can generate an invoice to the buyer, or the buyer can create an invoice. With both methods, there is a PayPal button at the bottom of the invoice which the buyer can click on and go to PayPal to make payment.
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Michael: Thanks, I did not realize that, invoices are available here.Ted.
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01:31:22pm
Tim
There has been much discussion on the board recently regarding a section for selling stamps of lower value. Due to the nature of the stamps that will be offered, multiple and large sized images may be required. The current "For Sale" topic would be an acceptable venue, but due to the sizes and number of images, may not be appropriate for the website.
I was thinking that if we had a special section (perhaps another sub-topic of the "Sales, Swaps, and Auction" topic) of the board where HTML coding is enabled (as it is on the Auction board in the description section), we could host our larger (and multiple) images on a site such as photobucket, and viewers would be able to see the images of the stamps we offer without having to click on a link for each individual page.
Where I have needed more than 2 images in an auction, I have used HTML in the description and it works seamlessly and presents a nice, professional look.
Thanks,
Bobby
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How about a better search function in the auction area.
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You got my vote better search functionality would be great. If I enter US I get every stamp posting that has the letters US in it including the word "used". If there were a second search parameter like US and MNH it would narrow things down a bit.
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I would also like to see sub categories.
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I agree that a better search function in the auctions would be helpful. I am usually looking for a specific catalog number and don't see how I can get results for just one specific number.
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For those selling on auction, I would like very much to have a field to enter a personal inventory number, and then to have that field displayed on the Items Sold page. The ability to export the list (or copy/paste from the table) will make processing orders much quicker with the ability to quickly link each inventory item and the sale parameters (date sold, cost, buyer, etc.)
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@Doug,
I think what you are looking for is already provided for in the Invoice function. You can group sold Auction Lots together by buyer and invoice them for all lots purchased by a buyer, including shipping costs, in one go. Also, the personal inventory number, other sellers put it in the title of the Auction Lot.
@Bill,
If you are looking for a specific catalog number in the Auction Search, select Keyword in the drop down and enter the catalog number that you are looking for. If there is one in the auction, it will find it.
@Ross,
There is no plan at the moment to implement subcategories in the Auction
@Michael C,
I'll add a second search parameter to the list of todos.
Regards ... Tim.
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Thanks Tim. Perhaps my requests are unique. I actually use an append query in microsoft access and getting inventory item numbers in a separate field makes it easy to link up with that field in my database. No bother, I can work something out.
And thanks for the tip on the invoice function. I haven't had the opportunity to explore that yet.
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Hi Doug,
This article from the FAQ area might help with the invoicing function.
http://stamporama.com/faq/faq.php?faq=sor-invoicing
Regards ... Tim.
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Tim,
I must be doing something wrong. I click "Auctions" then "USA", but I don't see any place to enter keyword. I see where I can select filters, but I'm missing the keyword option.
Lars
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lars
Click on "Search"
Tedski
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Tedski,
Let's try a real-world example. Let's say I want to see if, by chance, anyone if offering the very scarce 10c 3rd Bureau Washington coil, Scott #356. I go to SOR, click on "Auctions", click on "USA", click on "Search", type in 356 and click "Search". I get results from all over the world that have 356 anywhere in the listing, including UAE 14356, US 3560..9, Dominica 356 and MANY listings that seem to have an inventory number that contains 356. Not one single example of what I am looking for. Dozens of examples of noise.
I would love to shop here, too, but I simply can't find what I'm looking for with the tools provided. Every listing should have a country and catalog number included. I should AT LEAST be able to search for a particular catalog number for a particular country. It would be up to me to know that there are different catalogs with different numbers, but I simply can't find anything I need in SOR as the search capability currently exists. I may be the only one, and if so, feel free to ignore me because I only need a few more stamps. But if others experience the same frustration trying to find something they need, they should speak up and make themselves heard.
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I agree with you larsdog.
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"Let's try a real-world example. Let's say I want to see if, by chance, anyone if offering the very scarce 10c 3rd Bureau Washington coil, Scott #356. I go to SOR, click on "Auctions", click on "USA", click on "Search", type in 356 and click "Search". I get results from all over the world that have 356 anywhere in the listing, including UAE 14356, US 3560..9, Dominica 356 and MANY listings that seem to have an inventory number that contains 356. Not one single example of what I am looking for. Dozens of examples of noise. "
You did not mention clicking on "Display Only" from the drop down menu - in the beginning I was also having similar problems until I learned that if you don't choose Display Only you will get all the ongoing auctions as a result.
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12:50:30pm
I see what you mean larsdog. There is no "search" engine within each category, only the "filter" function. The filter function is only useful with respect to selecting or excluding sellers. I really do not understand the need for the first filter function when you are in a specific category. Why would I want to filter in or filter out "Africa" when I am in the Australia/New Zealand category?
The auction list is small enough now for "work-arounds," but as new members begin utilizing the auction board (as I have recently) it is going to get harder to find what you want without scrolling through a long list. I, too, would like to see a "Search" function within each category which would only search the items listed in that caregory.
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Would it help if I added a Category dropdown to the Search facility?
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03:56:08pm
Sounds like a possible solution, for me anyway. I would certainly like to give it a try.
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10:36:16pm
" .... I get results from all over the world that have 356 anywhere in the listing, including UAE 14356, US 3560..9, ...."
What would happen if you typed a space before and after the numbers;
(Space)356(space) ???
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"What would happen if you typed a space before and after the numbers;
(Space)356(space) ???"
Same result.
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05:13:19pm
Larsdog
If, when in a specific category, you enter "display only" in the filter, and then type "356" in the "plus" field and hit "refresh," you will still get all numbers with "356" in them, but only the ones in that specific category, not all the categories.
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Thanks, Bobby, I'm getting a little better results, but still way too much noise. That's OK, though. I'm not here to buy or sell so I can just stick with other venues for purchases.
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One thing I'd like to see happen, is to allow us to remain logged in once we do so, and exit the browser. This is allowed on other sites, and saves a couple of steps to login each time. I don't leave my browser window open constantly so I "lose" the login when I close it.
Would this be possible here?
Cheers,
Peter
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Sorry Peter, the login process has been done intentionally that way for security reasons.
Regards ... Tim.
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Okay, thanks Tim. Never hurts to ask.
Cheers,
Peter
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I would like to see a "delete all" button on the unsold lots. Doing each one individually is no fun, unless one wishes to relist some, & delete others. Ted.
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Ted that function already exists in the auction. Under sellers there is a delete unsold items choice.
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Tim,
I really like the hold functionality implemented for selling. I noticed though if I set up stamps for a 14 day auction the 14 day clock starts the date I put the stamps on "hold" not the date I promoted them to "active". Is it possible to use the active date as the start date instead of the posting or hold date?
This would allow the user to set up the items they want to auction or sell over the course of a week or two without losing days the item is actually active in the auction. Having this functionality would allow a user to present smaller batches of stamps rather than encouraging them to auction large batches in a single day to take advantage of the full 14 auction days.
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Michael C,
I think that is the way I had intended that to work. I'll take a look at that for you.
Regards ... Tim
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Logistical1 : Thanks. Some how I missed that. Ted.
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05:32:56pm
Would it be possible to add a procedure whereby sellers could block certain members from bidding on their auctions? I do not want buyers who refuse to pay me to be able to bid on future auctions of mine.
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Buyers who do not pay should be reported to the Auctioneer for appropriate action. You probably won't have to worry about blocking them after that.
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07:05:08am
Thanks Michael, will do!
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Michaelmis right. People who dont pay dont get to bid. Lets not visit bad behavior on others
David the auctioneer
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@Luis LVS954,
I have implemented your request this morning to have a list of views for each Auction Lot. The count starts from this morning so all lots posted and viewed prior to this morning (see date and time of this posting), will not show the view count. I have also added the count of views to the Auction Lot Edit screen so sellers can see the view count for all their lots.
Regards ... Tim.
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Tim,
Good job. You sure do think outside the box. I would have never thought of putting it there.
Grant
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Tim: You do a really good job on the auction aspect of StampoRama. This is especially nice, as I realize that this is not a commercial site, like either ebay or bidStart. Perhaps in the future more specific categories for some individual popular countries? Thanks, Ted.
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Tim,
Nice job on the addition of "views" both places look great.
Ross
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Tim - I am a new member and have probably 1 million stamps in my inventory, but my passion is Ducks, Fish & Game stamps which are really sparsely listed for bidding and hard to find when listed. I would like to have a new category added for these kind of stamps be considered. They are not postage per se, but hunters and collectors pay a lot for them and they are quite valuable and could be a great asset to Stamporama. If there was more visability by having a specific category, we might attract some very good collectors of a different venue. There typically 23 to 25 thousand listings of Duck Stamps alone on eBay every day. Put in the other fish and game and this number expands a bunch. Other than eBay and dealers, there is not any other place for collectors to buy and sell. I'll bet almost everyone has some of these stamps in accumulation, has no interest in them, and do not know what to do with them. We could give them a visible spot to put them and even attract some new members that are also into other stamps as well. Just a thought - Thanks, Dan
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12:00:31am
I'll agree that many Fish and Game Tax stamps are attractively engraved, colorful and often bring the fields and streams to life, but wonder why your passion would not fit into "Revenues "?
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Posting to Revenues would be great if everyone posted that way, but they don't. There are several hunting stamps posted right now, but none of them are posted to Revenues. You really have to dig to find them if you can even do that. A visible category might help. It might also bring in some new blood that are into those kind of stamps, but when looking at the website they decide there is nothing here for them and they move on. I was kind of like that for a while, but I kept coming back and finally joined.
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Why not expand "Revenues" to include "Ducks, Fish and Game"?
Might keep more members happy.
John Derry
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John - thanks for support. However, not looking to make members happy, suggesting an improvement to SOR as Tim had requested that could enhance/improve the hobby. Not even sure how may members would be influenced by this, but I know there are a lot of hunting/fishing stamp collectors out there. Suggests another attribute suggestion for SOR, provide a directory of stamps by area of interest search. Looking for someone who collects booklet panes. Wham, here they are. Souvenir Sheets, Bang !! Crocodiles/Butterflies, Wow, what a list... Let's make a deal... Seems to be what SOR is all about, connecting collectors with similar interests, not just listing stuff for sale and hoping someone finds it.
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DC: not saying we ought not, but what you seek is already available in the member area. Put in "duck" and to use your phrase, "wham" there you were with a whole bunch of others.
David
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David - thanks for input, but if you search for "Duck" at the moment you get 2 posts, search for RW (Revenue Waterfowl) and you get a different set that actually has no references to "Duck" anywhere in the description. If you go to eBay and search for "Duck Stamps", there are over 23,000 posts. Just think about how many more there are from poor listing wording, like Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, or James Hautman Stamp ( a well known artist). I collect these, am an advocate for them, and I think SOR could be significantly enhanced by recognizing these as collectable as any of the other categories and could start a whole new world of SOR members.
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I can understand your frustration in not having a specific category for items that interest you; I feel the same way on every selling site, as my areas are very arcane and specific, and I have to rely mostly on someone using the correct term in the title (e.g., Queen Victoria; paquebot; etc.). However much I would like to see more specific categories, especially ones that match my specific interests, it is a never ending process. Take, for example, bidStart, which has over 400 specific stamp categories alone. Even there, there were complaints of how some categories were set up (Liechtenstein and Switzerland together), some glaring omissions (Malta comes to mind), and even geographic areas missing or rendered to "Other" or similar general categories (such as island nations, or Pacific Basin countries). I personally petitioned for the inclusion of Jersey, Isle of Man, etc. to Great Britain and it was finally added as Crown Dependencies but that took a long time and many others agreeing it was needed.
My point is, admin is going to have to draw the line at some point, and given that this isn't a selling commercial site like eBay or bidStart, but an activity of a stamp club, I think the broad categories are fine enough, with maybe some other broad groups (e.g., British Commonwealth; Cinderellas) if there are to be any additions. I can't see how every specific interest can be accommodated; can you imagine specific topical collectors wanting dogs, cats, whales (baleen and toothed subcategories maybe?), birds, reptiles, trains, ... and so on, wanting THEIR areas represented?
Just my 2c worth.
Cheers,
Peter
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Well guys and gals - I can certainly sense the resistance to my idea of a new category of Wildlife Stamps. It is not a case of frustration, it was in response to Tim's request for input on how SOR could be improved. Obviously based on the number of postings and what appears to be a lack of interest in this kind of collecting from the general membership, I will rest my case and not return to the topic. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make a suggestion, even if it is I guess considered lame.
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No, members' suggestions are never lame, some just more popular than others.
John Derry
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If you don't mind my asking, what purpose does "views" serve?
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"If you don't mind my asking, what purpose does "views" serve?Thinking"
I think it gives more psychological assurance to the seller more than any real actionable information. Theoretically (my theory, anyway), it lets the seller know how many people have been attracted enough by your listing to click through to the actual auction page of that item. Sellers like to see that a lot of eyeballs have strayed to their listings.
The actionable part of this information is (again, only my theory): if you have a listing that has garnered only a few views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high. If you have a lot of views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high.
Tedski
(edited to close a parenthesis)
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09:27:25am
" .... if you have a listing that has garnered only a few views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high. If you have a lot of views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high. ...."
Or, besides price, perhaps the scan was too tiny to attract a buyer to click on the lot's page or, as I have also noticed, the scan is somewhat blurry or distorted.
There are also countries, well known for printing Jam Jar Labels and calling them stamps, that I don't bother with at all, so that might be a factor as well, although there usually are collectors for just about everything.
I think if I were a seller and submitted a stamp or set of stamps that drew virtually no views, while the adjacent stamps were drawing substantial numbers and actual bids as well, I'd consider price, yes, but might cast a good weather eye on what I am selling and how it is being displayed.
In that situation "views" would be most interesting, if not helpful.
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Regarding the "view counter":
1. Really like it. From this buyer's perspective, it's nice to see how many others might be interested in the same items as I am. Also I can always hope that if there are lots of views, other similar items might get posted too.
2. Question - are "views" tracked by who is doing the viewing? In other words, can a seller (or anyone else) find out who is looking at what?
Thanks to wizard Tim for all his excellent work.
Sally
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Hi Sally,
No sorry, the program is just recording the number of times a lot is viewed. If doesn't tie it to the viewer.
Regards ... Tim
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Tim, I was wondering: Are these 'unique' views by members or recognized computers, or if the same person clicks on the item five times, it is counted as five views?
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Hi Arno,
This is just a very simple view count on each lot.. If you go in and look at a lot 5 times
the view count will show 5 views. It is only counting member views. The member has to be logged into the system for the view to be recognized in the count. The thought here was that only members can bid on a lot so we don't care how many non members view it.
Regards ... Tim
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To follow on Ted and Charlie's points, the "views" count tells you about potential interest, which can also be how your title is worded. That is the first thing that grabs attention, so if you have few views, it is likely the lack of or poor quality picture, but also a non-descriptive or uninteresting title.
For the count itself, if these are how many times an item was viewed independent of who is viewing it (that is, not unique views), then if the seller views the item, does it also count as a view?
Cheers,
Peter
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Yes, it does.
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But if a tree views it and nobody is there to view the tree viewing it, does it count as a view?
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Only if the tree is a member.
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wooden that be funny?
SOR branches out and leaves the people behind. Now, when we talk about shades, it'll have a whole new meaning.
inviting trees is something I'vy been ponderosaing a lot lately, pining for new members. Maple we can table (ooops, that used to be a member) this for a while we conifer about the ramifications and spruce up the auctions.
you'll think twice now, i'm sure, before opening the door (oops, another member gone) to my twisted self.
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"Ted - But if a tree views it and nobody is there to view the tree viewing it, does it count "
"Tim - Only if the tree is a member."
...and the tree has to be logged in.
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"nd the tree has to be logged in"
best one
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01:49:36pm
Perhaps we are barking up the wrong tree.
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Perhaps, cdj1122, you do not think I understand what I thought you said,
but you are not quite sure I realize that what I think I heard
may not be what you thought you meant.
John Derry
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Not sure how we ever got from "New Functions" to "Trees", but I like it!!! Now, if we could get trees to bid on the stamp auction would be a real dis-functional event. What's amazing is, there are more trees than us!!! They could take over and "stamp" us out. A real rebellion of sorts. And why not, stamps are just a fiber of their former selves.
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And let's not forget:
The larch.
(how does Python go over here?)
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Thanks Tim. I was just wondering and hoping it wasn't linking views to the individual.
Tree cheers for all the improvements!
Sally
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Of course, some of the alder members may be pining for the way they were on the beech.
Merv
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If you guys are bored, why don't you sort some stamps?
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"If you guys are bored, why don't you sort some stamps?"
Huh? I don't get it. What's that got to do with trees?
Let's get to the root of the problem and not just bark around. (I know, I'm such a sap for puns.)
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Good thing it isn't autumn or else we'd all be leafing.
...Number 25, the Larch. (Peter, I guess we're going to find out.)
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I sometimes click on a stamp just because it's too small to see in the thumbnail.
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Yeah. One or two stamps in a thumbnail image is fine, but tree's a crowd.
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Branching out to this post, I see.
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Only one possible reply to all of this and that's: "ni!"
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Jan-Simon,
I wish it was that easy and Ni! would do the trick, but you may have to use your magic moderator sweeping wand to clean up after our unfortunate members of the Order of Spam-a-lot who all suffer from logorrhea. You know, the sad condition similar to diarrhea, but you have no filter and cannot help having to publicly crap over your keyboard all the time.
Returning to the topic of technical help:
This morning, I noticed that the website is displayed as a narrow band in the center of the screen when using Mozilla Firefox. Website displays OK in internet explorer. Perhaps a side effect from fixing the placement of emoticons issue?
Thanks, Tim, for looking into it.
Arno
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I use Firefox, but there is no narrow band in the center of my screen. Perhaps it has already been fixed or else call this guy: http://windowcleaninggoldcoast.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/windowcleaner.jpg
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Thanks, Jan-Simon. So, it must be a display issue on my end. I will play with it. I was just confused because all other websites display normally.
Arno
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Arno,
Could you send me a screen shot of the problem?
Regards ... Tim.
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I use Firefox version 21.0 and the screen looks fine.
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Arno,
On the main Home page, there are options to set screen width towards the bottom on the list of menu items. Do you by chance have "Narrow" selected? There are additional options for "Wide" and "Wider" and perchance they might have been accidentally toggled?
Doug
p.s. This thread has just gone silly, right! Now the rest of you...
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I played with the display, zooming in and out, changing the font size etc. The page is now displayed wider, but will still not fit an exact page as any other website. There still is a gray area around the page; see below:
After tinkering with it, I can live with the above display, but it still is odd.
Arno
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That's exactly what I see too, but I thought it was the default. I didn't notice before if there were grey bars around the SOR section.
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I think that is part if the design of the page, not some sort of display error.
In any case it looks normal and intentional to me.
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That is how the website is programmed Arno. It has a fixed width, focused on the center of the screen. I chose the blue gray to fit in with the over all look and feel of the website. There are so many screen sizes and resolutions, I set it up as a fixed width application so that it would display the same for everyone.
Regards ... Tim
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"Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama"
Yes, I have a thought.
I notice in the discussion area there is a Cinderella section for the USA only.
Can one be added elsewhere for the Rest of the World ? But not under topicals.
Also, there is NO Cinderella section in the auction. Is it possible to add one ?
just my thoughts
londonbus1
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I have thought of two enhancements I would like to see:
On the Discussion Boards a button to click on to mark all posts as read.
The ability to send images in private messages.
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I like the idea of a button to mark all posts as read.
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"On the Discussion Boards a button to click on to mark all posts as read.
The ability to send images in [b]private messages[/b]."
I agree heartily with both suggestions; I would also like to add the ability to add bold, underline, etc. to quoted material. Right now, it inserts the HTML code instead (see above for an example of trying to add bold to "private messages" in the quote). Not a biggie, but a nice ability to add emphasis to a quote.
Cheers,
Peter
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01:16:40pm
For Jansimon:
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That's a public post, Bob. I'm talking about adding images to private messages.
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Oh thank dog you figured that one out, Michael; I thought Bob was saying Jansimon sleeps with the fishes.
Yes, images in the private message please.
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04:42:32pm
The fish stamp I posted is in response to the "Ni" post fromm Jansimon.
Bob
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These puns are giving me a splitting headache, and my s pine is hurting. It wood be poplar if we had a Pun section...
Yew! that's bringing it back on topic...Tree bien!
rrr...(showing restrain)
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I got the fish reference. As a matter of fact, tomorrow is the weekly fish market here in my town, and perhaps I can get some fishermen to do a traditional Norwegian fish-slapping dance
Ooooh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish!
I guess the serious discussion about the next possible functions has to be continued elsewhere
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Hi Michael,
I saw both of your requests. I'll add them to my list. I have a couple of projects going at the moment so it might take a little while but I won't forget. The message system request is the harder if the two. It was written a fair while before the Discussion Board and as such it was written quite differently. We learn as we go..:-) I tried to fit in the emoticon in the message system the last time I was working in hat area and it jut didn't work the way is was written (unfortunately).
Best regards ... Tim
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Ah, Bob, but it can't be done. 
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Hey Tim. All is well. I understand you have a long list. I helped make it long! When you get to the suggestions is when you get to them. I'm sure it'll be sooner than it will be for Jansimon to use a herring to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest!
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Not a new function, but an expanded posting detail for Auctions. Could the TIME an auction closes be shown just below the closing date, in the tabulation list? Right now it only shows in the individual item's description.
rrr...
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Rrr,
Done. Small fine tuning requests like this one are very quick.
Regards ... Tim.
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I have closed this thread just because it has got too long for our members with slower internet connection. I started a second thread to continue the conversations. Go to Part 2
Regards ... Tim
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Hi Everyone,
I'm starting to think about the next things to add to the Stamporama website and I'd like to hear your input and comments. Here are a few thoughts that I have had. Please tell me if you think it is a good ideas, bad ideas, your just not interested .... etc.
1. Gallery to Show Stamps/Album Pages/Covers etc
This would be something similar to the Exhibits but would be very easy for you to scan and load pictures to be hung in your gallery without having to ask me to do it for you.
2. Want Lists
This would enable you to build and display want lists so that you and other people can see the stamps/covers etc that you are looking for.
3. Invoicing Function for the Auction
This would work off the closed Auction Lot information and would enable sellers to easily select stamps/covers that have been purchased by another member, give the seller the ability to enter Postal and Other Charges, and would email the invoice to the buyer. It would also note on the Stamp/Cover Lot that it has been invoiced.
OK, those are the thoughts that I have had. I'm very interested to know what you think about these or any other options that you would like to see. It is also a reasonable option to say, leave the site alone don't touch it for the moment, if that is how you feel.
I obviously can only work toward one new function at a time, so give me your priorities.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Invoicing! (Please)
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
for me, the idea of some sort of wantlistgenerator is very exciting.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Tim
Invoicing would be wonderful
sincerely
Lee
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Want lists would be great "IF" they do not interfer with the auction. If people post their want list then it could effect the bidding process on the auction. Part of the fun of this club is never knowing what will show up in the auction.
A gallery to show a stamp page is also nice but I believe it should be included within the "Exhibit" section as a separate entity. Such as click one for exhibit, click two for page gallery ....
Invoicing looks like a lot of extra work for Tim. Usually when I buy a lot I do my own thing with them and that's that. If I have to contact another member about something concerning those items I email direct. However, these are only my opinions ...... Perry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Woudn't want lists simply add wanted material to the auction? I expect that it would mainly be dealers who would be looking at the want lists, plus maybe some traders. To me, it seems like a good idea.
I'm a bit confused by the suggestion for a gallery. How would it be different from the exhibits section? Are you (Tim) thinking about a sort of Show & Tell section, where people could show just a single stamp or cover, or a single album page?
Bob
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
The idea behind the Gallery was that it would be an area less formal than the Exhibits area, where members could share different pieces that they liked and wanted to share. It could be an album page, a series of album pages or a singe stamp. I'd like to have it so that an individual could have as many "albums" for want of a better term at them moment, as they would like. Within the albums they could have one or many pages. An example of the type of things could be, I'm really enjoying putting together album pages using the AlbumEasy program, from the Guernsey stamps that I have been accumulating. I'd quite like a place to easily be able to share them with others. I'd like to have it so that the owner of the Album has complete control over the posting and the sequencing of the images. At the moment with the Exhibits, there is a manual process that I have to do to be able to post a new Exhibit. Obviously, there would have to be a moderator who had the ability to take down inappropriate image posting, in the same way as we have moderators on the Discussion Board.
Does that help give you a picture of what I was thinking of?
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Thanks, Tim. That's clear enough. Sounds good. Let's go for it.
Bob
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
For me, the most important feature of stamporama is the discussion board. Thus, my primary concern is how we can make the discussion board more attractive (and active). I would like to see some more activity, because I like to read about philately, but increasing the number of stamp related discussions is not a top-down process and has to come from the members.
Here is my suggestion for improvement of the discussion board:
I believe the "Discussion Topics" structure is outdated and not practical. Almost everything is lumped together under "General." I suggest a reorganization according to "mainstream" collecting interests: US - Canada - Europe - Asia - etc. plus the necessary administrative categories, i.e., Member Business, Trading, and Auction Discussions. Within each category there should be at least one more level, e.g., under Europe there would be separate categories for the UK, Germany and maybe 2-3 other widely collected countries, the remainder being lumped together as "other". It can be debated whether we should have a third level, e.g., UK pre-1945, UK post-1945, UK military, UK cancellations, UK postal history, UK "other" etc. Categories should neither be too narrow nor too broad. The "Mentor", "Help identify", "Catalogs" etc. sections become obsolete as there are now more specific categories where to post the question. If a thread is started in the wrong category --it turns out the stamp to identify under Russia is actually Chinese-- moderators can move the thread into the right category.
I believe a lot of great information that is now passed down the list (even though we have a great search function!) and, thus, eventually lost for good, will get better and permanent visibility, if we change the organization of the discussion board. If I am interested in UK pre-1945, I will find all threads related to this category grouped together. And if I collect this area, I will read all threads even if they are older. If I can't find the information I am looking for, I may feel incited to start a new thread in this sub-category. If I read something and have additional information, I may want to add to an older thread. Also, I hope some members will be encouraged to populate a sub-category if litte or (initially) no information is present.
If this is programmed as a menu structure that expands by clicking, it will not take a lot more space then the current structure. I hope at least some key threads containing information that should be preserved can be moved into the new structure (don't want to burden Tim too much). Even after the old structure is grandfathered out, all discussions of course should still be accessible (read-only)through the key word search.
I don't want to make it too long, but this is what I hope we can do to improve the discussion board with an eye on increasing activity. Once we got a rough outline, I am sure member input for fleshing out the new "tree" structure will come in rapidly.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I must argue against Rhinelander's proposal. I won't say that the current topic structure of the Discussion Board is perfect, but to further segment it seems to me to be a philatelic can of worms.
There are certainly no restrictions against introducing any topic for discussion, but to create what would inevitably be a complex topic structure would do nothing to promote discussion. As the discussion board is at this time, a well-worded subject heading is all that is needed to alert other interested collectors. I have set my e-mail preferences to alert me to new posts in any of the discussions except for the Test forum. I simply delete those that don't interest me and look at those that do. What so hard about that?
Rhinelander's proposal also doesn't take into account human fallibility: it's not at all uncommon for people to post new threads to inappropriate discussions. That would continue regardless of the structure of the board.
And then there is the problem of topic drift: A discussion might well start out with a discussion under Europe / UK / UK pre-1945. But what if the query or comment includes UK military and UK cancellations? Inevitably such a discussion will drift far beyond the original parameters.
I think that philately as a whole is far too wide ranging and complex to fit neatly into rigid categories. That is especially true when it comes to postal history.
For example, I have a cover which was posted in Germany on December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour. It was addressed to a hotel in Kyoto, Japan. Before leaving Germany, it was censored by the Nazis. It made it to New York City where it was again censored and then "interned" until the end of the war. In 1948(!) it had gone as far as San Francisco, where it was backstamped. Finally, on an unknown date, it was delivered in Kyoto. Now just how would this cover be classified? It's pre-1945 and post-1945. It's also a censored cover, an "adversity" cover (delivery and routing affected by the war), a registered cover, and an airmail cover. It's even a "returned cover," because it has the postal instruction "Return to Sender" on it, but of course it wasn't returned. It would also fit into the Third Reich, which is a popular collecting area, and it could even be a hotel thematic coverl!
Finally, as someone who has put in more than a few score hours working as a Stamporama volunteer, I strenuously object to any change which puts unnecessary work on any volunteer. Moving old threads to new subject headings would be a monumental task, and pointless as well (see comment above about "topic drift"). And we don't need to ask any volunteer to monitor all posts to see if they fit properly within a given topic. As far as I'm concerned, "General" works just fine.
As far as I know, there is only one other useful philatelic discussion board on the Internet, and that's actually not on the Internet but on Usenet, an entity which I've never understood. Anyway, the group, actually a "newsgroup", is rec.collecting.stamps.discuss ("rec" is short for "recreation". It's been around a lot longer than Stamporama, and in its day it had far more specialist collectors taking part regularly than Stamporama has ever had. If "r.c.s.d." people couldn't answer a question, there probably wasn't an answer.
The group has fallen on hard times in recent years for a couple of reasons, but not because of the structure of the posts. In fact, there are no topic headings at all -- it's just one big, on-going, free-wheeling discussion, with participants creating new threads at will. If it were moderated, and if people didn't have to display their e-mail, it would be much busier, but it's still a darned good source of information.
Summing up: Structure is not the secret to a good discussion. Participation is the secret to a good discussion. Let's not fix what isn't broken.
Bob
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hello Bob,
You have a couple of good points that we must consider. If we re-organize, we certainly still need a "show all" function with the ability to list all recent posts regardless in which specific category they have been posted. The ability to subscribe to all new posts and to be notified by email has nothing to do with the organization of the topics, though. You certainly still can subscribe to all posts. If at all, more categories allow folks to subscribe to more specific topics of interests.
I agree with 'if its not broken don't fix it.' However, nobody said it is broken. We are talking improvements. Even if it is not broken it might still be improved upon. And honestly, the crude way of organizing discussion topics never served its objective very well in my opinion.
I am not proposing to change things around just for being a neat freak and for order's sake (of course I collect stamp, so some of that is running in the family). My rationale is for the simple reason that your statement "a well-worded subject heading is all that is needed to alert other interested collectors" is simply incorrect. After three days, seven days at most, a discussion topic has lost its freshness and will not be accessed again. Nobody is looking after one week, regardless of a well worded subject heading.
In my contributions to the discussion board, I strive to provide information that is "timeless", i.e., can serve as a reference for days to come. Many knowledgeable members here attempt to do the same. However, I perceive the transient nature of the forum which is not much different from "one big, on-going, free-wheeling discussion, with participants creating new threads at will" detrimental to contributing to the best of my abilities. Who wants to write a litte primer on how to distinguish common cancellations etc. if that gets attention for one week? However, if discussions on cancellation are filed in a permanent easily accessible sub-folder "USA -- Cancellations" any discussion / write-up /information someone contributes will have permanent benefit.
Topic drift is a reality. As are certain postal history items that fit more than one category. We will have to live with it. Whoever starts a discussion determines the category that a priori fits best in the starter's opinion. If the discussion drifts and evolves into something else, so be it. I still prefer it to having no structure. Also, there is a difference beween more "serious" discussions, say of the plate-flaws of some issue, and general "opinion-type" discussions. The former tend to stay on topic fairly well -- and these are the ones that I want to save from oblivion. The latter are more unstructured, which is great because we all want to have fun here.
As to the role of the moderators. If there is a discussion that totally does not fit the category they may move it into the right category. If not, that's fine too. I have no doubts that the vast majority of threads will be opened in the right categories for the own benefit of the person starting the thread. In our auction, I have not noticed that fellow members were unable to select a fitting auction category in 99% of the cases -- so why should this all of a sudden be different when there are discussions categories.
I hope my intention become a little clearer now; more input would certainly be helpful. Structure may not be the secret to good discussions, but it may lay the groundwork for them.
Arno
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
it is in a way ironic to read about topic drift here and see it happening. Changes to the discussion board are not an option here. Simple changes like new categories can be created without much problem, the only question is do we want it and if so, what categories should be made?
At this moment, we are talking about new functionality (gallery, wantlists, invoices) and not about changing existing functions.
Feel free to discuss the latter in a separate thread.
Jan-Simon
(Message edited by jan-Simon on March 25, 2009)
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Jan-Simon,
This is from Tim's initial posting: "I'm starting to think about the next things to add to the Stamporama website and I'd like to hear your input and comments ... I'm very interested to know what you think about these or any other options that you would like to see."
I think you are splitting hair drawing a distinction beween discussion of "new" functions and modifications of existing functions. I don't see irony here, but maybe we have a different sense of humor. I am very serious about improving our discussion board and creating an environment which brings about increased use. In my opinion, the next thing to add could be a better organized discussion board. If you feel this is off-topic, it is in your power to create a new thread and move the last couple of contributions. I believe I am responding exactly to what Tim was asking, i.e., what suggestions we have to further improve stamporama.
Apart from that I would be interested to hear your opinion on the issue: how to increase the "memory" of the discussion board, specificially, its usefulness as a permanent philatelic source of information, its "navigateability," and its attractiveness. If you have other ideas to that goal, I welcome your views. After all, you are one of the moderators and I highly value your contribution.
Here is another one: I got the hang of it, but the picture uploading process is still akward. Maybe that is another reason for the underutilization of the discussion bard. Making the exisiting board, i.e., the core functionality better, in my opinion is at least equally important than adding new functions.
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09:55:42am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I agree with Bob that the discussion vehicle certainly has been working very well since the inception of the message board. I subscribe to the adage"if aint broke don't fix it". It aint broke. Some other message boards that I belong too are over organized, they are difficult to navigate.
Joel
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I can see both sides of the discussion board debate having merit. I would personally like it, if covers had their own board. Without worrying about the 'where' of an item we could keep the 'General Stamp Discussion' and have also a 'General Cover Discussion'.
Another DB issue for me is thread size. Some of the threads become so long (or large with pics) that they will not load for me. Can a thread have more than one page?
Peace,
Doe
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I have a hard time imagining what could be done to make this discussion board more attractive and more navigable. It's a dream compared to most web sites of a similar nature.
Tim and I have recently been discussing some design issues and the fact that the entire Stamporama web site avoids most of the critical mistakes that cause so much frustration for everyone who uses the Internet. We have no bouncing bunnies or flashing text, no pop-ups, and no unreadable fonts. We do have seamless navigability, logical design, help pages, and easy contact with the webmaster and volunteers. I have found the search function adequate -- I suppose that the addition of a few basic discussion areas -- popular countries and regions, themes, etc. -- could be useful if they had their own search field. How else could it be improved?
There is one basic factor that we need to consider. My understanding is that the enire website is based on a commercial template and thus has built-in restrictions. Tim simply might not be able to implement some suggested changes. Perhaps Tim could comment further on that.
Bob
(Message edited by bobstamp on March 25, 2009)
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02:37:27pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I'm not sure about splitting from stamps and/0r covers for message boards. In the past I have usedthe search utility to bring back a prior disscussion. Sometimes the discussion elapsed for days or weeks or month and, yes, prior years. By adding a message at the current time it brings up the whole thread to a current status. The mechanics are already in place. I think by adding certain other aspects, the mechanism will become unwieldy.
Joel
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Everyone,
I'd just like to clarify about what can be done with the Discussion Board software. The Discussion Board is a purchase package from a company called Discusware.com. Check them out on the web. This is a package and just like if you purchased Microsoft Word, you can configure it but you can't change it.
What I can do is add extra topics. I can add a thing called a Category, which is like a heading that you can put in between groups of topics to visually separate them. I can reorder the sequence of the topics on the page, but that is about all that I can do I'm sorry.
The method of loading images into a discussion posting is a little clunky and you have to learn how to do it, but once again there is nothing that I can do about that.
I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful here.
Regards ... Tim.
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05:29:10pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Something else comes to mind when talking add ons and changes. I am on dial up and for some reason the Stamporama web site is the fastest loading website I have ever encountered....faster even than the Google home page. Are any of these changes going to make things slower loading?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Elliotcreek,
I sure am glad to here that you are getting good performance from the website over a dialup connection. There are a few reasons for that. We have very few images on our pages relative to most websites. We have kept the program behind the website simple and streamlined and the server that we are running on (thanks to Roy) gives us very good response. And to answer your question, no the enhancements that we are talking about will not slow the website down. I'll make sure that they don't. If I am in doubt on that point, I may come back to you and ask you to test a function for me to make sure that it is still working effectively for you.
regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim needs a BIG round of applause for all his hard work on this site. I quite like his idea of the 3 added categories. I think that each has their own merit.
Thanks Tim
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Well, I guess I'll throw my 2 cents in here;
I think we need a middle ground here. I see some asking for what sound like major changes, some asking to leave it alone ("if it ain't broke...") and so on. Many of the ideas expressed here sound fine. I say, enhance it - don't overload it - improve on it, but don't change the basic structure. Adding a few more categories, as Doe and others mentioned, is a good idea, like covers and/or postcards and such.
But I don't feel we should overload ourselves with major change. Enhancement is always my first choice over restructure!
Randy B.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Speaking from hard experience, middle ground is always a good place to be, unless people are shooting at you from all sides!
In thinking about it more, I like Doe's suggestion for separating the General Stamp Collecting Discussion into "Stamp Collecting Discussion" and "Cover Collecting Discussion" (the adjective "General" would not necessarily apply).
How about a third section titled "Cinderella/Collateral Collecting Discussion". I am very much into Display Class exhibiting, which allows considerable leeway in showing non-postal collateral items such as train and airline tickets, baggage labels, cheques, receipts, photographs, drawings, maps, cinderellas, collectors' cards, bogus stamps, forgeries, etc.
OK, going for broke now: How about changing "Stamp Show Roundup" to "Stamp Shows/Exhibiting Discussion"? We have no place on the board where exhibiting logically fits except for the current "General Stamp Collecting Discussion", which looks like it will probably be changing anyway.
These suggestions don't exactly fit Rhinelander's initial thoughts on this, but I do think they will add some depth and interest to the discussions. Many new collectors know nothing about cover collecting, so just having the category in place will be educational. And many collectors have not exhibited but are curious about it.
A final thought: Perhaps we could combine the "Mentoring Forum" and "Can you help identify this?" discussions into just one discussion titled "PLEASE HELP ME!" or something similar. This amalgamation would at least cut down the number of discussions by one (assuming the ones that Doe and I have suggested are first approved).
Bob
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I thought it would be interesting for younger members who are not aware of this and perhaps other earlier discussions to reactivate this topic. This is the thread out of which the Cover Corner section was born.
The discussion concerning having more categories on the discussion board starts about half way into the thread.
As a 'progressive' member, I remember that I was quite frustrated at the time. My perception was that essentially the main argument was "if it's not broken, don't fix it, shut up, sit down." Nobody wanted to discuss the underlying reason why I was asking for more categories at the time. It appeared everybody liked it just the way it is -- the level of participation and the quality of the content.
Now it seems everybody participating in the "How can we increase member participation" topic agrees that things must change to increase the attractiveness and relevance of our club's discussion board. I cannot even express how excited I am about the vibrancy being displayed right now; the prospect of an evolutionary leap.
Arno
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I am a fan of Arno's suugestion IF it can be implemented. I would absolutely love to have addl categories at make organization and search easier and more comprehensive. His contributions on US cancels alone deserve eir own heading and,perhapsmsubcategories.
Of course, for this to work fully, some one will need to retrofit stuff into the newly minted categories. If we move forward with Arno's proposal, folks oughht to be thinking about volunteering to help.
The headings will be only as good as the data inside.
David
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
The discussion about changes to the discussion board as it took place three years ago should be seen in the context of how the website was built back then. At that point we had an antiquated system that could not easily be updated. Right now, everything has been rebuilt from scratch and it should be a lot easier to change the categories. A good thing.
I wonder though, if we will not be creating far more categories than threads. But perhaps a more intricate breakdown into subcategories is what everybody has been waiting for and the messages will start coming like an avalanche
Jan-Simon
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It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle Onassis
24 Jan 2013
09:55:00am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Jansimon - I agree 100%. I think we will have a lot of fabulous categories and not so many threads.
Does anyone have ideas about how we will fill all of these categories with posts? Is the thought process that by adding the categories, more people will post?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
So many in this club are locked in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode. Such constant resistance to suggested changes is not healthy for any group, and is a frustrating gauntlet to have to deal with time after time. The Commodore 64 was a great, little computer. It wasn't broke, but needs beyond its control made it obsolete. As new, younger members hopefully join SOR, they will bring with them, their perspectives of how they would like the site to work based on the web sites that younger people utilize, and their collecting needs and habits. If you want membership to grow by gaining younger people, you will have to get out of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mode. Also, the mantra "If it means more work for the volunteers, don't do it" needs to be dropped. The volunteers can speak for themselves as to whether they have the time and ability to effect the suggested changes. If they need help, they can ask for volunteers. There are too many here who's first word at suggestions tends to be "No" followed by one of the two mantras stated above. SOR is not an old fart's club, unless that's what you want it to be. It's not obsolete, thanks to the work of the volunteers, but if the wind blows "No" too often...
When someone makes a suggestion, it would be more appropriate for the subsequent discussions to focus on what are the benefits, and what are the negatives to the group as a whole, and especially what are the benefits and negatives to the members who would be using or benefiting from the suggested changes. At that point, it's not a vote of whether someone likes the suggestion or not, or whether one person would use the suggested changes or not. For example, someone who is not involved in sales or buying obviously would not use a function that could improve the sales aspect of this site. Changes that are made are often not for everyone. How the changes benefit those who would use or be recipients of the changes is what matters.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Dear All,
Coming back to David's caution above, is now the time for those interested in the topics/changes being suggested to think about the "how' as well as the "what"? David is suggesting that to implement, we need to be willing to commit.
So far the commitment has been to think and to suggest, and we've been doing a fine job of that.Are we ready yet to make the jump into bringing our suggestions into existence?If so, we need to select the areas(s) that we personally are interested in and offer to make the time to become involved in its birth.
Speaking only for myself of course, the Back Of The Book area (B-O-B)speaks to me and I would be happy to make time helping that section along.In that section I would envision Match & Medicine, Errors,Freaks,Oddities(EFO's),Essays. Proofs,Tobacco, Narcotics, Wines, Alcohol to name just a few. There are many other areas not mentioned, like Airmails, Cut Squares and such, but you get the idea.I am also quite fond of fancy cancels and would love to see that category explored as well.
So dear clubmates, do you have a favorite that speaks to you yet- or am I getting ahead of myself here?
Dan C.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Michael's post is a great segue into a discussion of what the volunteers are doing.
We have been discussing 4 areas, based on these discussions: improved links area, expanded discussion board topic structure, auction self-promotion, and a sales area. We are likely to move forward on the first two, but, and here's where Michael's comments come in: we will want volunteers.
On links, Tim thinks the programming is possible, but that's only one aspect of it. Links will need to be checked, perhaps categorized, and then maintained. This might be two separate people, or one, or one supervising several. I'd like volunteers to contact Tim (and copy me) about their willingness to take this on.
On the discussion board, we will need several volunteers working under a head volunteer. Here, the work involves taking the 30,000 extant posts and organizing them into the new structure. Three volunteers will get 10,000 posts; 10 will get 3,000; 30 will get 1,000, so the work load will be determined solely by you. I believe that one of the threads was inaugurated with the question: how do you get members to be more involved? one way is to ask. Consider it asked.
Tim and I have talked about these two areas, and neither of these move forward without help. I will be happy to coordinate this aspect, so feel free to contact me directly.
The discussion area isn't finalized in terms of topics or structure, so that can still be refined, but I suspect that the folks who head this up can help do that as well.
As to the other two recommendations, the volunteers have been talking about them, but haven't reached consensus yet.
Finally, regarding Dave's comments on adding new auction areas, Tim and I are also talking about that, but we're not decided, and we're wondering whether the search function might be sufficient.
This is a very simple response that doesn't come close to broaching the depth of consideration that the volunteers have given this behind the DB.
Not all ideas are embraced, but all are considered, and, if practical (in terms of implementation) discussed.
All right then, time to stop talking and get volunteering. Write Tim (and copy me) for the links; write me (and copy Tim) about the discussion board.
David
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Dave and Tim,
I will gladly assist reclassifying discussion topics once the final structure has been established. (Putting my time where my mouth is).
I would like to open for discussion however if in order to cut back on the reclassification effort, and scarce volunteer resources, members would be OK to eliminate anything older than three (two, four?) years. Also, there was some kind of a migration of discussions already a long time ago -- but not sure if I remember correctly -- when older discussions where archived, usually without preserving pictures (?) and these potentially could be tossed for sure (?). Moreover, there will be a very good number of threads that have served their purpose and could be safely deleted, e.g., announcements for stamp shows, looking up most recent catalog values, etc. etc.
Also, Tim recently provided a list of the most popular discussion threads. So, one other way to approach this could be to migrate only threads with at least 10 (50, 100?) hits in the last year?
Or a combination of the two? Anything older than three years will not be migrated unless the topic had at least xx hits?
I am not sure if you had planned to put the migration criteria up for discussion or if that was a top down approach. To be honest the message "we must reclassify 30,000 topics to make this happen, or it will not happen," may discourage us to follow through with a reorganization of the discussion board. I also do not understand the 30,000 number. Since June 2008, I find -- as of today -- 897 discussion under our by far largest category "General Stamp Collecting Discussion." (Yes. I counted them).
In the other areas that would have to be reorganized there are a lot fewer discussions (for instance, about 110 discussions total in the Cover Corner). And some areas need not to be reclassified at all (Off topic, Auction discussion, Member Business etc.). Are there additional topics not listed when you click on the list of topics? If all are listed, my estimate of discussion topics over the last five years cannot run higher than 2,000 (??).
Arno
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Arno,
i'd hate to lose some of the older stuff; all of it still exists and all remains accessible. more recent doesn't necessarily mean better.
Glad you're in on this.
i'd like to move the discussion of the topics off the DB and allow the volunteers (the NEW volunteers) to hammer out details with the (OLD) volunteers (we call ourselves the VC). A few of us have some refinements, but there's a point where the people who are going to do the work should have the final say.
David
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
David,
Can I suggest an email to all who volunteered etc. Many thanks,
Alyn
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
yes, you may. At this point, that immense herd consists of you and Arno. Not the stampede I had hoped for, but it's early.
Now that you all have provided this veritable fountain of ideas, all we need are a few horses to sip the nectar.
Tom Smith
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
David,
I agree that it would be a shame to lose all of the older stuff. In fact, some older topics may be brought to light again and may get new attention once properly classified and thus more visible. However, since someone will now look at every single discussion thread, using the opportunity for a little bit of housecleaning may not be a bad idea either. If the only message in a thread from 2007 concerning Australian stamps is that the orginal message has been removed because of a violation of the advertizing policy, you or I should be able to hit the delete button instead of moving the message into the Oceania folder. I guess I am simply advocating some common sense and wiggle room for the volunteers as we go through all of the topics (as opposed to slavishly and time-consumingly recategorizing every little bit of scrap.)
If this is primarily about the 900 topics in the general discussion area, this may not be bad at all. Perhaps you were counting 30,000 postings, while the unit of reclassification really is the entire discussion, of which there are many fewer?
Arno
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim & David.....
I am a relative newbie here, but a grizzled veteran stamp collector and philatelic enthusiast!
I read this thread with great interest. Also, the thread concerning 'Increasing Member Participation'.
Please call upon me to assist in any way that can help advance the mission of Stamporama or improve its benefits to members both old and new.
Sincerely,
Terry.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Let me clarify what I meant about "Archiving".
I did not mean that the posts should be moved to a special "Archive" section and deleted from the discussion boards. If I said that, I didn't mean it...oh well...
What I meant was that when a topic ran its course and was dropping down into the nether regions of the posts, it would be good (if it was a pertinent topic, and not one about someone washing their car, for example) to have someone take the topic, go through it, edit out all the non-pertinent responses (off-topic banter, etc.), and in effect create a type of article that would be saved in a Discussion Board archive section. The original posts would remain in all their glory to keep the full context. The editor could also put a link to the archived topic in the original post. Also, should a similar topic arise as new, a link could be provided in the new, similar topic as a reference.
That is what my thoughts were regarding the archiving process.
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24 Jan 2013
05:22:31pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Invoicing, please. Make it as easy to get to PayPal as possible.
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Sharyn - We already have invoicing capabilities in the auction. It is entirely up to the seller if they chose to accept PayPal or not and if they do accept PayPal the PayPal logo for payment will appear on their invoices, subject to whatever terms or minimum PayPal payments they set when they set up their invoices.
Liz Jones
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24 Jan 2013
09:11:24pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I agree with Michael's proposal on how to work with the archives. I know I personally would be happy to help with that. That's right up my alley.
Kelly
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
@Brian,
A good suggestion. I'll put it on the list.
@Arno, Michael et al,
I like your suggestion re archiving. We have an Archive category that holds old posting from previous discussion boards. As part of the revamp, I can give our volunteers the ability to move thread to the Archive topic.
Regards ... Tim.
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Auctions
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
not sure what needs to be done to invoicing, seems all right to me. what i would like is some kind of paging so we don't have to go from the first lot to say item #600 (i.e. U.S.) in
20 separate steps, then again i'm just glad to be back and on line.
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I would like to see the option to change the date format at which Discussion Board entries are shown, relative to what is common in your place. Now the standard (or rather the only way) is the American way, which is often confusing for Europeans. For instance: 02-11-2013 is read by me as 02 November 2013, and not 11 February 2013. Of course one gets used to it in the end, but still, it would be nice to see regional setting options.
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12 Feb 2013
06:54:27am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I have often wondered why a universal standard has never been established. It would make more sense to me to use the year-month-date format (2013-02-12) as this permits easy ordering of entries in a database.
Then, of course, there is the metric system, driving on "wrong" side of the road, and whirlpools that spin clockwise in one hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the other.
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06:09:49pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
Is there any chance that we might get an auto-relist function for a relist up to a certain number of times? I see many lots being relisted over and over by listing them as new lots and avoiding the otherwise mandatory 10% less on a relist. My thinking is three-fold on this. First, the club is attracting different people all the time and the auction is a major draw for the club so relisting at intervals makes sense since a partially difference audience would then see the stamps for sale. Second, stamps are relisted as new anyway to avoid the reduction in price so why not simply acknowledge that as the norm that it is...and allow a member to auto-relist lots so that the members have an ever increasing amount of material to chose from. Third, adding an auto-relist function would put the club's auctions on a functional par with just about every other auction site I've seen out there and eliminate the need to list items here...wait till they close..and then move them to another site that offers auto-relist anyway...and remove those items from consideration by our members simply because it is too much of a time issue to list the same unsold items at intervals..over and over again. Personally, if we had an auto-relist function, I would put my lots here..and leave them here...and refer my customers to the club rather than to another site where I can put them once and not worry about them for a long time. It seems to me that they key here is the rate at which the club attracts new members...and the auction is, as I said, a major draw to do just that...in my opinion. I understand the desire to not clutter up the auction with a million 1 cent lots..and to attract more expensive material but to date I have listed lots of all price categories...from 1 cent for the charity I support...up to lots cataloging several hundred dollars...and guess what it is that sells....yup...mostly low priced material. If the low value of the material offered is still a concern..then let the club charge say...1 cent for each time a lot is listed...regardless of price..and soon those lots that perpetually never sell...will disappear from the list..especially the ver low value lots that might be a concern. Besides..then there would be some funds for the club to use to buy those improvements that people are always talking about. Anyway, it's an idea.
Thanks!
Dave
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
30 Mar 2013
07:52:02pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I am sure that is a fine idea, Dave, but would add to your concern about clutter. A few days ago there were some 1,300 "New items" offered that I began to wade through to see what might excite me. A large amount of that material looked very familiar to me which seems to indicate that I'd seen and checked through it before, probably more than once.
On the other hand sometimes I see something but decline to make a bid for some reason at that moment and then later during the re-run through I decide that I can live no longer without posting a bid.
So to make things work well, I think that some way would have to be available to discriminate between absolutely virgin lots, so to speak, and re-listed lots as their are times when one or the other is desirable.
I have no idea how complicated that would make things for the cyber wizard, I have enough of a problem just navigating between the choices already available and not losing track too much between;
open lots,
watch listed items,
won lots,
won and invoiced,
won, invoiced and payment sent,
and finally,
done lots,
but it is an exciting prospect, sort of like entering a darkened maze in a haunted house at Halloween.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
30 Mar 2013
10:02:36pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Dear Tim Auld:
Need I remind you that I am very much in favour
of removing some functions from Stamporama?
John Derry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
1) I do like David’s suggestion to allow relisting multiple times without a price reduction. Or perhaps extend the action listing to 60 or 90 days. At least we wouldn't have to look at the same stamps being posted every 30 days.
2) I know there was some hesitation allowing a "buy it now" feature without the bidding option in the auction but I would be open to trying it out.
3) Lastly, I think the selling stamps in the discussion board are more bother than they are worth, just use suggestion 2.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I haven't been here long enough to know for sure but it seems to me that the vast majority of the auctions are essentially "For Sale" listings.
For example, there are currently 522 U.S. items listed for auction, 25 of which have bids but none has more than 1 bidder and most will likely close that way.
Perhaps a simpler solution to the long-term relisting problem is to have both an "auction" section and a "sale" section.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Jan-Simon I agree with you and the rest of the world that uses a different system than the USA does, for basically any dates or measurements. I don't know why we can't use a system that uses the written name of the month, such as you suggest: 11 November 2013 or November 11, 2013, as examples. Actually using 11 November 2013 would be less confusing for everyone in the world and is very self explanatory. I'm sure there was never any intention by Jerry or any of the original group to slight anyone, but there was probably no thought that SOR would ever grow to such a size and cover the entire world, when they wrote the original plans.
As far as re-list go, I'm sure that all seller re-list items, not necessarily the following week, and have very good success with those items. Mostly rel-list items are sold at a discount, so that does offer a good benefit for re-listing anyway. From a sellers standpoint I have seen items re-listed, at a discount, sell for more than the original listing.
Mike
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Jan-Simon, I'm sorry that I missed your request. Let me look into it.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I am not sure if the tweak I'm asking for is already made or someone else has mentioned it before, I'm requesting it here.
In the 'Post a New Item' form a small field could be added for mentioning "used" or "mint" and the same feature incorporated in the search function for auction lots so that when looking at new lots a person could choose whether to go through all the listed items for a particular country/seller or just the "mint" items.
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01 Apr 2013
12:07:24am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I collect both mint and used stamps and I would love to be able to separate the two in the auction listings. Great idea!
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01 Apr 2013
07:36:49am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
What is the more common Canadian usage when writing dates ?
If it is similar to the US custom changing SOR to the European system would create a far greater level of confusion.
I suppose if this is a real problem using the three letter abbreviations that most US date cancelers use these days, thus 11 NOV 13 would solve it as far as humans are concerned, but might that not make things more complicated for the robots who run the inner workings of the website ?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Charlie, I like your idea with the date format i.e. using 11 NOV 13. Jan-Simon and members who live in a non-US oriented world, would this date format work for you?
Regards ... Tim
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
01 Apr 2013
12:41:58pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
It's good enough for NATO, so it's good enough of me.
John Derry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Ahhh, perfect date solution. Obviously derived from someone using the KISS system.
Saleem, as far as the "new or used" category for newly listed items is concerned, that option is already available. When someone goes to the "NEW AUCTION LOTS" listing, just click on the "CLOSES" title at the top of the listings and that will change the order of the all the listings to either ascending, or descending order. We are also able to click it back and forth whenever we choose to see one or the other. It is also possible to click on any of those column titles to be able to find all kinds of good information, or rearrange the listings to better serve ones purpose.
It doth seem as though thy magical Wizard, which designed thy wonderful website hath considered many designs thee common subjects hath not even thought of, by them own selves.
LONG LIVE THE WIZARD!
Mike
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Dave and Saleem, I'm looking into your requests and will get back to you.
Regards ... Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Please please please use a four digit year and not a two digit year.
Thanks,
Josh
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Josh,
You seem to feel strongly about the four digit display of the year e.g. 2013 rather 13. What are your thoughts behind this. I rather liked Charlie's compromise on the date display. If I make a change I want the display of a date to be consistent throughout the website and in some places space on the screen is a premium. So, I was considering the 2 digit year display. Please let me know your thoughts either on this thread or contact me directly.
Regards ... Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
As a computer repair guy, I want to warn against two digit years!!! Let's all remember the global impact of Y2K!!! What will happen to SOR in the year 3000? I'll tell you what... cats and dogs living together... mass hysteria!!! Oh wait, I'll be dead then. Never mind, don't care, carry on. LOL. Sorry, was in a goofy mood this morning.
What ever the final format is though, it definitely should be consistent across the website.
---Pat
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
02 Apr 2013
10:01:14am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
As a frequent buyer on the SOR auction board, I would like the ability to exclude several sellers' listings as opposed to just the present limit of just one. Or, in the alternative, to select more than one seller at a time whose listings I want to view.
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It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle Onassis
02 Apr 2013
10:14:46am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Mike,
Although your post was very informative and we all agree that Tim is a Web Wizard to beat all Wizards, I think Saleem meant that he would like to distinguish between mint and postally used stamps with the click of a button. Then people like me, who collect both could search the auction for just mint stamps or just used stamps.
Saleem, please correct me if I'm mistaken.
I'm all for this addition as I have just mint copies of some stamps and just used of others.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Pat and other IT people, I just want to let you know that the way we display dates on the website (either 2013 or 13) doesn't change the way the date is stored in the data base. Pat's thoughts and concerns going back to the Y2K problems are valid, but the database that the website uses takes care of that for us.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Yes Lisa - you are correct in pointing out what I am looking for. This tweak will help in going through only mint or only used stamps of a particular country or by a particular seller. I have full faith in Tim and soon we will see this option available.
As for the date I think that two digit year is sufficient for all purposes.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
02 Apr 2013
04:30:27pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
" .... I would like the ability to exclude (Or select) several sellers' listings as opposed to just the present limit of just one. ....
This would be a great addition to the magic.
Several times I have wanted to do that for various reasons.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
For 11 NOV 13 - I would never remember if 2013-11-11 or 2011-11-13. I do IT/database work myself and have come to prefer the ISO 8601 style.
Josh
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06:44:24pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim, I would like to see a "visit counter" added to the listings. Nearly every other stamp auction site has it. It is an invaluable tool for sellers to judge how their listings are perceived. Many thanks for the attention.
Luis
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Luis,
I'll look into this for you.
Regards ... Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
When I upload images, they are inserted in random places, never at the position of the cursor. A minor inconvenience, but since you are soliciting comment, perhaps you can look into it as well.
I support Salleems suggestion of a filter for used and unused stamps, but this may require sellers to check a box. It is a minor point to me, because the number of lots on our auction overall is still manageable.
Arno
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01:24:25am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
Thanks..I appreciate that! It sure would save sellers a lot of time and keep a wider selection of items available for buyers to view..whatever filter they use!
Dave
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I have read these posts so many times and I'm confused as to what is really on the drawing board. I think enough great ideas have been submitted and Tim has told us what he can or can not do, let him decide what he will implement....."what Tim giveth Tim can taketh away" if the function does not work properly. Perry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I have implemented Jan-Simon's request re the US formated dates. I have taken Charlie's idea and Josh's request and changed the date display right across the website. You will notice dates are now in the format "06 Apr 2013".
If you see any screens in the system that I have missed that still have the old date format, please let me know.
Regards ... Tim.
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06 Apr 2013
05:37:39pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
The Wizard strikes again!
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
When responding to stamporama messages through the internal message system: is it possible to have the orginal message, or thread of messages, show at the bottom? Being able to see the message that is being responded to while responding would be very helpful.
Arno
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Good idea Arno. That would then be just like responding to items on the DB.
Mike
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Or more similar to responding to an email message.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
13 Apr 2013
10:47:18am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
When responding to specific comments either here or in the message system as well as regular e-mails, I just highlight the reference comment, copy and then, paste all, or a part of it like this;
" ....When responding to stamporama messages through the internal message system: is it possible to have the orginal message, or thread of messages, show at the bottom? Being able to see the message that is being responded to while responding would be very helpful....."
Somtsimes to accentuate that it is someone else's comment I italicize;
" ... When responding to stamporama messages through the internal message system: is it possible to have the orginal message, or thread of messages, show at the bottom? Being able to see the message that is being responded to while responding would be very helpful. ..."
Then I add my remarks below.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
pertaining to the above response -
"" .... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard may not be what I thought I meant. .... " "
Just love it Charlie!!!!!
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
13 Apr 2013
01:37:30pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I nominate that quote, posted by Charlie, as the banner for Stamporama's auction board; to be waved in the faces of buyers having the temerity to question stamp descriptions authored by sellers. C'est plus que parfait.
John Derry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Daveanddeb,
I just want to respond to your question about the Relist function. I have looked into it and think that it will be best to leave it as it is for the moment. If the Relist function isn't working for you, try using the batch loader function. It should do what you want.
Arno,
I should be able to add the list of messages below the message response textbox.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Dear Tim,
I have a small request maybe you could look into it and implement as necessary.
Look at the current discussion for example and you can see that we have to scroll a long way down to read the latest postings - can you make it so that after every 25 or so postings a new page is displayed. Page numbers can be added to the top or bottom of the discussion topic (similar to the auction listings - where I would also love to see the page numbers at the top). If this function can be utilized than we only have to go to the last page and see the most recent postings.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
14 Apr 2013
06:25:37am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
RE:: Saleem's comment about the auction pages;
" ... (similar to the auction listings - where I would also love to see the page numbers at the top). ..."
Hear hear !!!
There are times when several sellers enter a large number of lots and we seem to have to pass through several pages to get past a section that has already been viewed.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Saleem,
I'm sorry, I can't do the paging here in the discussion board. It is designed to position you at the first posting that you haven't read, so unless you haven't read a particularly long thread you shouldn't have to scroll a long way. Please let me know if it is not working as designed.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Every time I login and start reading the discussions it is from the first post so I have to scroll all the way down to read new posts.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Saleem,
I'm sorry that you are having problems with this. It appears that each time you log into the internet your internet provider gives you a new IP address. The program that displays the postings within a thread uses the IP address that you are using to identify you so it can work out what postings you have read so it can position you at the first posting that you haven't read.
Could you please try something for me? Could you login to Stamporama and then go and look at a thread that is showing that there are postings that you haven't read. That should fix it for you. Logging into the system lets the system know who you are (obviously) so it can then work out what you have read and what you haven't. Please let me know how you go.
Apart from that, there are ctrl keys that you can use that will jump you to the bottom of the page so that you don't have to scroll. Some of our members might remember what these ctrl keys are.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
The problem persists. Checked my IP address a few times after each login to the net and it stays the same. Cntrl + end works well but if I login after a few days I have to look for all those new posts.
Another small request (all my requests are small!) - please add a few more Smileys to work with.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Saleem,
I'll email you offline.
Regards ... Tim.
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Tim
The ability to select more than one seller in the "exclude "sellers dropdown menu in the auction. As several of our members will not accept Paypal ,and that is the only way I can pay ,outside of Australia. So it seems pointless to have to scroll through their lots.
I will never be able to purchase any items from them,even if it was something I really needed!!!
I do know this will not affect many members as most of our members live in the US and Canada.
I have tried several different key combinations to see if I could get it work,without success
Brian
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Tim,
I became aware of what is going on at Bidstart / Delphi / Virtual Stamp Club due to Michael's posting. I am not a member of the VSC or any of these groups. My curiosity triggered, I poked around these websites a little bit. We really have a MUCH more robust and user friendly platform for our discussion board. However there was one function that never crossed my mind that really caught my interest: an integrated spell checker! This to me is pure wizardry (or how do you spell that? ). I am not sure how this works, perhaps when previewing the message before posting all misspelled words are highlighted? In any event, is that something that could be done?
Arno
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Arno,
A spell checker is something that I could look into if we feel that there is a need, but most of the browsers these days have a spell check function already built in. We are a Mac household so I can't check IE, but the following browsers: Safari, Firefox and Chrome, all have spell checking automatically built into them. Which makes me think that perhaps you have something a little different in mind than what I'm talking about. I had a look at BS but couldn't see anything with a spell check button. In fact I couldn't find many threads that had real postings on them. Most of them just had "Content Pending", so they must be still in the process of moving everything over there.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Well, I guess I must be feeling the need because I am using Internet explorer ... I will have to look into one of the other browsers.
The loss of the spell checking function when moving from the Delphi forum to Bidstart was one of the items that was complained about loudly. This is how I got the idea.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
FireFox spell check works real good. The problem at BidStart Forums is that the spell check functions in the browsers would no longer work. The upcry was so loud, and administration had plenty of typos in their own responses that they quickly fixed the problem. Browser spell checkers work again over there.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim, this is not a critical request, but from the "nice to have" category. When listing auctions would it be possible to have the auction term default to 7 days, or when relisting an auction item default to what the term was before the item closed? If sellers don't care for the term to have a default set when listing a new item, that's fine. Leave it blank. It would, however, speed up relisting if there was a value in that field. (I'd get less error messages that way too.) Thanks.
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
24 Apr 2013
11:42:19am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I'd like to tweek Michael's suggestion. I would like 4 days to be my default number of days. Perhaps number of days could be part of the sellers profile for the default so each seller could make that determination.
Bob
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Michael and Bob,
I'll add your requests to my list of todos. I'm going to have to make a list of quests and publish it.
Regards ... Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Guess what -- I am responding using Firefox. Believe it or not, misspelled words are underlined as you type. Nifty.
Thanks for the tip Tim and Michael.
Arno
P.S. Suggestion for an integrated spell checker withdrawn.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
25 Apr 2013
03:52:26pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
This is the one thousand, eight hundred and first viewing of this discussion, and this is my final suggestion concerning the topic, Mr Tim Auld: recommend you proscribe the use of the exclamation mark and the term quote wow unquote on Stamporama's discussion board, and use your wealth of technological savvy to back it up.
John Derry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
WOW!!!!, whatever happened to freedom of speech, or has that also been eliminated?
Sorry John, but that's not something I will ever agree to!!!!
Mike
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
25 Apr 2013
04:06:37pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
2 things I can think of right now:
(1) emotes in SOR messaging; and,
(2) tags within tags (such as bold italics, bold red, large red, etc.)
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Bobby,
I'll add your two suggestion to the list.
John (dryer),
I'm sorry my friend, you have lost me completely. How can I help you?
Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
On the auction seller edit/view lots page, would it be possible to add the Auction Lot Number to each listing? The way I file and track stamps I'm selling, that is an important number for me.
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04:50:51am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
just a quick thought, would it be possible to "like" an article in the same way we can "like" a message?
regards
martyn
p.s. I am going to try and write an article but as its my first ever attempt it might be of no use at all so is it possible to send it to someone else first so they can give it the "once over"?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Martin,
Ralph (heyralph) is our articles editor. He does a great job. He will be happy to assist you.
Regards ... Tim
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
26 Apr 2013
06:00:22pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Just noticed that we have spell-check on the board now. This your work Tim?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Bobby,
No I can't claim credit for the spell checker. It is part of your browser.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I have cut and paste from this thread and created a list of Development Requests. You can access it from the bottom of the Home drop down menu on the Discussion Board page, or you can click here to go directly. I'll add to this list as people post requests. I'll update the status of each as I work on them.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
From another thread - 'Error Message' due to slow connection - the message could be made to read as such and not 'Contact the webmaster'.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
You will notice when you go in to post a message or respond to another's posting, that I have implemented Saleem's request for more Emoticons. I have you enjoy them.
Saleem,
I have made a change to the way the database connection is done which I hope will assist with the timeout on the slower connections. I'll respond on the other thread as well. Please let me know either way if this change helps or not.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim, you're too good!
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim you have me floored with all these new emoticons
Thanks for all the tweaks - everything implemented is working fine.
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It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. - Aristotle Onassis
28 Apr 2013
10:28:59am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I love the new emoticons! Great job, Tim!
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Tim,
At least using internet explorer, emoticons, pictures, and other formatting selections are usually not inserted at the cursor position, but at some random place in the message, which must then be edited. Not sure why that is.
I hope for a moratorium on new formatting features now.
I like our simple look. I would hate to have to restate this sentence in the simple past.
On other online websites, postings in five different colors using three different font sizes and three different levels of indentation, needlessly seeded with two emoticons after each sentence, discouraged me from participation.
Before adding any more new formats -- how about flashing fonts? --, we should observe if formatting options are used wisely, or impede legibility and annoy members.
Arno
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Arno,
Glad to see you are enjoying the formatting features. You're safe, I have no more plans for extra formatting features. I'm going to work on getting some of these features working in the Stamporama Message function next.
That is annoying that it is not working properly in IE. I'll see what I can do about that.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I keep going back to the auction area. Sorry, Tim...
Regarding invoicing, when looking at an invoice that has already been created and sent, would it be possible to have an additional option button on the bottom to resend the invoice?
The process as I know it is:
- go to invoices (the list of all invoices opens)
- locate the invoice
- open the invoice
- scroll down to the bottom of the invoice
- click on REOPEN (the list of invoices re-opens again)
- scroll down the list of invoices again to find the invoice again
- open the invoice again
- scroll down to the bottom of the invoice again
- click on email invoice
The above process is good if you need to edit the original invoice, but if merely resending it to the buyer as a friendly reminder, no editing is necessary. If there's a short cut that I don't know about, please let me know!
Thanks!
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
The Emoticons are working correctly now for IE.
Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Michael,
I'll add it to the list.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Great emotion choices
who needs a keyboard!
rrr...
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03:29:35pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
To be able to link our paypal address directly, instead of just listing it, on our terms of sale page. Thanks, Ted.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Ted, the system here does provide direct links to PayPal for buyers to pay for their purchases. After a sale, the seller can generate an invoice to the buyer, or the buyer can create an invoice. With both methods, there is a PayPal button at the bottom of the invoice which the buyer can click on and go to PayPal to make payment.
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05:16:18pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Michael: Thanks, I did not realize that, invoices are available here.Ted.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
09 May 2013
01:31:22pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim
There has been much discussion on the board recently regarding a section for selling stamps of lower value. Due to the nature of the stamps that will be offered, multiple and large sized images may be required. The current "For Sale" topic would be an acceptable venue, but due to the sizes and number of images, may not be appropriate for the website.
I was thinking that if we had a special section (perhaps another sub-topic of the "Sales, Swaps, and Auction" topic) of the board where HTML coding is enabled (as it is on the Auction board in the description section), we could host our larger (and multiple) images on a site such as photobucket, and viewers would be able to see the images of the stamps we offer without having to click on a link for each individual page.
Where I have needed more than 2 images in an auction, I have used HTML in the description and it works seamlessly and presents a nice, professional look.
Thanks,
Bobby
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To error is human -to really fowl things up takes a computer
09 May 2013
02:33:47pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
How about a better search function in the auction area.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
You got my vote better search functionality would be great. If I enter US I get every stamp posting that has the letters US in it including the word "used". If there were a second search parameter like US and MNH it would narrow things down a bit.
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To error is human -to really fowl things up takes a computer
09 May 2013
04:24:03pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I would also like to see sub categories.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I agree that a better search function in the auctions would be helpful. I am usually looking for a specific catalog number and don't see how I can get results for just one specific number.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
For those selling on auction, I would like very much to have a field to enter a personal inventory number, and then to have that field displayed on the Items Sold page. The ability to export the list (or copy/paste from the table) will make processing orders much quicker with the ability to quickly link each inventory item and the sale parameters (date sold, cost, buyer, etc.)
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
@Doug,
I think what you are looking for is already provided for in the Invoice function. You can group sold Auction Lots together by buyer and invoice them for all lots purchased by a buyer, including shipping costs, in one go. Also, the personal inventory number, other sellers put it in the title of the Auction Lot.
@Bill,
If you are looking for a specific catalog number in the Auction Search, select Keyword in the drop down and enter the catalog number that you are looking for. If there is one in the auction, it will find it.
@Ross,
There is no plan at the moment to implement subcategories in the Auction
@Michael C,
I'll add a second search parameter to the list of todos.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Thanks Tim. Perhaps my requests are unique. I actually use an append query in microsoft access and getting inventory item numbers in a separate field makes it easy to link up with that field in my database. No bother, I can work something out.
And thanks for the tip on the invoice function. I haven't had the opportunity to explore that yet.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Doug,
This article from the FAQ area might help with the invoicing function.
http://stamporama.com/faq/faq.php?faq=sor-invoicing
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
I must be doing something wrong. I click "Auctions" then "USA", but I don't see any place to enter keyword. I see where I can select filters, but I'm missing the keyword option.
Lars
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
lars
Click on "Search"
Tedski
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tedski,
Let's try a real-world example. Let's say I want to see if, by chance, anyone if offering the very scarce 10c 3rd Bureau Washington coil, Scott #356. I go to SOR, click on "Auctions", click on "USA", click on "Search", type in 356 and click "Search". I get results from all over the world that have 356 anywhere in the listing, including UAE 14356, US 3560..9, Dominica 356 and MANY listings that seem to have an inventory number that contains 356. Not one single example of what I am looking for. Dozens of examples of noise.
I would love to shop here, too, but I simply can't find what I'm looking for with the tools provided. Every listing should have a country and catalog number included. I should AT LEAST be able to search for a particular catalog number for a particular country. It would be up to me to know that there are different catalogs with different numbers, but I simply can't find anything I need in SOR as the search capability currently exists. I may be the only one, and if so, feel free to ignore me because I only need a few more stamps. But if others experience the same frustration trying to find something they need, they should speak up and make themselves heard.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I agree with you larsdog.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"Let's try a real-world example. Let's say I want to see if, by chance, anyone if offering the very scarce 10c 3rd Bureau Washington coil, Scott #356. I go to SOR, click on "Auctions", click on "USA", click on "Search", type in 356 and click "Search". I get results from all over the world that have 356 anywhere in the listing, including UAE 14356, US 3560..9, Dominica 356 and MANY listings that seem to have an inventory number that contains 356. Not one single example of what I am looking for. Dozens of examples of noise. "
You did not mention clicking on "Display Only" from the drop down menu - in the beginning I was also having similar problems until I learned that if you don't choose Display Only you will get all the ongoing auctions as a result.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
12 May 2013
12:50:30pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I see what you mean larsdog. There is no "search" engine within each category, only the "filter" function. The filter function is only useful with respect to selecting or excluding sellers. I really do not understand the need for the first filter function when you are in a specific category. Why would I want to filter in or filter out "Africa" when I am in the Australia/New Zealand category?
The auction list is small enough now for "work-arounds," but as new members begin utilizing the auction board (as I have recently) it is going to get harder to find what you want without scrolling through a long list. I, too, would like to see a "Search" function within each category which would only search the items listed in that caregory.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Would it help if I added a Category dropdown to the Search facility?
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
12 May 2013
03:56:08pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Sounds like a possible solution, for me anyway. I would certainly like to give it a try.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
12 May 2013
10:36:16pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
" .... I get results from all over the world that have 356 anywhere in the listing, including UAE 14356, US 3560..9, ...."
What would happen if you typed a space before and after the numbers;
(Space)356(space) ???
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"What would happen if you typed a space before and after the numbers;
(Space)356(space) ???"
Same result.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
13 May 2013
05:13:19pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Larsdog
If, when in a specific category, you enter "display only" in the filter, and then type "356" in the "plus" field and hit "refresh," you will still get all numbers with "356" in them, but only the ones in that specific category, not all the categories.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Thanks, Bobby, I'm getting a little better results, but still way too much noise. That's OK, though. I'm not here to buy or sell so I can just stick with other venues for purchases.
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11:53:57am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
One thing I'd like to see happen, is to allow us to remain logged in once we do so, and exit the browser. This is allowed on other sites, and saves a couple of steps to login each time. I don't leave my browser window open constantly so I "lose" the login when I close it.
Would this be possible here?
Cheers,
Peter
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Sorry Peter, the login process has been done intentionally that way for security reasons.
Regards ... Tim.
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01:41:40pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Okay, thanks Tim. Never hurts to ask.
Cheers,
Peter
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03:48:02pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I would like to see a "delete all" button on the unsold lots. Doing each one individually is no fun, unless one wishes to relist some, & delete others. Ted.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Ted that function already exists in the auction. Under sellers there is a delete unsold items choice.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
I really like the hold functionality implemented for selling. I noticed though if I set up stamps for a 14 day auction the 14 day clock starts the date I put the stamps on "hold" not the date I promoted them to "active". Is it possible to use the active date as the start date instead of the posting or hold date?
This would allow the user to set up the items they want to auction or sell over the course of a week or two without losing days the item is actually active in the auction. Having this functionality would allow a user to present smaller batches of stamps rather than encouraging them to auction large batches in a single day to take advantage of the full 14 auction days.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Michael C,
I think that is the way I had intended that to work. I'll take a look at that for you.
Regards ... Tim
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10:00:09pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Logistical1 : Thanks. Some how I missed that. Ted.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
26 May 2013
05:32:56pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Would it be possible to add a procedure whereby sellers could block certain members from bidding on their auctions? I do not want buyers who refuse to pay me to be able to bid on future auctions of mine.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Buyers who do not pay should be reported to the Auctioneer for appropriate action. You probably won't have to worry about blocking them after that.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
27 May 2013
07:05:08am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Thanks Michael, will do!
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Michaelmis right. People who dont pay dont get to bid. Lets not visit bad behavior on others
David the auctioneer
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
@Luis LVS954,
I have implemented your request this morning to have a list of views for each Auction Lot. The count starts from this morning so all lots posted and viewed prior to this morning (see date and time of this posting), will not show the view count. I have also added the count of views to the Auction Lot Edit screen so sellers can see the view count for all their lots.
Regards ... Tim.
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08:58:58am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
Good job. You sure do think outside the box. I would have never thought of putting it there.
Grant
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01:05:31pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim: You do a really good job on the auction aspect of StampoRama. This is especially nice, as I realize that this is not a commercial site, like either ebay or bidStart. Perhaps in the future more specific categories for some individual popular countries? Thanks, Ted.
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To error is human -to really fowl things up takes a computer
09 Jun 2013
09:24:06pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim,
Nice job on the addition of "views" both places look great.
Ross
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim - I am a new member and have probably 1 million stamps in my inventory, but my passion is Ducks, Fish & Game stamps which are really sparsely listed for bidding and hard to find when listed. I would like to have a new category added for these kind of stamps be considered. They are not postage per se, but hunters and collectors pay a lot for them and they are quite valuable and could be a great asset to Stamporama. If there was more visability by having a specific category, we might attract some very good collectors of a different venue. There typically 23 to 25 thousand listings of Duck Stamps alone on eBay every day. Put in the other fish and game and this number expands a bunch. Other than eBay and dealers, there is not any other place for collectors to buy and sell. I'll bet almost everyone has some of these stamps in accumulation, has no interest in them, and do not know what to do with them. We could give them a visible spot to put them and even attract some new members that are also into other stamps as well. Just a thought - Thanks, Dan
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
11 Jun 2013
12:00:31am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I'll agree that many Fish and Game Tax stamps are attractively engraved, colorful and often bring the fields and streams to life, but wonder why your passion would not fit into "Revenues "?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Posting to Revenues would be great if everyone posted that way, but they don't. There are several hunting stamps posted right now, but none of them are posted to Revenues. You really have to dig to find them if you can even do that. A visible category might help. It might also bring in some new blood that are into those kind of stamps, but when looking at the website they decide there is nothing here for them and they move on. I was kind of like that for a while, but I kept coming back and finally joined.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
11 Jun 2013
02:00:37pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Why not expand "Revenues" to include "Ducks, Fish and Game"?
Might keep more members happy.
John Derry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
John - thanks for support. However, not looking to make members happy, suggesting an improvement to SOR as Tim had requested that could enhance/improve the hobby. Not even sure how may members would be influenced by this, but I know there are a lot of hunting/fishing stamp collectors out there. Suggests another attribute suggestion for SOR, provide a directory of stamps by area of interest search. Looking for someone who collects booklet panes. Wham, here they are. Souvenir Sheets, Bang !! Crocodiles/Butterflies, Wow, what a list... Let's make a deal... Seems to be what SOR is all about, connecting collectors with similar interests, not just listing stuff for sale and hoping someone finds it.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
DC: not saying we ought not, but what you seek is already available in the member area. Put in "duck" and to use your phrase, "wham" there you were with a whole bunch of others.
David
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
David - thanks for input, but if you search for "Duck" at the moment you get 2 posts, search for RW (Revenue Waterfowl) and you get a different set that actually has no references to "Duck" anywhere in the description. If you go to eBay and search for "Duck Stamps", there are over 23,000 posts. Just think about how many more there are from poor listing wording, like Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, or James Hautman Stamp ( a well known artist). I collect these, am an advocate for them, and I think SOR could be significantly enhanced by recognizing these as collectable as any of the other categories and could start a whole new world of SOR members.
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06:14:22pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I can understand your frustration in not having a specific category for items that interest you; I feel the same way on every selling site, as my areas are very arcane and specific, and I have to rely mostly on someone using the correct term in the title (e.g., Queen Victoria; paquebot; etc.). However much I would like to see more specific categories, especially ones that match my specific interests, it is a never ending process. Take, for example, bidStart, which has over 400 specific stamp categories alone. Even there, there were complaints of how some categories were set up (Liechtenstein and Switzerland together), some glaring omissions (Malta comes to mind), and even geographic areas missing or rendered to "Other" or similar general categories (such as island nations, or Pacific Basin countries). I personally petitioned for the inclusion of Jersey, Isle of Man, etc. to Great Britain and it was finally added as Crown Dependencies but that took a long time and many others agreeing it was needed.
My point is, admin is going to have to draw the line at some point, and given that this isn't a selling commercial site like eBay or bidStart, but an activity of a stamp club, I think the broad categories are fine enough, with maybe some other broad groups (e.g., British Commonwealth; Cinderellas) if there are to be any additions. I can't see how every specific interest can be accommodated; can you imagine specific topical collectors wanting dogs, cats, whales (baleen and toothed subcategories maybe?), birds, reptiles, trains, ... and so on, wanting THEIR areas represented?
Just my 2c worth.
Cheers,
Peter
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Well guys and gals - I can certainly sense the resistance to my idea of a new category of Wildlife Stamps. It is not a case of frustration, it was in response to Tim's request for input on how SOR could be improved. Obviously based on the number of postings and what appears to be a lack of interest in this kind of collecting from the general membership, I will rest my case and not return to the topic. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make a suggestion, even if it is I guess considered lame.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
11 Jun 2013
09:49:29pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
No, members' suggestions are never lame, some just more popular than others.
John Derry
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Auctions
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
If you don't mind my asking, what purpose does "views" serve?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"If you don't mind my asking, what purpose does "views" serve?Thinking"
I think it gives more psychological assurance to the seller more than any real actionable information. Theoretically (my theory, anyway), it lets the seller know how many people have been attracted enough by your listing to click through to the actual auction page of that item. Sellers like to see that a lot of eyeballs have strayed to their listings.
The actionable part of this information is (again, only my theory): if you have a listing that has garnered only a few views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high. If you have a lot of views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high.
Tedski
(edited to close a parenthesis)
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
13 Jun 2013
09:27:25am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
" .... if you have a listing that has garnered only a few views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high. If you have a lot of views, maybe auction browsers are ignoring it because your price is too high. ...."
Or, besides price, perhaps the scan was too tiny to attract a buyer to click on the lot's page or, as I have also noticed, the scan is somewhat blurry or distorted.
There are also countries, well known for printing Jam Jar Labels and calling them stamps, that I don't bother with at all, so that might be a factor as well, although there usually are collectors for just about everything.
I think if I were a seller and submitted a stamp or set of stamps that drew virtually no views, while the adjacent stamps were drawing substantial numbers and actual bids as well, I'd consider price, yes, but might cast a good weather eye on what I am selling and how it is being displayed.
In that situation "views" would be most interesting, if not helpful.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Regarding the "view counter":
1. Really like it. From this buyer's perspective, it's nice to see how many others might be interested in the same items as I am. Also I can always hope that if there are lots of views, other similar items might get posted too.
2. Question - are "views" tracked by who is doing the viewing? In other words, can a seller (or anyone else) find out who is looking at what?
Thanks to wizard Tim for all his excellent work.
Sally
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Sally,
No sorry, the program is just recording the number of times a lot is viewed. If doesn't tie it to the viewer.
Regards ... Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Tim, I was wondering: Are these 'unique' views by members or recognized computers, or if the same person clicks on the item five times, it is counted as five views?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Arno,
This is just a very simple view count on each lot.. If you go in and look at a lot 5 times
the view count will show 5 views. It is only counting member views. The member has to be logged into the system for the view to be recognized in the count. The thought here was that only members can bid on a lot so we don't care how many non members view it.
Regards ... Tim
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07:28:42am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
To follow on Ted and Charlie's points, the "views" count tells you about potential interest, which can also be how your title is worded. That is the first thing that grabs attention, so if you have few views, it is likely the lack of or poor quality picture, but also a non-descriptive or uninteresting title.
For the count itself, if these are how many times an item was viewed independent of who is viewing it (that is, not unique views), then if the seller views the item, does it also count as a view?
Cheers,
Peter
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Yes, it does.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
But if a tree views it and nobody is there to view the tree viewing it, does it count as a view?
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Only if the tree is a member.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
wooden that be funny?
SOR branches out and leaves the people behind. Now, when we talk about shades, it'll have a whole new meaning.
inviting trees is something I'vy been ponderosaing a lot lately, pining for new members. Maple we can table (ooops, that used to be a member) this for a while we conifer about the ramifications and spruce up the auctions.
you'll think twice now, i'm sure, before opening the door (oops, another member gone) to my twisted self.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"Ted - But if a tree views it and nobody is there to view the tree viewing it, does it count "
"Tim - Only if the tree is a member."
...and the tree has to be logged in.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"nd the tree has to be logged in"
best one
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
21 Jun 2013
01:49:36pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Perhaps we are barking up the wrong tree.
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
21 Jun 2013
03:24:03pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Perhaps, cdj1122, you do not think I understand what I thought you said,
but you are not quite sure I realize that what I think I heard
may not be what you thought you meant.
John Derry
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Not sure how we ever got from "New Functions" to "Trees", but I like it!!! Now, if we could get trees to bid on the stamp auction would be a real dis-functional event. What's amazing is, there are more trees than us!!! They could take over and "stamp" us out. A real rebellion of sorts. And why not, stamps are just a fiber of their former selves.
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04:33:51pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
And let's not forget:
The larch.
(how does Python go over here?)
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Thanks Tim. I was just wondering and hoping it wasn't linking views to the individual.
Tree cheers for all the improvements!
Sally
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Of course, some of the alder members may be pining for the way they were on the beech.
Merv
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
If you guys are bored, why don't you sort some stamps?
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06:06:41pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"If you guys are bored, why don't you sort some stamps?"
Huh? I don't get it. What's that got to do with trees?
Let's get to the root of the problem and not just bark around. (I know, I'm such a sap for puns.)
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Good thing it isn't autumn or else we'd all be leafing.
...Number 25, the Larch. (Peter, I guess we're going to find out.)
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Dogs are my favorite people. I hang with this one as often as I can.
21 Jun 2013
11:39:06pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I sometimes click on a stamp just because it's too small to see in the thumbnail.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Yeah. One or two stamps in a thumbnail image is fine, but tree's a crowd.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Branching out to this post, I see.
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Only one possible reply to all of this and that's: "ni!"
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Jan-Simon,
I wish it was that easy and Ni! would do the trick, but you may have to use your magic moderator sweeping wand to clean up after our unfortunate members of the Order of Spam-a-lot who all suffer from logorrhea. You know, the sad condition similar to diarrhea, but you have no filter and cannot help having to publicly crap over your keyboard all the time.
Returning to the topic of technical help:
This morning, I noticed that the website is displayed as a narrow band in the center of the screen when using Mozilla Firefox. Website displays OK in internet explorer. Perhaps a side effect from fixing the placement of emoticons issue?
Thanks, Tim, for looking into it.
Arno
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I use Firefox, but there is no narrow band in the center of my screen. Perhaps it has already been fixed or else call this guy: http://windowcleaninggoldcoast.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/windowcleaner.jpg
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Thanks, Jan-Simon. So, it must be a display issue on my end. I will play with it. I was just confused because all other websites display normally.
Arno
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Arno,
Could you send me a screen shot of the problem?
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I use Firefox version 21.0 and the screen looks fine.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Arno,
On the main Home page, there are options to set screen width towards the bottom on the list of menu items. Do you by chance have "Narrow" selected? There are additional options for "Wide" and "Wider" and perchance they might have been accidentally toggled?
Doug
p.s. This thread has just gone silly, right! Now the rest of you...
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I played with the display, zooming in and out, changing the font size etc. The page is now displayed wider, but will still not fit an exact page as any other website. There still is a gray area around the page; see below:
After tinkering with it, I can live with the above display, but it still is odd.
Arno
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07:30:11am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
That's exactly what I see too, but I thought it was the default. I didn't notice before if there were grey bars around the SOR section.
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I think that is part if the design of the page, not some sort of display error.
In any case it looks normal and intentional to me.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
That is how the website is programmed Arno. It has a fixed width, focused on the center of the screen. I chose the blue gray to fit in with the over all look and feel of the website. There are so many screen sizes and resolutions, I set it up as a fixed width application so that it would display the same for everyone.
Regards ... Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama"
Yes, I have a thought.
I notice in the discussion area there is a Cinderella section for the USA only.
Can one be added elsewhere for the Rest of the World ? But not under topicals.
Also, there is NO Cinderella section in the auction. Is it possible to add one ?
just my thoughts
londonbus1
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I have thought of two enhancements I would like to see:
On the Discussion Boards a button to click on to mark all posts as read.
The ability to send images in private messages.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I like the idea of a button to mark all posts as read.
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07:03:49am
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
"On the Discussion Boards a button to click on to mark all posts as read.
The ability to send images in [b]private messages[/b]."
I agree heartily with both suggestions; I would also like to add the ability to add bold, underline, etc. to quoted material. Right now, it inserts the HTML code instead (see above for an example of trying to add bold to "private messages" in the quote). Not a biggie, but a nice ability to add emphasis to a quote.
Cheers,
Peter
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
28 Jun 2013
01:16:40pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
For Jansimon:
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
That's a public post, Bob. I'm talking about adding images to private messages.
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02:19:22pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Oh thank dog you figured that one out, Michael; I thought Bob was saying Jansimon sleeps with the fishes.
Yes, images in the private message please.
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Immediate Past President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
28 Jun 2013
04:42:32pm
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
The fish stamp I posted is in response to the "Ni" post fromm Jansimon.
Bob
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
These puns are giving me a splitting headache, and my s pine is hurting. It wood be poplar if we had a Pun section...
Yew! that's bringing it back on topic...Tree bien!
rrr...(showing restrain)
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I got the fish reference. As a matter of fact, tomorrow is the weekly fish market here in my town, and perhaps I can get some fishermen to do a traditional Norwegian fish-slapping dance
Ooooh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish!
I guess the serious discussion about the next possible functions has to be continued elsewhere
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hi Michael,
I saw both of your requests. I'll add them to my list. I have a couple of projects going at the moment so it might take a little while but I won't forget. The message system request is the harder if the two. It was written a fair while before the Discussion Board and as such it was written quite differently. We learn as we go..:-) I tried to fit in the emoticon in the message system the last time I was working in hat area and it jut didn't work the way is was written (unfortunately).
Best regards ... Tim
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Ah, Bob, but it can't be done.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Hey Tim. All is well. I understand you have a long list. I helped make it long! When you get to the suggestions is when you get to them. I'm sure it'll be sooner than it will be for Jansimon to use a herring to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest!
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Not a new function, but an expanded posting detail for Auctions. Could the TIME an auction closes be shown just below the closing date, in the tabulation list? Right now it only shows in the individual item's description.
rrr...
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
Rrr,
Done. Small fine tuning requests like this one are very quick.
Regards ... Tim.
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re: Your thoughts please on the next possible functions to add to Stamporama
I have closed this thread just because it has got too long for our members with slower internet connection. I started a second thread to continue the conversations. Go to Part 2
Regards ... Tim
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