Whis aren't there multiple BST forums?

MrEureka · August 30, 2009 5:18AM

One for US material and another for World might make sense.

DNADave · August 30, 2009 5:21AM

PM's have a Monthly swap too. Was the objection to the world swap being weekly?

coinpictures · August 30, 2009 5:35AM

While I appreciate Mr. Willis partially reversing his decision, a separate World Coin Sale/Trade forum would indeed be the best solution for everyone concerned. The dicussion forum could be unmuddied by any sale posts, yet we world coin collectors would not have to wade through the myriad of lightside sale posts.

Hopefully this option will be considered.

JCMhouston · August 30, 2009 5:57AM

Seems like a bad decision to me, don't know why you would want to mess with your customers, but I guess it is their forum.

Could we kindly request a World BST forum so we do not have to try to muddle through the thousands of Lincoln cents etc to find something to buy?

ajaan · August 30, 2009 9:06AM

-- because the stamp and autograph forums take up too much room?

tydye · August 30, 2009 10:33AM

We can always take over the BST stamp forum - I dont think anyone would ever notice

DonWillis · August 30, 2009 11:16AM

I have to admit that I've never really paid attention to the BST forum. So I went there today and was surprised at the number of posts. I can see where it would be difficult to find particular coins.

There is little chance that we will start up another BST forum for any specialty. This would be an expensive software project with zero hard dollar return for PCGS.

I would like to make it easier for you guys to BST coins, so I am open to any suggestions.

One thought I have is to restrict the BST forum to Collector Club members only. That might make it more useful.

Aethelred · August 30, 2009 11:19AM

<< I have to admit that I've never really paid attention to the BST forum. So I went there today and was surprised at the number of posts. I can see where it would be difficult to find particular coins.

There is little chance that we will start up another BST forum for any specialty. This would be an expensive software project with zero hard dollar return for PCGS.

I would like to make it easier for you guys to BST coins, so I am open to any suggestions.

One thought I have is to restrict the BST forum to Collector Club members only. That might make it more useful. >>

Is it at all feasible to convert one of the currently seldom used forums (like BST Stamps) to BST non-US coins?

Aethelred · August 30, 2009 11:24AM

<< I would like to make it easier for you guys to BST coins, so I am open to any suggestions.
>>

I for one would like to say that I appreciate this sentiment.

mrpotatoheadd · August 30, 2009 11:27AM

<< This would be an expensive software project with zero hard dollar return for PCGS. >>

This isn't in any way a complaint (really... it's not)- just an observation... There is a zero hard dollar return for me (or anyone else on these forums, for that matter) in responding to other members' questions or providing assistance with problems they might be dealing with, but that doesn't generally stop me (or others) from helping anyway.

<< One thought I have is to restrict the BST forum to Collector Club members only. >>

With all due respect, if it comes to that, you might as well make the entire message board "members only".

ASUtodd · August 30, 2009 11:27AM

Maybe convert the Q&A forum into a BST forum?? There isn't anything posted in it... not sure of the cost to do this to PCGS....

coinpictures · August 30, 2009 11:47AM

If, in fact, this board is so archaic that no changes can be made to its structure in any way, I believe that some time should be spent investigating alternatives. All boards I am familiar with have facilities to import data from older boards.

That being said, I would check and make sure that no additional subforums can be created; I find that very hard to believe. Usually adding subforums can be done via the control panel and is very easy to do.

I own a forum running Invision Powerboard, and I also am a moderator on a board running Vbulletin. In both cases, creating a new sub-board and assigning permissions and moderators is a 5-minute proposition.

FuseTalk 3.0 is almost 4 years old. Why did CU decide not to stay current on the release version?

MacCrimmon · August 30, 2009 12:45PM

Maybe we should act like a Mongol hoard, and take OVER HERE!!!!!

ajaan · August 30, 2009 12:46PM

Mac the Rebel?

MacCrimmon · August 30, 2009 1:00PM

<< Mac the Rebel?

>>

KILL THE AUTOGRAFFERS, KILL THE AUTOGRAFFERS!!!!! INVADE - CRUSH, CRUSH, CRUSH!!!!!!!!

It's looks like it might be 5-6 months before they noticed.

spoon · August 30, 2009 4:37PM

Following up on CP's comments... Fuse Talk is currently only on version 3.2, some improvements in the meantime, but you're right that there is better and easier out there - at lower costs too (as low as free!).

The license PCGS has, which is pricey, is likely the Standard tier. That allows 25 forums. By my count that leaves room for another here

Adding a forum really is a simple process. Not even 5 minutes from the Admin panel. But you'll need Administrator or Global Admin privilege to do it, Moderators likely can't. (Admin, Moderator, etc as used here are just permission levels for each account. Admin doesn't mean you need to call up IT to have a geek do it at $120/hr, just figure out who has the Admin login & password and have them do it).

spoon · August 30, 2009 4:58PM

Also, restricting access to only Club Members would probably be the most difficult approach possible.

You would have to connect to your Member database and set up a filter on each BST page. This adds more requests to the server and can slow things down. And the code that generates BST pages is no different than what generates any other forum page here. So you would have to set something up to distinguish BST pages from other page types. That would be the easy way, which is still rather a pain. To more securely accomplish this would take quite a bit more.

And that's just the technical side. From a business standpoint you would be shutting out a large portion of forum users here. Just because they are not subscribing club members in good standing does not mean they are not dedicated numismatists generating revenue for PCGS. And what happens when renewal fees arrive late? That person would be shut out in the interim. Plus, this would require much more dedicated effort in servicing, one extra thing for the membership dept to deal with.

It is doable, but there are easier ways. Things online thrive the more open they are.

BillyKingsley · August 30, 2009 6:52PM

I have a better idea: Merge the Stamps and Autographs BSTs. They have a combined total of 9 posts, so if somebody is not able to find something in there, they have bigger issues then not being able to find something.

Then use one of those other forums for this section's BST.

I have had admin experience on boards in the past, including owning my own. (none coin related) This can be done in about a minute's time, and saying it can't be done is, to be bluntly honest, an outright lie.

I am already not happy with the way the CU forums are run, more usless rules (AKA: Don't fix what ain't broke) will certainly not make it any more fun to post here. Had this decision stuck, I am guessing many other people would start to feel the same way I do.

For the record: I've created exactly ONE thread in the main BST section, and I've made exactly ONE post in the BST thread in this section. It's not like it affects me personally, it's the principal of the thing that angers me.

EDIT: I fail to see how restricting it to club members only would make it MORE useful?!? The way to sell things and make it be popular is to make it available to the broadest possible audience. I am not and will never be a Collector's Club member (I would not spend the money on that when it can be put towards a coin instead) and thus it would lock me out. That would prevent me from making threads there, I assume, it would also prevent me from viewing threads, and thus prevent me from buying coins off this forum, on the rare occasion I do.

SportsModerator · August 31, 2009 5:29AM

Would you guys like me post a monthly sell "thread" stickied at the top similar to the monthly bargain bin thread that has been rather successful on the regular BST? No price limitations, and you'll pretty much have to regulate yourselves. LMK

DNADave · August 31, 2009 6:26AM

<< Would you guys like me post a monthly sell "thread" stickied at the top similar to the monthly bargain bin thread that has been rather successful on the regular BST? No price limitations, and you'll pretty much have to regulate yourselves. LMK >>

Sounds like a great idea to me.

FilthyBroke · August 31, 2009 6:33AM

<< Would you guys like me post a monthly sell "thread" stickied at the top similar to the monthly bargain bin thread that has been rather successful on the regular BST? No price limitations, and you'll pretty much have to regulate yourselves. LMK >>

That's a good idea, I'd vote 'yes' on that one.

<< One thought I have is to restrict the BST forum to Collector Club members only. That might make it more useful. >>

I'm not sure how this will make it more useful. I'm afraid that maybe it's just being viewed as another source for profit for PCGS as we'd have to pay to use it (Coinfacts?).

zeebob · August 31, 2009 7:19AM

<< Would you guys like me post a monthly sell "thread" stickied at the top similar to the monthly bargain bin thread that has been rather successful on the regular BST? No price limitations, and you'll pretty much have to regulate yourselves. LMK >>

SportsModerator1 has hit on a nice solution. I'd go along with that one. Thanks dude!

coinpictures · August 31, 2009 8:10AM

The only reservation I have about a monthly thread is that since we're used to doing things weekly, and in the non-summer months there's more traffic, a monthly thread is likely to get pretty long and cluttered; a lot to muddle through come the last week of the month. On the upside though, it certainly would be easy to find.

Since we can use it how we see fit, presumably there's no limit within that thread on how many posts each person can make to that thread, correct? I can see cases where people might have more than one set of offerings that might do well as separate posts within the thread, not to mention bumps for revisions and/or new additions. We see some of that now with our weekly BST threads, but if it gets limited to one per month I see that becoming more the norm rather than the exception...

EDIT: While this is a semifunctional stopgap, in the long term I still would prefer the idea of either adding a dedicated world coins BST forum, or changing one of the little-used existing forums for that purpose. Thanks for listening.

spoon · August 31, 2009 8:29AM

I'm against a Monthly Sticky thread.

The Weeklies are never more than a page behind, always easy to find. Being weekly allows us to refresh our offerings and reduces clutter. While the sticky would give us convenience, it's not really that inconvenient as is now. I think a single thread lasting a month would definitely be prone to clutter as 500KB images will likely be left up long after the item is sold, etc. If we restrict it to one post per user in the thread that would cut back on some likely issues, but then it curses the late comers to the bottom of the page. Weeklies give us a different line up every week. Also, we know when to check the weekly threads: when there's a new post. If folks have to recycle their post in a Monthly thread, others might miss it if they don't take the time to scroll through MBs of pics for coins already sold or viewed.

So, I appreciate the offer. But, IMO, it'll just muddy things more. Things are fine the way they are.

But a separate BST forum would be nice

FilthyBroke · August 31, 2009 8:36AM

<< we know when to check the weekly threads: when there's a new post. If folks have to recycle their post in a Monthly thread, others might miss it if they don't take the time to scroll through MBs of pics for coins already sold or viewed. >>

Good point. And as there would have to be universally accepted rules for a monthly sticky thread, it may just be better to leave it as it is.

Whis aren't there multiple BST forums?

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