This Chatboard Is Getting Boring , Needs New Focus .

Interesting conversation. I've been coming here a couple of years now, and judging by the number to the left, have not been shy about paying my two cents worth. But admittedly I've been stopping by less lately. Been working more (which is a good thing) and also spreading myself over a couple of other sites as well.
SCF has always been, and I think, continues to be a great resource. But I think it's organic. People come and go, opinions change, the site changes. Personally I enjoyed the auction/sales more the way they used to be (this was a subject of great debate for a while), but that's only my opinion. There is still a terrific amount of knowledge here to tap into. It gets testy sometimes, people forget to be civil (assuming they knew how to be in the first place), but that's what happens when you have discussions.
I hope SCF can continue to grow, and I'm sure it will. Admin does a great job keeping it going and I look forward to new ideas.
Maybe a members exhibit page (if there isn't one already...I typed that without looking first). Maybe an online suggestion box is needed first?

I also think SCF needs some sort of focus: some gravity, to counterbalance all the fluff.

There seems to be a great lack of serious, sustained discussion. I just looked over the active topics for the last month: the thread with the greatest number of replies was Collecting by Engraver, with 1845 posts and 216,745 views; this was followed by the Cover Calendar thread, with 1443 posts and 67,654 views. Both worthy threads, but neither is exactly intellectually taxing.

Now I know many here dislike comparisons with that other board based in my home country, but the comparisons are interesting. Leaving aside the fluff threads, the two largest threads in the Discussion and Questions forums are Australian George V Head Stamps - HELP from the Experts Please, with 12,164 posts and 293,509 views, and a thread on the Indian States (which I started, I confess) with 10,062 posts and 243,260 views.

You might dismiss the first thread as self-evident, since the Board is based in Australia. But how do you dismiss the other? Australia is not a hot-bed of Indian States collectors - I can assure you!

I'm not suggesting there's no serious discussion here. Rather, what there is is fragmented and hard to search for. The owners and moderators have opted for the light touch in thread titles, which is fair enough and their perfect right. However, it does make searching for relevant past threads more difficult than it might need be.

I can quite understand the limits on image sizes here. I use Photobucket myself, which circumvents the restrictions. However, I really doubt that the limits are a serious drawback. More images would make a more visually appealing board, but members need to be encouraged to post more images.

I used to be a Supporter here, but I allowed that status to lapse - for these reasons. Camaraderie is all very well and good, but it can't substitute for solid philatelic discussion.

One of the things that we do have is the ability to let people know what this hobby is all about and because of that I feel that each and every question should be answered. The person who inherited the collection needs to be encouraged if possible to continue the hobby. We as a forum can quickly weed out the information gatherer's very quickly explaining nicely what has to be gone through to get the information necessary in getting a value
Tom

Sdtom, the issue with that is the time it takes to explain to every single 'price hunter' the situation. While I would love to jump into a conversation about new methods of preservation, archival, specific stamp rarity, I have no real desire to repeat myself over and over again about the same thing. I'm sure lots of people here are like that as well.

If you like interacting with those repetitive topics then I encourage you to continue to do so.

Tonymacg, I agree that continued discussion in a single thread is limited, but here's a flipside to that. Long threads can be daunting to people to read. There was a thread on another forum for R/C helicopters I used to be on that was well into the 50s and 60s pages long. And towards the newer posts people were referencing 'go scan through the thread and find X-Y-Z post...' Then the reader has to wade through a dense forest of relevant, irrelevant and sometimes outright ridiculous posts to find the one thing they're looking for.

That can be a bit irritating. Sometimes breaking down a thread into smaller more digestible (and easily referenced) threads makes it more attractive to the viewership.

Also people should be encouraged to revive old 'dead' threads. I've seen lots of old threads revisited at other forums and the members will post complaints about how it was a dead thread from four or more years ago. In the stamp collecting field I think there's very few genuinely 'dead' threads as information changes and old threads make great references.

Perhaps there is another way to explain. A specific topic?
Tom

Tony, you raise some good points and I agree with you somewhat.
Yes the down under board has some great threads and discussions
and I frequently lurk there.
It is in my opinion the number one English speaking
stamp forum with a world wide participation with a wealth
of knowledge found nowhere else.
I participated on that board for about one year but stopped
over 3 years ago because of the argumentative, rude, vindictive
(should I go on/) site owner.
He doesn't just discuss but argues with you
if you don't agree with him.
He deletes posts, locks threads and banns members at will.
Sometimes lifetime bann, like what a joke.
Plus some of his moderators or should I say lackeys
are no better.
Do we need this here? I don't think so.

Yes the moderators here (do we even have any?) and the site
owner aren't as involved as they are onthat other board and
some things could be improved here.

But I don't need someone constantly chastising me about
my grammar or sentence structure etc etc.
My school days are long over. I won't put up with that crap.

I spend time on these boards to enjoy myself not
to get aggravated.

One more thing.

I find that the focus on this board is primarily about
American and Canadian philately.
I suppose it is so since most of the members are from those 2 countries.
If I'm wrong on this then please enlighten me.

Fine. Not that there is anything wrong with that, as
Seinfeld used to say.

But it would be nice to have more threads
about European or Asian stamps and to try and
attract more members from those countries.

There appears to be tremendous interest in stamps
for instance in India going by the many Indian
posters who are joining that other forum down under.

Why can't we attract collectors from India from China
from Europe ?

Somehow we have to if this is to be a truly world wide board.

I always check the Recent Topics link and check and see if anyone is talking about worldwide collections. I am always looking for pointers, photos of collections. I agree about being surprised about the lack of sales between members.

Lithograving, it'd be awesome if we picked up a bunch of active world-topic posters. I don't collect specific worldwide stamps myself, but I do like finding old Asian and European stamps. There's a lot of history depicted on many of them and the designs and colors are very appealing.

Also in the harris bags I'm sorting through I occasionally stumble across interesting tidbits like a Czechoslovakian or Cuban stamp. Sadly the Czechoslo. stamp didn't survive the soaking process, having received too severe a crease long before I got it and falling to pieces once soaking. But with the wide variety of countries I've found in each bag, I'm hopeful to stumble across another eventually.

Hi Celticveil

I admire the enthusiasm you seem to have in these
little bits of paper.

Actually I envy you because I haven't felt like that
about stamps for quite a while.

As far as those Czechoslovakian stamps are concerned
some of the paper used in the fifties and sixties
was very poor quality and you have to be careful
when soaking.
I only use luke warm water and never soak them too long.
If I recall those Czechoslovakian ones came off the paper
real easy and fast, maybe Czechoslovakia had a glue shortage
in those years and didn't apply it too heavy during the
gluing process.
BTW, what did that wrecked stamp look like ?

If you want I have a bunch of spares from Czechoslovakia and
Austria, Ill gladly send them to you.
Just email me your address.

Ahh that's where the fun begins. I have short term memory loss from deployment, (heavy combat zone) so while I could point out the stamp from a line up, I don't think I can recall it well enough to describe it. I know it was a bit bigger than a standard american commemorative stamp, and vertical with predominantly white background. The country name was at the bottom if I recall, but the crease was on the 1/3 lower portion and appeared to have already cut through most the paper. I don't think it would have survived even if I didn't soak it.

As a child my family had a friend who had been born in czechoslovs. before it split into it's two main countries. He'd served in WW2 as a merchant marine. Sadly he's passed on now, but even 15 years later I still have good memories of him.

I also sent you an e-mail. I hope you receive it, as I'm not sure if the system works or not yet. I'll gladly accept those stamps and place them in my collection! Thank you!

I share many of Lithograving's comments about the down-under board; that's where I got started with stamp forums and I still check in there once in a while but, for many of the same reasons cited above, have a strong preference for this board. There is lots of good discussion on that board and very knowledgeable members but I don't think this group needs to feel second-class at all. However, I too would like to see more participation, a few deeper topics and a lot more pictures (I'm guilty of not taking the time to post pictures, so will try to change). I'm sure many of the members have wonderful collections and it would be nice to see more examples. It's not only interesting and informative but, for me, it would provide new ideas of how to develop my own collection.

I also collect Austria and Czechoslovakia (love the engraving on the stamps of both countries) and also have spares I could share.

I agree with a lot of things that others are saying. Why can't we have a sticky regarding realistic expectations for inherited collections? That seems to make the most sense to me. I don't mind stepping in to help specific questions about specific stamps, but people who drop 50 pictures and expect us to chase down prices for them, forget it. All these people want is to sell their found treasures for absurd amounts of money and I've seen some recently where people are posting damaged, bent, ripped stamps and expecting them to be worth a mint. I want to encourage people to collect stamps but they really do have to have a realistic idea of what they've got and not expect the forum to be their slaves in identifying stamp values.

The other point is that, outside of one or two forums, nobody really talks about foreign stamps. I collect China and Australia and there's virtually never anything new in China and Australia fares only slightly better. I don't know how to fix that except by attracting more collectors for those areas, but I have no idea how to do that either. Should people post more pictures? Sure. I might start doing some more of that myself. Should people give some history behind some stamps? Why not? This ought to be an educational site as well as a social one. I just don't see many actual discussions of stamp-related topics, it's just "great stamp!" and that's it. Things seem to be at a very low level and there are some real stamp experts out there who can lend their knowledge to the community. This could be a fantastic, vibrant community but it's not and in fact, none of the stamp forums I've visited seem to be. With this little activity or interest, it's no surprise that philately is falling apart.

So what can we really do to make this an amazing community that will attract more members?

I was timid to put any of my thought here. when I visited this thread
were only three post here. Reason being am nubee in surfing philatelic sites. visiting since approx. 3 years. Gained lot of
insight at least how to collect and organise collection.
I like lithograving posting read all. Also tonymacg.
**** I LOVE THIS SITE. ****
No humiliation on writing Rupiah,Annah,Taka
Paisa,Dam,Dhelaa. No offence to anybody.
Here there are many nice Collecters and knowlegible visiters
who courteously respond and guide. Yes I am looking more for
Stamps of INDIA but also Collect USA,CANADA and UNO.
Thanks to people who heled me starting organising and storage of
my 305lbs of stamps.

tikithindi

The stuff that makes this board interesting and begs a reply. -----[URL=http://s463.photobucket.com/user/stamp12345/media/germanslated1.jpg.html"][/URL]