On the verge of 30,000 posts and almost 400 members!

[Paul_Maul]

There is no need for donations. I love doing this as long as Topps keeps producing series. 

So if Topps stops producing series, your interest would fade?

[JasonLiebig]

80 posts a day is definitely surprising. To me it's nothing more. I hope we don't start thinking that the only posting to be tolerated here must fall somewhere between neutral and sacharin. Or between supportive and ass-kissing. I'm confident Brad is above enforcing such rules.

Qualifying 80 posts per day as surprising, but "nothing more"...  well, what more would it be anyway?   Did you assume that other people loaded up the surprise with something else?  

Showing up to a community birthday party of sorts, might be outside of your interest or unworthy of your participation, but a lot of folks do enjoy the social aspect of it.  It's a part of life, and far from just being pointlessly supportive or kissing ass, it can be a positive thing for any group.  Just as positive as regularly stirring the pot.   Both can be good.  Too much of either becomes tiresome.   Both are worthy of trust.  

But you've got me thinking.  Since you think this isn't cause for celebration, what would you think would be something to celebrate for a forum community?

We have all sorts of members, here, who range from those who contribute much to discussions to many who simply enjoy participation, even if they don't have much to contribute besides their participation.  It's great that, with rare exception, all are welcome.  

But again, I was thinking about what the forum has accomplished, beyond simply existing for a year, and having people "show up" day after day.  

Off the top of my head, besides the obvious of providing a place for collectors to come together and share our hobby, I do think this forum has done a great job of collectively tracking and documenting the Old School series, and the postcards.   Primarily this has been the tracking of the insert sketches, I realize.  The value of that is different for every fan and collector, but I don't think anyone else was doing it with such vigor, and that's something that could have a long-term value to the hobby.

Sometimes there's not real info to track and study, or new discoveries to make, and that leaves us mostly to simply show-up, and there's nothing wrong with that, either.   But besides sketch-tracking, what other notable contributions to the hobby has this forum made since it started?  That's not a challenge... it's a real question.  :-)

[Dr Popper]

It wasn't my intention to be condescending or spoil Brad's fun. I just don't care for cheerleading but that's just the curmudgeon in me. It's the kind of thing that drove me nuts about RonZombie's posts.

Ron drove me nuts too the way he used this place (and Greg's) as a chat room.  To him it was chat 1st and hobby 2nd.  People are a big part of the hobby but keeping the quality level of the posts is important, and Ron single-handily killed that on both forums.  He could have tried to adjust but he was very stubborn that way, so now he's gone. 

In my opinion the quality of the posts currently on the forum is very good.



   

[BumChex]

So if Topps stops producing series, your interest would fade?

Sorry, no, I probably should have chosen better words. I meant that this is a fun time in the hobby with Topps producing so many series. It really makes the forum thrive.

[JasonLiebig]

So if Topps stops producing series, your interest would fade?

It's safe to assume that, if new releases came to an end, forum activity would drop significantly.    It's not like there are many new frontiers of undiscovered info to be uncovered about the existing series.   There are a few.. but how often will something surface?

At the point that there's no new product and no new discoveries, I suspect that what you have left to discuss are trading, the prices things are selling for, and the purely social aspect of membership.   Certainly fun stuff, but I can't imagine it's as strong a pull as seeing new Wacky Packages things... and learning new info.

I don't imagine I'd be visiting a Wacky Packages forum all that often, if new product wasn't coming down the pike.  Which isn't a jab at anything, at least I don't think it is.

[Paul_Maul]

It's safe to assume that, if new releases came to an end, forum activity would drop significantly.    It's not like there are many new frontiers of undiscovered info to be uncovered about the existing series.   There are a few.. but how often will something surface?

At the point that there's no new product and no new discoveries, I suspect that what you have left to discuss are trading, the prices things are selling for, and the purely social aspect of membership.   Certainly fun stuff, but I can't imagine it's as strong a pull as seeing new Wacky Packages things... and learning new info.

I don't imagine I'd be visiting a Wacky Packages forum all that often, if new product wasn't coming down the pike.  Which isn't a jab at anything, at least I don't think it is.

Somehow, a forum managed to thrive (at least in my mind) for 6 years before new wackys came out in 2004. Sure, there were "new discoveries" then, but there could be some in the future too. There certainly won't be if everyone assumes there is nothing new to discover. Thankfully, in fields like science, that assumption has never been made.

[JasonLiebig]

Somehow, a forum managed to thrive (at least in my mind) for 6 years before new wackys came out in 2004. Sure, there were "new discoveries" then, but there could be some in the future too. There certainly won't be if everyone assumes there is nothing new to discover. Thankfully, in fields like science, that assumption has never been made.

Fair enough.  

I do think that never-seen unpublished Saunders paintings and unseen roughs have probably run dry - but it would be exciting for new ones to be discovered.  And there ARE certainly new discoveries to be made, but relative to a decade ago, the number has to be low.  That kind of material is ever-diminishing, unless new product is released, to create new things to be discovered.  

Of course, new material and new discoveries are only one aspect of a hobby forum.  As I pointed out, there's trading, finds of vintage pieces (that don't represent new discoveries), value-tracking, and the many facets of the social part of it all.  And that stuff is entertaining and has value as well.  I certainly enjoy the simple act of sharing a hobby, even if it represents no new discoveries.  I just think my drive to log on to a forum is principally driven by how much I enjoy new stuff, and figuring it all out.  But that's just me.  And I wasn't around WP forums more than a few years ago.

[Dr Popper]

Fair enough.  

I do think that never-seen unpublished Saunders paintings and unseen roughs have probably run dry - but it would be exciting for new ones to be discovered.  And there ARE certainly new discoveries to be made, but relative to a decade ago, the number has to be low.  That kind of material is ever-diminishing, unless new product is released, to create new things to be discovered.  

Of course, new material and new discoveries are only one aspect of a hobby forum.  As I pointed out, there's trading, finds of vintage pieces (that don't represent new discoveries), value-tracking, and the many facets of the social part of it all.  And that stuff is entertaining and has value as well.  I certainly enjoy the simple act of sharing a hobby, even if it represents no new discoveries.  I just think my drive to log on to a forum is principally driven by how much I enjoy new stuff, and figuring it all out.  But that's just me.  And I wasn't around WP forums more than a few years ago.

I think when the run of new series dries up it will cut down down the forum activity, maybe in half or so, but it will continue on for sure.  Like Dave said before 2004 there was an active forum with zero new series to discuss and collect, and when this run ends there will be even more to discuss from all of the new series.  The pre-2000 days when those guys were frequent making new discoveries and figuring out mysteries in the hobby are pretty much gone though.  It's possible there may be a 1981 Irish Test series out there yet to be discovered, but not likely. 

   

[Paul_Maul]

Also, I know wackys are a pretty narrow area, but there are entire forums dedicated only to vintage non-sport cards, vintage baseball cards, etc., where nothing "new" is ever discussed, and yet they are very rich forums.

While the PSA sports card forum contains posts relating to both new and old product, I could delete everything about new product and still spend hours a day reading interesting posts.

[hurricanes]

Paul Maul

Agreed. This forum is dominated with the newer stuff and therefore my contribution is small. However, I think it is great that the forum exists for the newer stuff. In future, I might start getting into the new and then I will be like freshman in college, learning.

I like the old stuff and wish there was more about that. I have started several posts on it but kind of sputters out.

I am highly involved also in a pre war Baseball Card Forum, and the discussions are endless. Of course, that is because so many cards were made back then and going back to the 1800's. Since most of them were destroyed by accident or otherwise, I am surprised so much still exists. New stuff coming out all the time. One big auction ending this week has an uncatalogued set from the 1930's just found(from Canada baseball). Another new uncatalogued Baseball postcard was sold on Ebay last week. All the time finding new unknown OLD STUFF. 

I assume there are some glitches or errors, etc from the old Wacky Series unearthed yet. Or some products not known of. That would be great to talk about.

Frank