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Posted By: leonl

Since I am not sure you were here when I took over this was my first day on the job, so to speak. I cut and pasted a post that day, from this forum's founder, Ellliot- with his permission. I think pre-WWII means pre-'45, btw......so bring on the Playball and Goudey questions....but you are correct, not Topps and no Bowman....though they are "off topic" they can be talked about ocassionally by regular board participants (such as yourself)per the board FAQ's. But this might be good for new folks to see....the BST threads were still being re-formed....so here is the excerpt...............................





March 20 2005 at 12:38 PM leon (Premier Login leonl)
Forum Owner


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Hey Folks,
I am rewriting this to try to get the columning correct. I don't usually do this but I am going to cut and paste our founders response (Elliot) from the Board Direction thread. From Elliot:
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My 2 cents March 17 2005, 11:46 PM

I can see the pros and cons of going with a compartmentalized forum vs. a one board suits all forum. I think either one is workable, and in any event is not irreversible.

However, I do feel strongly that the topic area should be restricted to pre WWII (with the odd off topic conversation, of course). There are plenty of other forums that deal with the newer cards, and this forum was set up so us vintage collectors would have a discussion place. For as many of us that collect newer cards there as just as many (if not more) that collect hockey cards (for example). If we are going to have a sub-forum for newer cards, could we also have a sub-forum for discussing pre-Shakespearean English (the original forum members will know what this refers to) so I don't have to run around to a lot of different forums and I can find all my interests in one place. Also, could we add a stock market ticker, so when I'm on the board, i can check to see what's happening. Obviously, I know these are silly requests, but my point is where do we draw the line. My opinion is we stay with the original focus of the board, which is what drew us all to become regulars here....that is "pre WWII cards, primarily".
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from me.....(leon)

With that being said I would like to tell a very brief account of the history of the board and how it started. About 5-6 years ago (and please don't hold my feet to the fire on time lines as I am getting old) I participated on a Pre-WWII Baseball card chatboard called "Fullcount Baseball". It was run by two current board members John Spencer and Mike Williams. It was a great place to talk about our Pre-WWII baseball cards but was somewhat rudimentary in it's functionality compared to the sites today and the current one we use. There was no required log in and it was a free for all. About 90% of the time it was all good but the other 10% was plagued with childish 4 letter words and poor content. Eventually John Spencer said he didn't want to do it anymore so about 3-4 years ago there were 2 boards formed. They were formed immediately after the demise of the Fullcount Board so there could still be a place to talk about Pre-WWII baseball cards. One was this one and one was formed by Mike Williams on Yahoo. I was a fairly major contributor to the Fullcount Board and looked at both of the brand new boards and decided this one was best because of functionality and "look". Even at that time I believed one board was better than two, as I do today. Both Mike and Elliot were, and are still, good hobby friends. My decision was based purely on functionality. I spoke with Mike and he agreed one board was better and abandoned the Yahoo board for this one. If I am not mistaking I was the first poster on this board, whether that thread is still there or not is irrelevant but I am just showing that I have been a long time contributor. I remember Tbob trying to get me to go to the Yahoo board but I felt this forum was better, operationally. I also realized that I was a total of 1 vote and the folks in our space are, for the most part, very intelligent, and can make their own minds up. I still tried to sway folks to this board though. I have gone back about 5 times and re-read the recent Direction thread about what everyone wants. It is obvious I am not going to make everyone happy and that's ok at this point.

About a month ago the Board had a name change to what it is today, Vintage Baseball Collecting, to more accurately reflect what it has become. Bill has made many positive changes to the board and has carried the torch well. It's appreciated by almost everyone, including me. It's time for change though. We are going back to why the board was originally formed, and what I think about 97% of us want, a place to talk about Pre-WWII Baseball cards, primarily. Bill was being his normal nice self and trying to make everyone happy. He did pretty good at it too. I, on the other hand, have been a little more outspoken about having the board be a little more focused. With that being said we are going to go back to one board only. The new board, that I and Brian McQueen created, will be done away with today. The name of this board is going to go back to "Pre-WWII Vintage Baseball Cards" or something very close to that. It will have "cards" in it though. It will be moderated as such too. I feel that ONE board and ONE forum is best for the future health of the site. It was founded on that premise and it's going back to that premise. If you don't like that well..."sorry" about it. In speaking with Elliot, yesterday on the phone, he told me he left the address/url as a number because, quite honestly, he didn't want everyone in the world finding it. This is a "not for profit" site (except my 6 figure moderator salary) so who cares if it grows as long as we keep the core Pre-WWII CARD addicts.

I know I come here to talk about cards and lately there have been a lot of other topics too. What I am going to implement is a "getting back to the basics" strategy and also allow occasional off topic posts. What is "occasional"? Well, it's sort of relative. If you are a lurker and have a question about a glove and post about it...then that's almost too much. You need to be contributing to the boards focus to get leniency on the off topic posts. If regular contributors (Jay, Julie, Adam etc...) post an off topic every few days or so then that will be permitted. The leniency will be in proportion to how much you contribute or join in discussions. I believe I was given the reins of this forum as I am known as being a somewhat fair (debatable) person and for my love of the hobby (cards). I will use my judgement on what and who to allow to post off topic stuff. Again, if you a frequent contributor you get more leniency than a lurker. For instance I WOULD have let the Bushing/Dimaggio bat thread continue as it was major hobby news and it brought to light very good info. As for someone posting a boxing card, a bat, or a glove, those posts will be moderated a bit more heavily and will only be permitted by regular contributors and occasionally. There are other forums for that stuff.

So to summarize we are going back to one board (this one) that will focus on Pre-WWII baseball cards. It is not personal that I am not starting all kinds of other links, forums, and threads to talk about other stuff, it's mainly because our roots are known, I prefer to manage only one site, and I don't give a rat's ass about a lot of the other junk that gets posted on the board. There will continue to be a "links" section where memorabelia and other stuff can be talked about in full. Brian McQueen, (my right hand person and moderator), nor myself, will be moderating those other sites. I hope everyone here will continue posting in an orderly manner and remember....if you LOVE PRE-WWII VINTAGE BASEBALL CARDS then this is THE place to be. If you don't then I would strongly recommend going somewhere else because you won't be happy here. regards....your collecting buddy....ps.....still not sure about the B/S/T thread....there will be one just no final decision yet...