Evolution of net54/Message Boards
 

So it seems as of lately there are a lot more threads that to me...are more like tweets. At least from what I understand a tweet to be...as I do not tweet and have never tweeted and never plan to tweet!

Members basically starting threads that to me...are self grandising..."look at me" "look what I got" "look what I'm doing."

Is this just me turning into a carmudgeonly middle aged man?

Is this just the evolution of social media?!

Looking for comments and opinions?!

And please don't tell me I don't have to look at a thread if I don't want to...it's a disease...I DO!!!!!

From my view, and as I look down the front page of threads, I see some pretty good ones asking about a lot of stuff....with a ton of info in them. Lots of scans and lots of information. From the analytics we have installed I can say the board is more active than ever. Do a few Google searches for vintage baseball anything and this forum is at or near the top almost every time. I believe that means we have a lot of activity and the growth is organic. I get SEO (search engine optimization) spam emails from companies more than once a day and have never done any of them. Our advertising externally is very minimal besides word of mouth. Recently the number of threads per page, on all forums, was increased from 35 to 40 because of the increase in activity. And as far as posts looking like tweets, I really don't know as I don't use Twitter. I know I don't care for broken and crappily spelled posts and will say something when they look like hieroglyphics. A little misspelling is expected (I know I am not great) but those broken looking messages aren't too cool. If people are too lazy to type a full word, most of the time, then maybe this isn't a great board for them. There are many forums where they can act like they are tweeting but i don't think this is going to be one of them.

It seems a lot of younger folks spend an inordinate amount of time online with their portable devices, broadcasting their every mundane move and reading the same about 100 other people half of whom they barely know. At the same time, they rarely seem to actually talk to each other.

Leon...don't get me wrong...I def agree there are a lot of interesting and worthwhile topics being discussed...and there is no such thing as a stupid question...and sometimes these "stupid" questions spawn interesting conversations...but...you know what I'm trying to say?!?!:p

I'm somewhat new here still, having only been on for a year or so. I lurked for a while, really just trying to get as much information as I could about this sickness that seemed to grab me from out of nowhere. The night I won my first t206 was the beginning of the end. I'm hooked now.

I'm somewhat active on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn (for work) and Instagram. Twitter is especially useful for news, sport related or otherwise. I have two teenage daughters that are on their mobile devices all the time. This is just how society has evolved. I can keep in touch with the two of them via a short text message or Facebook post. I can also keep an eye on them this way. My parents never had this kind of access to me and my social life (thank goodness). I'm respectful of their privacy, but make sure they understand that anything they post/email/tweet/etc can and will be public information.

How does that all relate to Net54? I believe that even if you don't currently subscribe to any of these social media outlets, you are still exposed to them, and eventually they will change how you post/respond/interact on message boards. There has been an influx of "look at my stuff" posts lately, but to a certain extent that isn't bad. The more information out there, the better. Like I said above, most of the information I gathered early on about this hobby came from this message board. My suggestion to anyone thinking about posting a "look at my stuff" message would be to post either how you aquired it, some additional information about the card/set or player, or at the very least some information about your collection and how this new piece fits. High resolution pictures don't hurt either.

Thanks everyone for the wealth of information here. Keep up the great posts!

Rich

I know what you are saying Peter. For the most part, as my last post stated, I agree. However, as Sushi just posted, it is a new society. My 16 yr old daughter is on her Iphone every second she is awake, except during classes. She tweets, Instagrams, Pentagrams?, does Facebook and everything all of the other kids do. So, I do think, even though my last post sounded a bit stern, we still need to compromise a bit. I still would prefer the forum not looking like a chat session on tweeter. (is that even possible, I don't know). It's kind of like us dinosaurs sharing our cage with new kids on the block. I prefer this site to be conducive to everyone who wants to collect. At the end of the day this forum is what we make of it. No more and no less. Actually, lately, I have found it more entertaining than ever....but maybe that is my bias.

SEO, is a waste of money, the content on the site is what SE scan on an amlost daily basis. As well as your meta tags. Your meta key words currently are not many. Its real easy to add them if you want to, i would be happy to talk you throught it if you like.


FYI i hate face book and i have no idea about or interest in tweeting, lol

Is this like a tree falling and no one hearing it? I barely know what a meta whatever it is, is? If I don't know what it is do I really need it? I am just happy people participate. I am a simple kind of guy.

Hi, younger folk here, I spend 80-90% of my time that isn't 'out and about' or dealing with people online. If I am home I am likely looking something up on the computer or reading a thread on one of many forums... Even mobile I pull everything up on my phone.

I certainly am online much of the time. What I don't understand is the broadcasting of people's every move throughout the day and everything that happens in their lives.

meta tags are , like....A bill board for search engines, they read the text you have placed (the meta tags) and adjust their search results accordingly. example, if one of your , key word metta tags is, "Pizza" and someone does a google search on Pizza, you will have a certain preferance in the order all the sites with pizza come up.

Basicly it helps in your search rank for certain words that people search for.

If you right clck your mouse, and go to view source you can see your , or any websites, metta tags, and all their HTML for that matter.

Oh... I don't either, I don't even have facebook... I guarantee you will never find a photo of me online uploaded by me either... It makes no sense to me why people would even want to do this... My sister will go out and take 50 different photos to select one to put on a profile, it is ridiculous.

In the backend of our s/w we do have these meta tags..

vintage baseball cards autographs memorabilia

As well as there is a meta phrase too.....

Being an active user of facebook, I prefer this site's nonsense 10000x more than I do facebooks. At least there isn't any love drama here (that I know of)....

I find that with any new technology there are people who tend to abuse or overuse it. Just because you can tweet or update your status on facebook doesn't mean you need to do it. Some individuals just lack a filter. I understand your point about the posts and also have found some to be a little annoying, but as individuals grow in to themselves on the board, some of this will die down. The fact that more members are joining now than ever just means there are more collectors that are psyched about the hobby and want to share. This is a great thing and these new collectors should eventually develop a Net54 filter as the newness of this "technology" starts to wear off.

We had 107 new members register last month. That is about average nowadays.

Peter, I've never understood it either. I just want to tell all of them to have some pride in themselves. The idea of acknowledging I am "FOLLOWING" someone makes that little guy in my stomach stand up and sprint around with ferocity. For many, it's their source of worth and the fallacy that people care about every tiny thing they're doing encourages them daily.

I know I am in the minority, but, I am 27 and I HATE social media. I have no facebook, and I will never have a twitter account. I don't care if I decided to go on some stupid American Idol or The Voice show just to make some money, I would still not make a twitter account. I was at University of Miami within the first few months of Facebook growing, and saw someone on it. I checked it out, but I would only go on to play games, such as Scrabble or Bejeweled. I deleted my account 3 or 4 years ago, which caused friends and even family to ask me (literally, my grandma asked me...) "How am I going to get into contact with you now??? Don't leave!"


About Net54's threads showing resemblance to the form of communication on social media, I think there are elements of certain threads that are rather similar, but, I think for the most part, one could still consider Net54 a safe haven from social media.

.

I looked this up thinking it was going to be some satanic website.

Turns out its some consultancy firm.

http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/

Good to see your daughter is networking at such a young age.:D

Taking what I say about new technology, seriously, could be dangerous to your health. I will go, but it's going to be kicking and screaming :).

Peter, thought you might like to know I just finished breakfast--a bagel with cream cheese, you know in the little plastic container,the garden vegetable kind, not the salmon one. I hate the salmon one, my dad once got sick on it.

Listened to the radio when I dropped my daughter off at school this morning. That Dan Patrick is so cool. I think we use the same kind of toothpaste.

Have a meeting in an hour. Can't be late, but broke a shoelace and need to get to Walgreen's. They have 'em, right? Can't figure out where to have lunch--what sounds good today? I'll be back later to go over tonight's TV schedule.

Todd keep me updated or better yet "friend" me so I can follow you.

omg so funny, this is why i dont use face book!

OMG! LOL......... :).

That's my best attempt at applying humor to this thread seeing as this is my only means of social networking. Maybe Leon and I can share some of the Marine Corps acronyms we used in our past and incorporate them into this forum. Would probably be too offensive to some/most. Seriously, I think most new members abuse the posts like I did years ago when I joined and they learn quickly to settle down.

todd...do you plan to replace both shoelaces...or just the broken one?!?! Nothing worse than non-matching shoelaces...this is why I try to only buy slip ons!

ps...what kind of toothpaste does Dan use...I sure hope I use it too!!!!

I broke a shoelace just last week. It was on one of my softball cleats. I replaced it and now have an extra one. I am keeping it just in case I have another one break. Oh yeah, I already took the dogs out for their morning walk. I am about to get a tire fixed too. (not with a shoestring though)

For those who need to know
 

Just PM me and I'll send you the following link.

"News" of my youngest grandson losing his umbilical cord remnant reported in real time.

Sorry, but this post does not include a photo, a shoe lace or tooth paste.

JUST BOUGHT THE -OMG- CUTEST SHOES IN THE WORLD. $155 BUT WHO CAREZ YA KNOW? CANT PUT A PRICE ON BEING BEAUTIFUL. #outerbeauty #fashiondiva #confidence

Todd, I can't believe you made it that long without going to the bathroom. Your not sharing everything us. There is no holding back here, we only want the facts. :)

By the I am currently typing this post from my computer. :p

Regards,

Lee

Let's be real here... us baseball card collectors would make terrible twitter people... I'm sure we would definitely be the "weird folk" -


When we are bidding on cards -

"Stayed up all night trying pick up Walter, but some other guy swooped in and took him from me!"

When making a huge BST purchase -

"It cost me a lot of money, but finally got to bring home Ty".

When picking up a drum/uzit -

"front didn't look good, but the back was nice!"

Raining in Washington. Don't have umbrella. UH-OH! Ran to car, out of breathe, talk later.

Before the invention of windows, people lived in caves with poor lighting. Then some guy invented the window. A lot of people used them right away, but a few strayed from the bright glare and reminisced about the good old days without them.

Doesn't anybody see the irony of complaining about information technology on the internet? Jeff Burdick would've killed for this vehicle....

Pete,

Welcome to curmudgeondom, not all bad. No need for Twitter, I run into several twits everyday.

Using the internet for information is one thing. Using it to describe every movement you go through in life is another. Keeping up with the Jones is not allways a good thing.

Well-said. My take on it is that people place too much importance on themselves. Too few realize that "we are all just extras in everyone else's play" (I think FDR said that?). Blogs, Tweets and Facebook pages are proof of this. My family and close friends care about me, but even they don't want to hear my every thought - some bloggers and tweeters, on the other hand, seem to think that their followers spend the day contemplating their every word.

I post a lot, but I basically only post here, and I'm unemployed, and most importantly, I realize that there are those here who think I'm totally full of crap, and others who are skipping past this, simply because I'm the one who posted it :) I think that is a GREAT dynamic.

Scott's Tweet: Reading the newspaper (one made out of actual paper), drinking coffee, dog at my side, heading down to Puget Sound for a walk.....will continue reading my book (and posting) when I get home.

Hope to meet a few more of you in real life some day.

Ty, please tell me more - no one else in Seattle will talk to me. I'm wearing an old Astros cap - if you see me, please tweet and I'll tweet back.

Scott <=== needs to know how to tweet

ok...this post isnt a joke... But I just had the mail man come to the door with a T205!

It's a sliding scale. People hated the telephone when it came out. Just about all information transmission changes were met with some measure of resistance. It's all the same.

Scott, easy to tweet steps include:

1) Dismiss the truth
2) State the obvious
3) Exaggerate the mundane with !!!!!!
4) Feign internal dialogue so it appears tweet was well thought out before he/she wrote, which probably did not happen.

Can't think of many more... good luck.

I'm going to coin a phrase for that: "Scattitude"

You are missing out on the bigger picture. If you are a 13 year old girl, then what you said above applies. There is news and information available through social media that you can't find elsewhere. My company is very connected with social media, it's a key piece of our marketing effort. Nevermind the humor that you can find through social media. If you don't believe me, look up some of the tweets from The Iron Sheik, the wrestler from the 80s. That's comic relief at it's best.

All I'm saying is, embrace the future rather that running scared from it. There really is a whole new world out there.

Rich

My wife, the one with the Iphone (and my daughter, but not me) follow Net54baseball on Twitter. I have no idea how that even happens. It doesn't bother me, I just don't know who does it. She thinks it drives traffic. I drive my car in traffic, what do I know. I feel like Teddy Z sometimes :).

I'm okay with the old world.
I'll leave the social media for the hipsters.
To each their own.

For the folks marketing on social media I doubt if I am their target demographic anyway.
I find it plenty easy to spend money already.

Rich, you responded to a straw man of your own creation. I have no idea why you quoted me.

message
 

OMG.. mssgebrd CR@zzzee WTH ! :', pCC O^ dog

I quoted you in the hopes you'd see the bigger picture. I was clearly wrong. To each his own.

Rich

Some new things are good, but I don't believe we have to embrace every new piece of technology, and embrace it so wholeheartedly that it takes over our lives. I go to family events or small get-togethers now, and half the people there are buried in their smartphones, consumed with the last flurry of texts they received. The ironic thing is that we now have an app for "voice to text". Why not just call the person?? :)

For the record, I am a 42 yr old computer tech, so I stay fairly abreast of all the new stuff out there. In my opinion smartphones have actually made us dumber. :) I realize there is no fighting it. It is what it is. People like #hashtags, they like having a nonexistent farm with a nonexistent tractor, and they like "like-ing" stuff. For now I'll continue to struggle to find a non touchscreen cell phone at my local Verizon store.

Regarding this forum and its evolution... I've been on many forums over the years covering many subjects, and they all seem to change. It's an ebb and flow of people and information, and as much as you'd like things to stay the same, all forums eventually change, for better or worse.

I'm generally looking to lessen the way people can get in touch with me, not increase them. When I get home from work most days I leave my cell phone in the truck. I no longer have a land line. I "like" a lot of things, one of them is peace and quiet. Another is Net54.
I hop on my wife's Facebook account occasionally to see someone's new baby or pictures of a wedding or kids but I have little interest in where anyone is "checking in" from.

A BIG +1 to this.

I think this song says it all:

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