Changing hosts from Net54 to......??

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Posted By: leon

Hey Ya'll,
I have seen a few comments about Network54 hosting and the limitations we have with our forums. I have been looking around quite a bit this morning and have seen a few other possibilities. We might have some issues if we do that....mainly the archived information being rolled over to the new site. I still like the format of the way we do things here as opposed to other sites I have seen. What we have is the best audience of vintage baseball card guys/gals in the hobby and a place where almost everyone feels comfortable posting. If we do move I expect everyone to have the same feelings about posting. The rules would certainly stay the same. Network54 does what we need, and we all know it well, but it doesn't have the bells and whistles I have seen on other sites and is somewhat Plain Jane....

http://www.freecenter.com/forums.html

I/we are open to suggestions on better sites to do what we are doing....

NOTHING is going to happen over night so no need to worry about that. There is a chance that there will be BIG issues as to why we can't do it but I don't want folks to think we aren't always thinking with respect to improving our forum. The members are certainly what makes this site great. The venue we use is somewhat secondary but it would be nice to get a shiny new model that would give us more options when posting...
....regards

ps...from my limited research I don't see the term "Net54" trademarked so I think even if we move we can keep our name....it won't be "network54" though as that is trademarked....

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Posted By: barrysloate

Maybe I missed something, but why would we need to make that change?

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Posted By: Steve Murray

Curious. Specifically, what are the "limitations"?

It's your board so you can do what you want but if it ain't broke, why?

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Posted By: barrysloate

I agree with Steve. The board is working smoothly...are there some technical issues here?

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Posted By: leon

There is nothing broken on Network54. The issue is that we have an older software that will not do things other sites do. I know Max W recently has said he thought we should be able to do more things....ie...post counters, more areas for pictures, bigger avatars, and more individual reporting....

It's not mandatory that we change by any means. I am happy with what we have but I am taking a pulse on what others think. If lots of folks think we need an upgrade then it's our duties as moderators to think about it.... That is all....I like "easy" too and Network54 is easy.....again, just soliciting feedback....regards

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Are the limitations the lack of additional space for banner ads?

Sorry, but I just literally laughed out loud typing that.

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Posted By: leon

Yes, we want millions of banner ads!!! Then we are going to start another forum for cockfighting....it's the master plan. Seriously this has nothing to do with banners, trust me. regards

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Posted By: Fred C

How much warning will we be given (before a change is made)?

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Posted By: Steve Murray

"post counters"....Post counters to what? We have "post" counts already.

"more areas for pictures"....Presume this pretains to the scan upload limiations. Solution here is to educate more people on the use of PhotoBucket. It's free and easy. Plus your pics will last forever.

"bigger avatars"....From my observation most posters don't even use them. Just we egotists

"more individual reporting"....I have no clue what this means.

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Posted By: Bobby Binder

Leon,

The most important thing is are you going to be able to redirect the link to the new forums? Or is there just going to be link here that you click to get to the new page.

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Posted By: leon

This is a brand new subject. IF anything is, or can be changed for the better, there will be a LOT of lead time to let everyone know (at least a month or two). I wouldn't expect any changes for at least a month AFTER/IF we make a decision to move. NO decision has been made to change. Again, the most important thing is our members....Period....I am only thinking there could be better hosts out there....

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Posted By: Trae R.

If you can't bring all of the old data with you it's not worth it, in my opinion.

I would keep things as-is, with one exception, ask them to fix the bug that occurs when you edit a post with an href link in it and it goofs it up.

Overall this forum works, people are used to it, it's heavily indexed in Google, a bunch of people have it bookmarked, and the list could go on and on.




---
"There ain't much to being a ballplayer, if you're a ballplayer."
-Honus Wagner

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

The responses thus far really do exemplify the significance prewar baseball cards and this forum have in all of our lives. It really is incredible, no?

Edited to add: I just finished up a 3 week trial that completely consumed my life, day and night, weekends, etc. Yet, during a prosecutor's direct examination of a minor witness I did find myself responding to Joe D about a card he was thinking about buying. Crazy...

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Posted By: Trevor Hocking

I vote to leave it how it is. This is a great forum, easy to use, archive second to none, and everyone already knows where it is and what it's all about. If the only things that will change are "post counters, more areas for pictures, bigger avatars, and more individual reporting...." that is not even close to out weighing the data that would be lost and the possible people as well.

Just my 2cents!
Trevor Hocking

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Posted By: leon

If enough members are not UNHAPPY then we will leave good enough alone....You can't fault a guy for throwing something out there, can you? You never know what issues folks have until you ask. It's could be opening a can of worms but it's my job to ask, imo....

Jeff- As I have said all along Net54 Vintage Baseball Card Forum has the best bunch of members anywhere on the net. You must know that I won't jeopardize anything with respect to that .....

You really need to be more focused at trial .....but I know how you feel..

ps...thanks for the feedback Trae, Trevor et al....it's important...

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

Jeff--That's hilarious! So I guess it is safe to say that if I ever find myself being cross-examined by you, I should simply dangle a Plank in front of my face until you say "no further questions"?

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Posted By: Jimmy

I think the setup and pages run just fine, eveything is nice and easy to find.

Thanks for the hard work

Jimmy

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Posted By: Jeff S.

Some sort of permanent photo hosting would be ideal, so archived threads would still have images years down the road. Other than that no qualms here - it's a great machine...

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Posted By: John S

Leon,

The board runs well as is, but as long as a changeover would be relatively smooth I have no objections. As long as the 95% of the content and characters remain the same I could care less who hosts us card geeks.

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Posted By: fkw

The only thing I dont like is the pictures of most posters disappear after only a few days. I host my own pics so my pics stay up for years, but I wish all the pics could stay up permanently.

It sucks when you go back and research something and find the picture is gone, and it makes the research useless.


Edited to add..... I see Jeff just brought up the picture thing.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Leon, as you know, if I get run over by a bus my wife has your info to contact in order to liquidate my collection -- so if I can trust you with that I can trust you with the direction of the board. Of course, I am still waiting for the cockfighting link at the top of the board but understand that all good things come to those that wait.

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Posted By: Matt

The two features this board is lacking that I would prioritize are:
1) Better search functionality - multiple keyword searches, or searches across different areas.
2) Ability to "ignore posts from user"

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Posted By: MVSNYC

"The issue is that we have an older software that will not do things other sites do."

the beauty of Net54 is its simplicity.


Leon- keep it simple bro...

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Posted By: Jim VB

Jeff,

<<I just finished up a 3 week trial that completely consumed my life, day and night, weekends, etc. Yet, during a prosecutor's direct examination of a minor witness I did find myself responding to Joe D about a card he was thinking about buying. Crazy...>>

Damn. I hope you won the case. If not, this sounds like grounds for an appeal by your client.


Leon,

I always vote for leaving things the way they are. If they can fix the problem that keeps AOL users from posting sometimes, I'd say leave it here.

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Posted By: Joann

This board is just fine Leon. I understand what you are saying in that it is a bit old skool on the technology front. Still, for familiarity and recognition and archives and who all knows what else, it's probably not worth it to move just for the sake of a few bells and whistles.

It'd be nice to have the pictures not disappear or blocking posts or favorites or sticky threads or whatever, but I don't think that lack of these items drives people away. They're like the odd little idiosyncracies you like about your old car or a good friend - no problemo. A lot of what you and Brian have done by adding archives and an info area make up for a lot of that. A major upheaval and losses of who knows what history-wise and continunity-wise would not be worth adding the doo-dads at this point.

So don't worry about the format - worry about the content and keeping it in depth and expert and friendly and helpful and broad and deep and interesting and full of great scans and ... and generally jus' keep patrolling the borders!

J

BTW - I really don't like that photos disappear after a week, but I've honestly tried to use both image shack and photobucket, and for some reason I just can't seem to get them to work. This despite some very clear and detailed instructions that have been posted in the past. Not sure what my problem is, but I can't get them to work.

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Posted By: DMcD

For 99 cents a month Net54 has a "Select Account" option which allows storage of 20 MB of data. That's good for several hundred pictures that will stay up indefinitely (no dirty comments please, there's gentlemen present). Only drawback near as I can tell is that when you post it will say "Select Login" plus your login name which tends to bump the left margin over and might impair easy scrolling. Otherwise it has worked out fine for me.

-

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Jim, jury is being charged tomorrow. We'll find out soon enough...though, have no fear, the witness wasn't testifying against my client in a 6 defendant case.

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Posted By: george "bulldog" adams

agree with mvsnyc simplicity along with quality content is what makes this msg board great i don`t like that other msg board with the bells & whistles because it is all gimmicky with the video games and bigger avatars leon the content over there is garbage those hillbillys have a section for hobby news and there isn`t even one single post about the 2 biggest hobby news stories of 2008 the psa half grades and the sgc mantle thing. bulldog

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Posted By: Rob D.

As long as Jim Crandell is guaranteed of having his own thread, it doesn't matter to me who hosts the board.

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Posted By: Alan

This is what the Jewish sports card & memorabilia forum will look like if they ever get around to finally doing it.

http://collectingjewishsports.freeforums.org/index.php

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Posted By: Jim VB

Jeff,

That's good to hear. You know that all this board really cares about is the ultimate pursuit of justice, and what good cards Joe D. picks up next (and not necessarily in that order.)


Jim

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Posted By: sagard

Please keep this board as is. If I wanted obnoxious siglines and pictures I'd surf the PSA/BGS boards more frequently.

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Posted By: DJ

No way should you change Boards, Leon! If you erased the archives, it would be like starting all over and erasing all the valuable information placed before that can be researched. Plus, the last thing we need are larger avatars. Collectors Universe looks like Circus Circus, while this Forum is the Bellagio.

DJ

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Posted By: leon

It will stay as is for the time being...Too many other things in life to worry about. I like Net54 the way it is but needed to make sure most of our members feel this way too. It looks like we do...take care ....

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Posted By: Mark T

We are not all hillbillys over at Full count Forum, and what makes someone a hillbilly anyway? (<:

Also, its a new Forum so it will take a while to get membership up. Full Count is now much better than the Aimoo site we had. I personally like the big avatars. Each to his own i guess.

Even Leon says there is plenty of room for 2 forums in the vintage card hobby. I visit both every day and enjoy them.

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Posted By: MVSNYC

"Collectors Universe looks like Circus Circus, while this Forum is the Bellagio"...

actually Net54 looks more like Stardust or The Sands...

less is more.

glad it's staying the way it is, Leon.

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Posted By: george "bulldog" adams

hey mark not looking to start a war of the msg boards i don`t have a problem with 2 msg boards i just prefer the net54 content and i am not swayed by the fancy layout over at the other place i think the content there stinks i visit the ghost town with the pretty lights several times daily and i find myself leaving after 30 seconds each time and when there is a couple new msgs they are usually garbage and what about the hobby news i mentioned where are the posts about the psa half grades where are the posts about the sgc forman mantle card all i see over there is gilbert maines talking in riddles and kevin saucier posting cryptic nonsense while patting himself on the back and the behrens kid obsessing over louis bollman`s nickname and posting about 1920`s e cards getting expensive hello welcome to 2006 behrens and the chicken fighting guy makes me sick to my stomach i am no bible thumper but i think that guy is going to hell for the cruel stuff he is doing to animals. bulldog

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Posted By: Rob D.

. = period

Definition:(1): an utterance from one full stop to another (2): a well-proportioned sentence of several clauses (3) a point . used to mark the end (as of a declarative sentence or an abbreviation)

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Posted By: leon

Please email me......nothing personal....and thanks much......

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Posted By: Mark T

No problem George...i never took your post as starting a fight.

Its always good to have choice. I was just defending Full Count as to the point you made of threads not coming up on certain news relating to PSA or Forman Mantle card. If both forums had the same topics all the time then it would make no sense having more than one forum.

Like i said, Full Count is 2+ months old and it will take time. If members/moderators are disliked on Full count then so be it, the world is not a perfect place. There are many guys over there that love collecting and talking about vintage cards.

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Posted By: Marty Ogelvie

Leon

There is an old saying I am sure your familiar with;

"If it aint broke, don't fix it!"

martyOgelvie
nyyankeecards.com

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Posted By: Dave F

I think the biggest issue is with those of us that spend ALL day on here (which I'd probably group Leon in that). If your on here basically all the time at work, etc the downtime the server goes into is a pretty big nuisance.