Net54baseball board question and answer....

[Leon]

Hey guys and girls,
We haven't really done any question and answer threads, pertaining to board operations, in a very long time. So that being said if anyone has any questions pertaining to how the board is managed, or how a decision is made, and it's not in the rules already (or is and you don't quite understand) here is a thread to get those hard to answer questions, answered. So everyone knows here are a few tips and things about the board...

1. A big help is any member that is a registered member can go to their User Control Panel (User CP) On the left side of the screen and adjust some settings there. One good one is the number of posts in a thread to be seen on one page. There can be up to 80 but if you don't set it, those 80 posts will be 8 pages instead of 1.
2. Remember that if you are under 18 I need a parent or guardian's permission for you to be on the BST.
3. Please don't delete threads, or edit the post all the way out, on the BST....unless you put it in the wrong section and then move it. IF everyone deleted their stuff it would look like nothing goes on over there, which is far from the case.
4. Remember we have a Community tab, under the word "Community" in the dark blue line across the upper middle of each page. Check it out sometime. There are approximately 100 or more photo albums with many of our members cards and stuff that can be seen. All members are welcome to upload scans there. There is also a full list of all members there.
5. When uploading scans anywhere on the board they upload best in a jpg format and around 50kb-75kb. PDF's won't upload.

Thanks to everyone for continuing to make this a nice place to interact with a lot of people with the same passion... If any one has any questions, concerns or comments please post away...IF no one responds then I guess we are all good ..best regards

[Bocabirdman]

Who's on first?

[Tsaiko]

What's the appropriate sub forum to place a want ad for a latex salesman??


Now that that's out of the way, I hope we can get serious and give Leon the respect he deserves.

Thanks for the great board, Leon.

[rainier2004]

Leon, great board and great job. Your "sheriffness" is also much appreciated on the b/s/t. I have a question about possible feedback. I do NOT want to have something similar to fleabay, but it would be nice to be able to read fb on a member and may possibly encourage some action from more new members; no star system. Maybe none of this is necessary either as all my exchanges have been positive, but just a thought. I still wish the inbox was unlimited, especially with the membership rates rising on this board as dramatically as they have. One last thought Ive had for awhile...what about being able to access the "forum", b/s/t, memorabilia icons at the bottom of a thread also that would be similar to the top. My ass is extra lazy and it would be appreciated if possible so I don't have to scroll up 60 or 70 threads. If not, great site and THANKS for all your hard work.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

Leon, great board and great job. Your "sheriffness" is also much appreciated on the b/s/t. I have a question about possible feedback. I do NOT want to have something similar to fleabay, but it would be nice to be able to read fb on a member and may possibly encourage some action from more new members; no star system. Maybe none of this is necessary either as all my exchanges have been positive, but just a thought. I still wish the inbox was unlimited, especially with the membership rates rising on this board as dramatically as they have. One last thought Ive had for awhile...what about being able to access the "forum", b/s/t, memorabilia icons at the bottom of a thread also that would be similar to the top. My ass is extra lazy and it would be appreciated if possible so I don't have to scroll up 60 or 70 threads. If not, great site and THANKS for all your hard work.

Hey Steven
Nice thoughts and suggestions. As for feedback there isn't a system in our software, that I am aware of, that is easy to use to do such a thing. The best we have is all of the statistics on each person. Knock on wood but the BST has had $25 of fraud, that I am aware of, in approximately 8 yrs. EVERYONE is encouraged to ask for references and I am always available to help with that too. If anyone ever gives an ounce of a problem with anyone asking for references please PM or email me and let me know. It won't be a problem for long. It is caveat emptor so everyone needs to be careful for themselves otherwise. As for the inbox, it is set to 100....I suggest you delete some as no one should really need to store more than 100 PM's....I probably get more than almost anyone and it works fine for me. And lastly concerning the icons to click on....in order to have them at the bottom it would involve quite a bit of work and I just don't think the gain is worth it, quite honestly. Thanks for the suggestions though.

[smokelessjoe]

Hi Leon,

Thank you for always being so consistent in regards to Net54... Even years ago with the "old Net54" you were always quite steady. Its a great attribute to have when dealing with large groups. Thank you,

I do like rainier2004s idea about the Icons at the bottom of the page. I have often thought about this over the years & thought it would be quite handy. Leon, you do have the "top" tab at the Very bottom of the page - is it feasible to move it just underneath the last post - say directly across from the "post reply" tab and under the "quote" tab? In other words, the opposite corner of the "post reply" tab? Logistics of web pages & forums is way over my head - so I am with you if it is a big hassle - then probably not worth it.

Shawn,

[Leon]

Originally Posted by smokelessjoe

Hi Leon,

Thank you for always being so consistent in regards to Net54... Even years ago with the "old Net54" you were always quite steady. Its a great attribute to have when dealing with large groups. Thank you,

I do like rainier2004s idea about the Icons at the bottom of the page. I have often thought about this over the years & thought it would be quite handy. Leon, you do have the "top" tab at the Very bottom of the page - is it feasible to move it just underneath the last post - say directly across from the "post reply" tab and under the "quote" tab? In other words, the opposite corner of the "post reply" tab? Logistics of web pages & forums is way over my head - so I am with you if it is a big hassle - then probably not worth it.

Shawn,

Hey Shawn
Thanks for the kind words. I try to be fair and consistent. I believe being consistently good over the long haul, instead of super great for a short period of time, is one of the keys to success in life. I will have Brian, our main techy person, take a look at what you are asking. I think a big change to moving all of the icons below, might be a complicated situation but will see about the re-positioning of tabs at bottom. I will report back on it soon. Thanks for the feedback...LL

[sportscardpete]

Leon -

Board is great. Everyone is good people. Just out of curiosity - was the chat room ever popular? I've never really seen anyone use it...

Pete

[Leon]

Originally Posted by sportscardpete

Leon -

Board is great. Everyone is good people. Just out of curiosity - was the chat room ever popular? I've never really seen anyone use it...

Pete

It is seldom used. On the final night of the REA auction each year we have around 35-50 people in there. It's really great and a lot of fun....otherwise it doesn't get much use.

[scooter729]

Just an additional quick thanks to Leon - I did something I don't normally do - I placed a spontaneous bid without really researching the item yesterday on eBay for $100 and ended up the high bidder. I then realized the card looked a bit iffy to me. So I sent Leon an email for his thoughts before I paid, and he was quickly able to confirm the card was fake. So thanks to board members helping each other out like this, I was able to avoid getting burned on a reprint!

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by Leon

If any one has any questions, concerns or comments please post away...

What is your opinion of Kingman's performance?

[chaddurbin]

i got ripped off for at least $400 from bill bellamy a few years back on an e93 mathewson. he wanted to partially refund me $150 if i didn't bring the issue on the board (scumbag).

[Leon]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

i got ripped off for at least $400 from bill bellamy a few years back on an e93 mathewson. he wanted to partially refund me $150 if i didn't bring the issue on the board (scumbag).

I sort of remember that now....when you say "at least" what does that mean? Did you ever get a refund? Wasn't that on a Matty E95? I think I might consider this more of a deal gone awry than actually ripped off....and I don't remember the exact specifics....I do think I might have tried to help but just don't remember all of it now....Something like a crease in the card or something.......??

And didn't he get booted from the board for that?

[chaddurbin]

it was an e93 matty. he bought the card as trimmed but sold it as good. i paid $630 for a vg/vgex card. received it and knew it was trimmed, he played dumb and wouldn't offer a refund because he was getting out of the hobby anyway. i eventually sold the card as trimmed on ebay, coincidentally the original owner that sold the card to bellamy for a $450 loss.

i don't consider that a deal gone awry, but getting ripped off! he was banned, but his brother was still a member so board access was just a click away.

edit: like leon says, buyer's beware. ebay is a mess but i've never lost money to a scammer in 1000s deals.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

it was an e93 matty. he bought the card as trimmed but sold it as good. i paid $630 for a vg/vgex card. received it and knew it was trimmed, he played dumb and wouldn't offer a refund because he was getting out of the hobby anyway. i eventually sold the card as trimmed on ebay, coincidentally the original owner that sold the card to bellamy for a $450 loss.

i don't consider that a deal gone awry, but getting ripped off! he was banned, but his brother was still a member so board access was just a click away.

edit: like leon says, buyer's beware. ebay is a mess but i've never lost money to a scammer in 1000s deals.

I suggest you find another place other than our BST then. Sorry you got ripped off.

[chaddurbin]

you said the amount of money lost on the bst was $25, i'm just giving my personal account. i'm sorry i got ripped off also.

edit: to leon's credit he did really try to make bellamy do the right thing and refund my money. he went back and forth with the guy for a couple days and updating me but it was like talking to a wall.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

you said the amount of money lost on the bst was $25, i'm just giving my personal account. i'm sorry i got ripped off also.

edit: to leon's credit he did really try to make bellamy do the right thing and refund my money. he went back and forth with the guy for a couple days and updating me but it was like talking to a wall.

I will now say, for future reference, that there has been very little fraud on our BST and not use a dollar figure. I think compared to Ebay it is a safer place but I do have a bias. I only remember parts of the situation but it was a bad one. I think since, like you said, he was getting out of the hobby, he didn't really care. As far as his brother still being on the board after that I didn't feel that holding his brother accountable for his actions was the proper thing to do. I know I am probably forgetting some details too. I know you have continued to use the BST (I dropped your check in the mail yesterday) and if there is anything I can ever help with just let me know. That goes for every other board member too. We all do our best at keeping the hobby clean but there will be bad people in all areas of our lives no matter what we do. All we can do is try to do the right thing and also weed out the scammers. best regards

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by Leon

Hey Shawn
I will have Brian, our main techy person, take a look at what you are asking. I think a big change to moving all of the icons below, might be a complicated situation but will see about the re-positioning of tabs at bottom. I will report back on it soon. Thanks for the feedback...LL

Just to clarify, I AM LAZY AS HELL AND WOULD LIKE THE ICONS ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE PAGE!...sorry to yell.

Also, I really hope Leon that you are recognized as providing as safe as an environment as possible on the b/s/t. You have personally stopped 2 transactions and alerted me to past behavior that has saved me $$$ and getting all pissed off. I agree the b/s/t is the safest place I know of to transact. I refuse to put large item tickets on ebay and reserve them for here...and guess what, they sell w/o a hitch. I have a guess that being Sheriff causes many headaches, but I have had several memebrs comment to my face what a nice job you do there...if I get to TX Im buying you a drink! Oh yeah, I AM LAZY AS HELL AND WOULD LOVE AN UNLIMITED # OF PM'S! - Enjoy the weekend all and Go State!

[Howe’s Hunter]

Leon, you mention jpgs seem to work best. I've always uploaded from PhotoBucket, and the last couple of times I've tried using a .jpg, when I hit preview, the cards are almost inversed (red is now green, blue is orange, etc.). But if I save as a .gif in Photoshop, send to PhotoBucket, then download a .gif, they come out right. Is it just me, or is there a better way to upload photos rather than using a service like PhotoBucket?

And thanks for being a great moderator, Leon.

[scmavl]

I've really enjoyed my time on the forum, thanks Leon. Since feedback was brought up, how about if there was a Feedback thread created (and made a Sticky) where everyone just posted a topic that was simply their username then other members can post in it when they've had a good transaction with that person? Not sure what your thoughts are if someone wanted to post neutral or negative feedback though...

[Leon]

Originally Posted by StuckInOmaha

Leon, you mention jpgs seem to work best. I've always uploaded from PhotoBucket, and the last couple of times I've tried using a .jpg, when I hit preview, the cards are almost inversed (red is now green, blue is orange, etc.). But if I save as a .gif in Photoshop, send to PhotoBucket, then download a .gif, they come out right. Is it just me, or is there a better way to upload photos rather than using a service like PhotoBucket?

And thanks for being a great moderator, Leon.

First of all you are welcome and it's my pleasure to help run the board. For most scans I just have them in "my documents" on my hard drive and upload them while in a post. For others, which I want to be larger than is accepted in our board s/w, I host them on my own site and then cut and paste the url into the yellow box (above the posting box) that says "insert image". I use those 2 methods close to 100% of the time. I have no idea about your inversed color issue. It hasn't happened to me nor do I think I have heard of that before. I have to think it's something you are doing or maybe it has to do with uploading .gifs instead of .jpgs. I only use .jpgs and they have always worked well.

As for a feedback thread I don't think I want to go there. Except for bringing it up in this thread it really doesn't seem, to me, to be an issue. Each thing like that requires even more moderating and for now I just don't think the Shi* to Equity ratio is there. Like I said above there is quite a bit of info on everyone if you just click on their user id as well as see how long they have been on the board and how many posts they have done. I do get a fair amount of reference requests and I would say that 75% or more of the times we are able to be very sure. With the BST being a closed area, with only registered members on it, the safety is sort of built in. Now, as happened to Quan, if there is someone getting out of the hobby or there is some other extraordinary situation, I don't think feedback would even help that. The guy that did that to Quan was fairly well known. (If I recall correctly) If someone wants to scam someone then I doubt a feedback system is going to necessarily help.

[scmavl]

Understood and makes sense. Thanks, Leon.

[4815162342]

There is one thing that I've always wondered about when I see it on the BST:

FS = For Sale
FT = For Trade
FSH = ?