What do you want to see on FCB to make it ...

[BBCgalaxee]

I think all the bmb members did their best to drive away Hughes from the board

Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[AmishDave]

players just don't wanna do this.

Any way you could do a Q&A with guys doing signings ? Weekly or a bi-weekly deal and they could answer about a dozen (pre-selected) from FCB members.

 

[mchenrycards]

Any way you could do a Q&A with guys doing signings ? Weekly or a bi-weekly deal and they could answer about a dozen (pre-selected) from FCB members.

There used to be a guy with the old Sports Collectors Digest (Yes, I know it is still around but I am talking when it was great) that would interview mainly retired guys about their thoughts on the hobby. With so many of these former ball players on Facebook I am sure if someone had the initiative they could make this happen. I am a part of a number of Facebook groups that include former players by nature of the job I used to have. I am sure many of them would respond to emailed questions if asked before hand. I would do this but I am afraid I might not do it justice right now. If anyone wants to give it a shot I can provide names on Facebook...you will have to contact them directly.

 

[Laxcat]

players just don't wanna do this.

Yep. Nothing like the good old days. I remember Bob Feller just stopping by my fathers shop and signing and talking to the customers. And by stopping by I mean absolutely no warning. He was an amazingly nice guy. He sure knew how to sell himself.

 

[Austin]

I think all the bmb members did their best to drive away Hughes from the board.

If you mean by being overwhelmed by greedy fans flooding his PM box, then it might have been part of it.
But I think he just got too busy when he became a full-time starter for the Yankees.

BMB members were always cool to him, at least after he showed that picture with "nyphily45" proving it was him.
It was Hughes' choice to reveal himself, and 99% of members acted great to him, even rival fans.

Then Beckett posted that article showing Hughes was a BMB poster and he probably wished he had kept his identity to himself.
I wonder if he's ever read this board, or even posted under another name.

 

[A_Pharis]

Yep. Nothing like the good old days. I remember Bob Feller just stopping by my fathers shop and signing and talking to the customers. And by stopping by I mean absolutely no warning. He was an amazingly nice guy. He sure knew how to sell himself.

Every time you post I become more and more envious of your exposure to the hobby.

 

[Laxcat]

Every time you post I become more and more envious of your exposure to the hobby.

A joke I always heard growing up.

I'm taking 5 of every Bob Feller card and putting them in a safe for 25 years.
Why?
Because at the rate he is going, they will be the only unsigned Feller cards left!!

The would always end with," but he is one hell of a nice guy"

 

[A_Pharis]

A joke I always heard growing up.

I'm taking 5 of every Bob Feller card and putting them in a safe for 25 years.
Why?
Because at the rate he is going, they will be the only unsigned Feller cards left!!

The would always end with," but he is one hell of a nice guy"

I heard Musial was the same way. Always happy to sign.

 

[Jaypers]

players just don't wanna do this.

So, you can get Teheran to sign at your store, you can get LoMo to talk to FCB posters on a live chat during a card show, but posting on these boards every so often during the off-season is too big of a leap?

 

[mchenrycards]

So, you can get Teheran to sign at your store, you can get LoMo to talk to FCB posters on a live chat during a card show, but posting on these boards every so often during the off-season is too much to ask?

I would imagine a payment was made to "get" them to appear. Those were one time shots where they can schedule the appearance and forget about it afterwards. I just think getting a player to come here and post now and then might be out of the question unless:

1. The player is paid to do so and even then who knows if it will happen.
2. The player is not only a collector but is also wanting to talk with other collectors such as Phil Hughes was on an ongoing basis.

The problem as I see it is the player will be bombarded with PM's and crazy autograph requests where it just will not be fun or worthwhile to them. Then use their off season to relax and refresh and not to hear from hundreds of people who want something from them. I just dont see something like this happening.

 

[Jaypers]

I would imagine a payment was made to "get" them to appear. Those were one time shots where they can schedule the appearance and forget about it afterwards. I just think getting a player to come here and post now and then might be out of the question unless:

1. The player is paid to do so and even then who knows if it will happen.
2. The player is not only a collector but is also wanting to talk with other collectors such as Phil Hughes was on an ongoing basis.

The problem as I see it is the player will be bombarded with PM's and crazy autograph requests where it just will not be fun or worthwhile to them. Then use their off season to relax and refresh and not to hear from hundreds of people who want something from them. I just dont see something like this happening.

Any poster can block all incoming PM's if he or she chooses to. And there are most certainly other players who do collect cards and who chat with people such as us. Brad Ziegler and Pat Neshek are a couple of names that come to mind.

 

[Erich]

I think what many members fail to realize, is that this great hobby is slowly withering away. It's not the board's fault.
Collectors aren't all leaving this site because they dislike the board or its content.
They're leaving the hobby entirely.

Sure, there are many ways to make this site better; most notably more member contribution and better content.
However, this site and others like it will never be as strong as it was even two years ago. And it has nothing to do with site content.

Too many sports card collectors who pine for the "good old days" fail to realize or accept that this hobby will never be what it once was, whether that be the '80s or during the Beckett message board's heyday in the early 2000s.

The negativity and sarcasm that is so frequent on this and other boards is not because collectors have become bigger dicks.
It's because we're so fed up and bitter about high prices, fake patches, eBay crooks and the way the hobby and most of its manufacturers have become.

It's not a collector-friendly hobby anymore. But we can at least make this board feel that way to new and current members.
All it takes is more effort than before. When I clicked on the Baseball forum, it said "162 viewing."
Yet no one, including me, was starting new threads.

We all have collections we're proud of. Let's start excited about them again.
Post pictures of random cards you love. Start conversations about weird card stuff. Talk baseball and its players.
Don't be afraid to ask questions because you think a member will give a rude answer. Man up and don't be offended by the occasional cranky member.

Let's merge the slow vintage, TTM and box break forums with the main baseball forums to get members excited about them again, and maybe re-introduce them to the great hobbies of sending cards to players for autographs and collecting old vintage cards.

But let's not blame this site's demise on a few grumpy members or other petty stuff, when it's the hobby overall that is in demise.
We may not be able to re-ignite the hobby, but we can re-ignite this message board and make it something we're proud to be a part of.

Your first paragraph is gold. I am one of them, I am tired of the same garbage that Topps puts out every year. This hobby needs 3-4 MLB licenses and it could be what it once was.

 

[Laxcat]

Your first paragraph is gold. I am one of them, I am tired of the same garbage that Topps puts out every year. This hobby needs 3-4 MLB licenses and it could be what it once was.

Could not agree more. I plan to post something new and interesting each day. Any teams or players that y'all want to see, let me know. Also I will do my best to answer any questions about cards or the hobby. I'm a nice person I swear.
"Don't be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn't do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today."

 

[matfanofold]

I agree that in large part sports card forums such as FCB are simply a reflection of the state of the hobby. I mean, lets be brutally honest for a minute shall we? FCB was in concept a place for disgruntle and/or put off BMB users to migrate to. It had a decent surge at first being the 'new kid on the block' with a good deal of longstanding members joining to lend credence to FCBs validity as a legitimate sports card message board. However, and despite a good showing of growth for a couple/few years, it will never be a BO of SCF, or even BMB for that matter. I simply see nothing that could be done, without Gilmore spending lots out of pocket, to generate member growth. The sports card forum bubble is just not big enough to handle any more large scale forums, not to mention all the social media outlets gobbling up the 'new to the hobby' type user base.

In the end, all FCB really provides is a small corner of loyal and mostly longstanding hobbyists, collectors, and sellers, desperately trying to grasp on to the early days of BMB (me included), and we are simply outgrowing and/or leaving the hobby (and FCB) faster than FCB is gaining new (quality) additions. I suppose we all can nitpick as to what we think could be better but at the end of the day FCB has always been a microcosm of the Hobby and I believe it is still holding true. I say we just enjoy what it is, while it is, and know we had some quality time at the right time before it all came to an end.

 

[Austin]

^ Matfanofold makes good points.
And now that I think about what I wrote a few posts ago, we shouldn't have to try to make the message board better.
It's great that some members like McHenry want to step forward to create new unique threads every day to spark discussion.
But they'll eventually burn out, and quickly. It's happened every single time.

Ty Hope tried it (his threads rocked... for two weeks) and several others including me have tried it.
But after just a couple of weeks, we all burned out, trying to come up with new ideas for creative thread topics.

My point is, a message board is not like a newspaper or magazine.
It's an organic, ever-changing medium that is 100% based on the moods, interests and actions of its members.
If we lose the passion, then trying to recreate it is futile, disingenuous and temporary.

I don't mean we shouldn't make an effort to post more, spark discussion and be positive and friendly.
I'm just saying that we shouldn't feel like we have to draw from a passion that isn't there anymore.

And as Sam wrote, it's just a baseball card message board. We take it too seriously sometimes.
It should be a fun diversion from the stresses of real life and a place to talk, sometimes respectfully arguing, with friends who have common interests.

 

[mchenrycards]

^ Matfanofold makes good points.
And now that I think about what I wrote a few posts ago, we shouldn't have to try to make the message board better.
It's great that some members like McHenry want to step forward to create new unique threads every day to spark discussion.
But they'll eventually burn out, and quickly. It's happened every single time.

Ty Hope tried it (his threads rocked... for two weeks) and several others including me have tried it.
But after just a couple of weeks, we all burned out, trying to come up with new ideas for creative thread topics.

My point is, a message board is not like a newspaper or magazine.
It's an organic, ever-changing medium that is 100% based on the moods, interests and actions of its members.
If we lose the passion, then trying to recreate it is futile, disingenuous and temporary.

I don't mean we shouldn't make an effort to post more, spark discussion and be positive and friendly.
I'm just saying that we shouldn't feel like we have to draw from a passion that isn't there anymore.

And as Sam wrote, it's just a baseball card message board. We take it too seriously sometimes.
It should be a fun diversion from the stresses of real life and a place to talk, sometimes respectfully arguing, with friends who have common interests.

I do not disagree with anything you are saying here. BUT...instead of trying to manufacture content, if everyone posts about something they are passionate about or have some knowldege about instead of sitting on the side lines we will be stimulating conversation and not trying to save a message board.

I talked to Chris at the National and he said traffic was way down and, although I felt bad about it I was not all that surprised. Lets face it we have all seen what has been happening with the cat fights and the other stuff that has driven people away. Heck, I was gone for three months and nobody noticed! LOL I got to thinking about the hobby knowledge I have picked up in 40+ years of collecting as well as some of the actual "stuff" I have picked up and realized that since nobody in my family cares about this stuff maybe I could share my knowledge and collection with those who might. So instead of XXXXXing and moaning about how slow this place has become I decided to bore the crap out of you guys with my posts. Will I get burned out? Sure...maybe...probably....well honestly I dont know. But I decided to do what I felt like I needed to do not to save FCB but to maybe spur on more interest in the collectors who are already here and maybe those collectors can do the same. This has been a fun weekend for me hanging out and starting some new threads and seeing posters who I have never seen before get active. Again, I am not here to help save FCB. I make zero money from this place and if it went belly up...well that would suck but we would all move on. I just like to know there is a decent place to talk about the hobby and someone who has been around the hobby for 40 years may be able to spread the joy I have felt for this great hobby to others too.

We are not trying to save the boards but create a community where we can all enjoy what we collect and show off our steals and maybe learn a thing or two along the way.

 

[notjomommasclint]

Cage fights! The crowd chooses the winner and the the punishment to the loser!! It worked in Rome!

Some people asking what can be done need to realize the baseball card board has always had dead times. The end of the regular season up to the playoffs.. The end of the playoffs to the hot stove.. The end of the hot stove to spring training. So it's not a full on drain of the pool.

The problem to me is that we are losing old posters and not replacing them at the same rate with new posters. A situation that cannot be remedied with word of mouth alone. As I've said in the past there needs to be an attack marketing plan where the collectors are.

 

[joey12508]

I think every one should have egg mc'muffins every morning and donuts during the day. otherwise I love this place and all the great people on here.

 

[Brewer Andy]

Won't save the boards, but we could use a "New collectors" thread for stupid questions but no stupid answers. Don't know how they'd find the thread but a place they could ask questions without fear of being flamed. Though some dip would try on page one I'm sure.

Whatever happened to simple daily/weekly pickup threads? Again, probably wouldn't drive traffic but any one post can spur questions for another. Maybe people don't really want to look through random scans.

I got no real ideas but I'll continue to read nonetheless. Consolidating forums won't hurt at this point. The app consolidates everything on one page when it opens and you'd never notice

 

[cgilmo]

The boards don't need "saving"


They need to walk the fine line between entertainment and legit hobby discussion.

This will happen if it kills me.