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Dpanthers14
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I remember several years ago when I was big into cards this forum was super busy. Now a days it seems like a lot less traffic on here, what happened?
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[MENTION=2141]blanning71[/MENTION] Brian, Mr. Oversized Foam hatDoes Chris not own the boards anymore? Also is Blanning still on the boards I can't remember his exact name?
Some people blame it on all the new social media outlets, some people blame it on bad members driving people Away, some people blame it people just getting to busy to be on the boards or taking a break and some people even blame the previous owner (Chris) for just giving up on the site. I blame it THE MOVE!
I think there is an old thread that was made a few months ago address some of the issue of slow traffic.
[MENTION=2141]blanning71[/MENTION] Brian, Mr. Oversized Foam hat
All IMO
The software change was catastrophic. No bones about it, that switch lost huge amounts of traffic. I'm not trying to beat the guy down (chris=the guy) but it was a sudden change the board wasn't ready for and this software isn't very user friendly for the casual internet user. Still, all these years later, and I'm pretty quick with technology, the board, it's interface and it's icons are difficult. Spilled milk, no going back but it should have migrated better. I would say a huge majority of older members who couldn't figure out the new board just gave up or went elsewhere.
"The Scolding" about a half year later, certain mods gave the board a pretty firm talking too and laid rules down. The threads that ensued were handled terribly by the staff (again IMO) and quite a few people, like them or not, went to BO. I still believe the mod staff was way to extreme and spoke in a very condescending and threatening manner. Again, spilled milk and it is what it is.
"The Leaf Board" and "The Prospect Board" Like it or not FCB got labeled both. I thought it was great BG posted here and his transparency and candor was always welcome (IMO) even when he got attacked (mostly unfairly) and when he attacked back at least we had conversation. And prospecting brings people to the hobby but I feel these people also burn out quickly. Yes, yes, there are members here and elsewhere that are prospectors and make tons of money at it and good for them. But I've seen a good amount of people sign up here, start cracking big money wax, buy big cards and get crushed and you never see them again. Stigmas not the fault of anyone other than circumstance but I think both contributed
There's really good things about this board-and I think the base core group of members is tighter than any board out there-including Net 54 where I hang out mostly now. That's not a knock on N54 BTW, I just think theres such a huge age and income gap over there it's difficult to get a group like the morning thread going over there. The base here is very welcoming and friendly; this has always been the most informative board across the hobby hands down. Obviously certain boards are geared towards certain parts of the hobby, but circa 2008-10 this place had it all. Patch guys, TOTT, old inserts, vintage, set guys, registry guys, wealthy guys, kids, player collectors, team collectors, fantasy leagues, prospectors, great TTM community, rippers, crazy characters.... it was a truly great board
The bones are still here, it's just all the guts and muscle have been lost. There's no other board that has replicated what this once was and I see no reason why it couldn't come back.
I signed up and caught the tail end of the old FCB then went into the new FCB. Didnt mind the change. I understand that a lot of people dont like change at all. Just look at facebook when they revamped their software people went nuts, vowed never to return and you cant keep people off of it. Twitter is in the process of a software change, they've taken out national tv advertising with doing so (I know, FCB cant do that). AOL and MySpace didnt change and those places are worthless now.
Sports card guys like everything the same, all the time. They dont adapt to change very well. All you have to do is walk around a card show and you see the same stuff they was trying to sell in 1987, they're still trying to sell it today. Just look at 2015 Topps Base. They went from all white borders to color and a lot of collectors went nuts. Vowed never to buy the product because it was changed. Pretty sure the Heritage and Archives do so well is because it puts collectors minds back in time for a short bit.
As far as a sports card forum changing and people jumping ship because it looks different, the forum had to change because the internet keeps changing and browsers keep changing. I still get amazed at the sports card guys still using IE6 on their Dell they bought in 2001 with WinXP and a 800x600 resolution monitor. You wont believe how many guys will call me because their TWAIN scanner wont scan anymore. Tell them they can invest $300 on a new laptop that will be 100 times better than their $2000 (2001 prices) dell setup and you'd think you was asking them to buy a new house or something.
It is a age thing as well. Those over 45 dont like technological changes with anything. Set them in front of a computer and you'd thought the computer was going to bite them. At work, we had guys retire just so they didnt have to mess with any kind of computer.
Just my $0.02
Fordman
"The Scolding" about a half year later, certain mods gave the board a pretty firm talking too and laid rules down. The threads that ensued were handled terribly by the staff (again IMO) and quite a few people, like them or not, went to BO. I still believe the mod staff was way to extreme and spoke in a very condescending and threatening manner. Again, spilled milk and it is what it is.
Didn't we have this same thread a few months ago?
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