Folder Proposals

[Coins.Guide]

Hi everyone,

Congratulations on getting the forum set up! It looks GREAT! =)

Before too many posts are made, it might be a good idea to brainstorm a little bit about the folders (top level discussion topics) we'll need.

Although having a folder for Minting Errors and for Varieties is a good start, we should also consider a folder for Advertisements & Coins for Sale, so this subject matter (which is inevitable on any successful forum) is segregated.

Another folder we should have, probably at the top, is CONECA Announcements or something similar, so we have an easy to locate (and easy to check) place for club news.

Eventually we might want an FAQ folder, which would be read-only, where we move the best threads and FAQs that have been answered. This folder will save the regulars a lot of time answering the same questions about blank coins, rare 1943 silver pennies, and two headed coins over and over and over again.

Finally, we'll want a folder for off-topic and general discussions, for which this one we're in now would be a good candidate.

Please share your thoughts about these folder suggestions.

Susan Headley

[wavysteps]

Hi Susan - A very sound idea and we all may want to look at the coppercoins' forum for examples of what to have (and not have)as folders.

The folders you have proposed are logical and I believe should be included. The only suggestion that I would make is to not have to many folders (example, a folder for each denomination under errors and then varieties, further broken down to RPMs and DDO/DDRs). In the long run, that may end up being confusing to the person who is navigating the forum.

I totally agree with a folder for advertizing, however, another one for "buy, sell, trade" may not be such a bad idea either.

BJ Neff

[diamond]

I think many of your ideas are sound, Susan. I also agree with BJ that we must avoid a proliferation of folders, something that detracts from the coppercoins forum. I need to ask the rest of the board whether they want to see advertising and buy/sell/trade folders.

[wavysteps]

Please do not laugh at this idea, but we may want to have a "women's only" folder.

I am sure that we have some ladies in CONECA and to give them their own posting area may appeal to that fairer sex. Let us face it, women do think different than men and I am sure that applies to coin collecting. Long has this hobby been dominated by the male and it maybe time to let our counterparts have a space of their own to express their needs, concerns and such.

Just a suggestion.

BJ Neff

[Coins.Guide]

I agree that we should definitely stay away from the multiple sub-folder things (DDRs, RPM, et al) for three reasons. (a) They're confusing to novices; (b) Fewer folders forces more posts into lesser space, which makes a young forum look busier than it would with a slew of sub-folders (and nobody enjoys a dead forum); and (c) oftentimes discussions digress, or someone who doesn't know betters posts his RPM in the DDO folder and there's just confusion. Let's keep it simple and build out what seems logical later on down the line.


Regarding Mike's comment about the Advertising folders, please propose it to the board in this fashion: (a) either allow advertising (but set limits, 2 posts per week or whatever, or don't set any limits at first) and create a special folder for it; or (b) don't allow advertising posts. My point being that if you do allow advertising (including coins for sale, links to eBay listing, etc.) it must have its own folder. Most users do not want to see ads in "regular" content.

A couple of good arguments in favor of allowing ads is (1) Coin dealers, who are often very knowledgeable about the e-v's, will be more likely to visit a "hospitable" environment and help out; (2) Many forum members enjoy having the ads (but in their place) because the dealers will offer special incentives sometimes, or advance sales notices.

I guess one thing that defines this whole advertising matter is what do you envision this board to be? If it's a CONECA members only private retreat, the advertising probably should be here. But if it's an open e-v forum for all to enjoy (with a private folder for CONECA members, just so non-members can feel "left out" a little and join the club, heh) then you DO want advertising.

My personal feeling is that the board should be open to all. I think it will help promote CONECA in the collecting community, but I also think there should be a private members only area.

You will probably also want a very private "board members only" folder for discussing CONECA business.

Just some random thoughts,
Susan

[Coins.Guide]

One more comment:

Some folks may be wondering who this "expert" is who is coming up with all this great advice, and do I know what I am talking about.

I've been running computerized discussion boards since the days before the personal computer was even invented! (Am I giving away my age? LOL.) I had a self-written BBS (bulletin board system) running on a Radio Shack TRS-80 in 1982, although before that I moderated an Arpanet email discussion. Through the years, I've had several BBS systems on increasingly powerful computers, and have run Internet and Web discussion groups ever since. I have a good idea of what works and what doesn't, based on experience.

Now the caveat: Don 't go looking at my About.com forum to see how I do it. I don't even bother to maintain that forum because it seems a waste of my time to try to establish a coin collecting community when people can't even post coin images! I answer questions in my About forum when I have time, but I haven't had time the last 3 months or so.

My biggest coin-related forum is the UncleanedAncientCoins Yahoo group (around 1,100 active members I think?) and another ancient coin group for dealers called AncientBulkMarketplace (about 230 active dealers.) I have full-time (volunteer) Moderators for both groups (3 for UAC, 2 for ABM) although of course I oversee and Moderate things myself, too.

Susan

[diamond]

I'm going to avoid creating an off-topic forum, as that invites off-topic posts. I'd rather we stick to coins and simply delete off-topic posts. I'm also going to delay the creation of a buy/sell/trade forum as I feel we need much more discussion on exactly how it's going to function.

[diamond]

Please do not laugh at this idea, but we may want to have a "women's only" folder.

I am sure that we have some ladies in CONECA and to give them their own posting area may appeal to that fairer sex. Let us face it, women do think different than men and I am sure that applies to coin collecting. Long has this hobby been dominated by the male and it maybe time to let our counterparts have a space of their own to express their needs, concerns and such.

Just a suggestion.

BJ Neff

I'd rather not go down that road. We are all brothers and sisters in the pursuit of knowledge.

[mustbebob]

Let me add my congrats for this Forum. I think it will be great, but you can expect some growing pains. I have been the moderator for the coppercoins forum for a number of years, and gladly offer any help I can to ensure the success of this forum as well.
Wavysteps (BJ) has a valid point about taking a look at other forums to see what may be good for this one as well. I certainly agree that having too many folders can be counterproductive. We must also understand that the coppercoins forum really deals with one denomination, but we have added other folders so that all can participate.
CONECA deals with so much, that it might be easier to have folders that deal with doubled dies, RPMs, errors, etc. You may not be able to avoid sub folders though. We should make it a easy as possible for the membership to get to where they need to go, rather than having to read post after post, or submitting their question/comment in an area they are not sure of.
It will take some time and effort, and we can fine tune as we go. I wish only the best for the CONECA forum, and once again offer my assistance if needed.

Bob Piazza

[Speedy]

Being a Moderator on one of the largest coin forums on the net we get lots of suggestions and feedback on the number of "forums", and people wanting more off topic discussion. I agree with Bob for the most part. If you can stay with the least number of "forums" (or folders) you will be much happier in the long run, as too many folders makes the forum counterproductive, and hard to move about. You will also have the problem of moving posts from the wrong place to the right place everytime someone new just puts their thread in the first folder they come too! Again--this is just my opinion and like elbows...we all have a two!

I think this forum will go far, and I'm glad to see it going!

[Edscoin]

Congratulations on the new forum.
Looks like a great site. How about a test forum .
Just a folder to make sure we are doing every thing right.

[diamond]

Just use one of the existing forums for test purposes. I'll eventually delete the test posts.

[Speedy]

One suggestion is to up the max limit on photo size. When uploading a photo it says that the max is 19.5kb or something like that. I would suggest something more like 100kb.

[diamond]

One suggestion is to up the max limit on photo size. When uploading a photo it says that the max is 19.5kb or something like that. I would suggest something more like 100kb.

I'm not sure why you got this message. What file type were you trying to load? JPEG should be most user-friendly and thrifty on space.

JPG and JPEG were set to 200k, other types were 20k. The maximum size on most is formats is 200k and 800x800 pixels. I left PSD, PDF, TXT, and DOC at the default.

For non-compressed formats such as BMP and TIFF, the effective limit
will be the file size, for compressed formats it will be the 800x800
dimensions. This also depends on color depth.

[Speedy]

Now it is working---I wish I had saved a screen shot of it lastnight. I tried uploading a file that was 86kb and it just wouldn't let me. It was a JPG file by the way.

Thanks!

[foundinrolls]

Hi Mike,

This is a great place that you have getting started. (Forget the use of the poor english, I have the flu) :-)

Some suggestions would be an EDUCATION forum where articles could be posted that would help to answer some of the basic questions. They could be done by members or volunteers but approved by Mods and then the use of "STICKYS" could be done to keep the posts set up for no replies.

Not quite a FAQ forum, but a place where articles can be put that explain the coins that really have value. It will help to explain things like minor die cracks, die chips and mintmark placement for example, rather than field 1000 questions on those. This section can explain the different forms of die doubling, for example.

It might have a section that truly explains die doubling vs. mechanical doubling with pics. You have the folks here at CONECA that can do that in a heartbeat.


Other suggestions would be to segregate the denomnations, and then separate errors from varieties.

For Example, LINCOLN CENT VARIETIES
LINCOLN CENT ERRORS

JEFFERSON NICKEL VARIETIES
JEFFERSON NICKEL ERRORS
etc.
That would allow CONECA to educate the average collector as to the differences between the two by suggesting that the coin or question be posted in the appropriate forum..

I know you want to limit folders, but I think it gets confusing to look through a ton of mixed up variety posts to find the type of coins that we might have an interest in.

A VAM category would be good in there as well.



Also, These forums allow you to set up a separate and PRIVATE forum that only mods and admins can get to so that you have the ability to use the forums to discuss things among yourselves. We have that set up on http://www.theperch.net one of the bird websites that I moderate.

You may want to set up a TEST forum , most forum sites have that so folks can learn how to post pics for example without sticking an "experiment" right in the middle of a thread someplace:-)

You may want to set up a GREETINGS section for new members to see. It can offer a welcome and explain the rules other than the rules that were seen and forgotten when a person signs up.

Just some ideas...

Thanks Mike,

Have Fun,
Bill

[diamond]

Thanks for the suggestions. This is a work in progress, so it may take a little time to incorporate some of them. I am going to avoid the proliferation of separate forums, as that leads to more problems than it solves, in my opinion.

[Edscoin]

I have a question. When I open a thread the last post is on the top instead of the bottom. I have to scroll all the way down to see the OP then start back up reading the posts. Is there something I can change from my end or is this the way it set up?
Thanks,

[diamond]

I don't understand why you're having this problem. The site is configured so that the oldest post in each thread comes first. That's the way it's always come up for me. Try going to your user control panel (User CP) on the left side near the top. Go to "Settings &Options". Click on "Edit Options". Scroll down to "Thread Display Options". Select "Linear-Oldest First". Scroll to the very bottom and click on "Save Changes". That should do it.

I don't understand why you're having this problem. The site is configured so that the oldest post in each thread comes first. That's the way it's always come up for me. Try going to your user control panel (User CP) on the left side near the top. Go to "Settings & Options". Click on "Edit Options". Scroll down to "Thread Display Options". Select "Linear-Oldest First". Scroll to the very bottom and click on "Save Changes". That should do it.

[Edscoin]

Thanks Mike, It's Fixed now.