State of the forums

TheGriceBoys said:
Right there, that's a LOT of what has taken a lot out of people out of the hockey hobby game and pushed them towards baseball more as it seems to be an older, more educated, and certainly CLASSIER fan/collector base.

I hate to use the term, but I will, a lot of the millennial crowd I interact with here/there/everywhere are arrogant, rude, classless, and downright entitled and they are a pain to deal with. They aren't well-spoken, and show a lot of disrespect for the hobby vets.

I am sick of dealing with snot-nosed little turd burglars who think Connor McDavid is Michael Jordan and will tell me all about why that is. They aren't very well-versed in the history of hockey and that is a hindrance as well. My tolerance and patience level for the majority of these kids now is zilch.

That all said, that is one reason I LOVE it here, traffic may be slower, but the REAL OG's are here. It's old school and all those ****knobs are on Twitter and Facebook dealing, the exact places I am NOT. :D
Click to expand...

You should run for political office my friend!!! That type of honesty and political uncorrectness was really refreshing to read, and is also one of the reasons I haven't been that active in the last couple years as much as i love this wonderful hobby of ours.
 
As a millennial (I hate this loaded term), it always makes me sad to read about stuff like that. I hope any future dealings with "us" are pleasant and not full of hassles or arrogance of any kind.
 
parco10 said:
You should run for political office my friend!!! That type of honesty and political uncorrectness was really refreshing to read, and is also one of the reasons I haven't been that active in the last couple years as much as i love this wonderful hobby of ours.
Click to expand...

While definitely outspoken, I'm always fair, honest, and wear my heart on my sleeve. That's the best I can do.

creasecollector said:
As a millennial (I hate this loaded term), it always makes me sad to read about stuff like that. I hope any future dealings with "us" are pleasant and not full of hassles or arrogance of any kind.
Click to expand...

Sorry buddy, that's why I said "a lot", not all. ;)

So don't lump yourself in with an "us" as it's likely not applicable towards you. I haven't dealt with you, but seem like an ok egg based on your contributions on the board. But in general, yes, most people in your age bracket are knuckleheads. And it's not limited to hobby dealings. But that's another story!
 
I have been collecting solid since 1990, basically 30 yrs, 25 of which has been 99% hockey. I have been “active” online since the Crosby rush, on this site since then also. I don’t do a lot of trades or sale (I should), but definitely the activity here has dwindled. Not just the trade and sell pages but the posting has gone way down. Lives and funding are big parts along with the media shift and everything. My excuse...procrastination. Since I have shifted work to CT, I have made more $ and spent it on hockey cards and some other hockey stuff. My last post was for this year’s SPGU, since then, plenty of SPx & OPC plat, some UD 2. Before that...about 3 years of busting boxes, old and plenty of new. I have posted about 1/10th of my 15-16 breaks, and hardly anythig since. Life! Lol
 
It's good and bad in a way. As someone stated before, you do get the feeling that it's an old boys club at times, and that has it place sometimes. Personally I love doing S&T's and having the regulars comment. I've focused a bit to the higher end side of things lately, and buying cards and showing them off is what it's all about isn't it? Who wants the cards in a box and not share with the world?

Now, for the part that sucks. Just a few years ago I could post a wantlist here and get 50 replies. People seemed to have lists, people were willing to make deals big and small. Now I can barely get a bite on a trade and when I do it never seems to go anywhere. I have 3 deals pending now and each one was so complicated. I'm sure I was as much the problem, but now it seems people have such a narrow window of what they are looking for. I made a post a while back looking for Luongo, and not one reply!!

As for the state of the hobby? I'm concerned. I've tried working with people on FB and twitter and IG and it's just foolish. It's like I'm dealing with 10 year olds. I'm a fair trader, and I'm sure I give more than I get in most deals. I have the common sense to understand that if I'm knocking commons and inserts off your wantlist, that I'm not going to ask for 1 specific card, or a nice auto or something. If it's auto's or GU that sell for a buck, fine, but sometimes it's the constant feeling of people trying to fleece you that just turns your stomach. having said that, there are still people who send cards to me free of charge at times, and I do the same. It feels good to help someone out, but trading is a lost art it seems.

Which brings me to Ebay/COMC.....

I still default to ebay to add to my collection. For the most part I can bid in an auction and get what I think is a fair price. As a seller I never got upset when a card sold for a buck cause the amount of times I buy for the same just makes me feel like I'm trading one for the other. But lately there is a huge sense of entitlement with ebay as well. Don't get me wrong, you are free to ask for what you want, as it is your card, but ebay letting people off the hook with listing fees, especially starting price, has let to so many listings that don't sell. Cards that I used to get for a buck or 2 are listed at $9.99? Just everything fueled with greed these days. I've found COMC to be great lately for low end stuff. Adding singles for less than $0.50, jerseys I need for a buck. It's great! But again, there will be a card that may sell for $10 and the dude wants $150 with no room to bargain. I truly believe the listing fees and penalty for being overpriced would bring a lot of honesty back to the hobby.

I don't bust wax much anymore due to the absolute rip off it is. Pay $100 for a box with $5 of cards in it? So that has allowed me to eat the obsurded cross boarder shipping fees at times.

As for me? I'm getting older, 3 kids, Luongo is soon retiring!!!! So how involved will I still be? Have no desire to start another player collection and for all the reasons stated above it seems near impossible to trade like we all used to.

I have spent the last few weeks creating a new Luongo site, a full in depth checklist, and with his releases being less and less I can see me being the old guy who browses for fun, posts a few Luongo pickups along the way, and fades into the sunset! That day isn't here yet, but it certainly is soon coming.

Chris
 
I started out on the Beckett forums just as most people were leaving to come here I think. I didn't make the jump to HI until 2009 but was still able to make a large number of deals at that time. Lots of trades and sales. I avoid social media like the plague, it is just not for me so I know I am missing out on a lot of deals there but I just can't do it.

For me it is HI first and then COMC/eBay for all of my deals.

I have to believe that the increase in the cost of products and shipping is a huge reason activity is down. I would have no problem spending $100 or so a week on a box or packs because I knew whatever I got from there I would be able to trade or sell for cards I wanted if I didn't hit something for the PC. Now it is nearly impossible to find someone to trade with unless you have the latest and greatest rookie card.

As some have pointed out above, the increased activity was around the release of the CT Coast to Coast product. It was a great set for set collectors and still had some nice chase cards for the thrill seekers. Overall the cost of the product at $1.99 a pack is the reason.

I also have a strong belief that the lack of people commenting on threads leads to more and more people just not posting their breaks or new additions. When you see the number of views in the hundreds and the number of comments in the tens you start to wonder what's the point. I will continue to post mine (although not the huge cards like some) because I find it fun to still scan, sort and share my PC.

Hope that the forums will still be around for years to come as I do enjoy it here.
 
I still like the forums ...I don't post nearly as much as I used to and it doesn't help that Im a pain to deal with and I know that but I still like looking at the cards and trying to work a deal out


I also know people don't like posting S&T's cause of there being 100 views and 3 comments just seems like a waste of time
 
Last edited:
I strongly prefer the structure of the forums, but man, have I been able to acquire 3 beautiful cards from FB in the last two months that I had never seen on the forums! So I try to be a bit more involved in FB than I was before. :)
 
Nick2317 said:
I still like the forums ...I don't post nearly as much as I used to and it doesn't help that Im a pain to deal with and I know that but I still like looking at the cards and trying to work a deal out


I also know people don't like posting S&T's cause of there being 100 views and 3 comments just seems like a waste of time
Click to expand...

This is exactly the reason why I try to comment on as much stuff as possible. I mean, if I'm already viewing the thread, why not make a quick comment on it? It takes three seconds (if that), and it gives the poster more incentive to post again & site activity can grow from there.

Plus, we all like getting comments on our stuff, don't we? So I think we owe it to others to do the same.


A little goes a long way.

:beer:
 
I'm too old to change & this place is comfy. I don't post a lot but I read threads daily. I do wish they could fix the broken parts of the site but other than that I'm good & will continue to stay around as long as I'm able or until I've lost interest & sold my last card.

Stay strong HI !!
 
creasecollector said:
I feel you on this. Seeing all the activity on here (and other card forums) was really exciting, especially after a new product launch and seeing all the Show & Tell posts.

Also I think we are all in the same boat with forums like these being the place we can truly showoff our new pickups with people who really "get" our passion towards this hobby. Nobody offline in my personal life collect hockey cards, so it probably looks a little strange to some haha. Although I do have a friend who is really into Magic cards, so he is the only person I'm really able to geek out with and we can both sort of understand where we are both coming from in that regard. So I guess that's okay!
Click to expand...

Agreed across the board. You mentioned new product launches, great point. I used to come straight to the forum after something released to see all the breaks and hits and such. Now it's just a handful of people posting breaks anymore. I used to post all of my breaks but then it turned into the same 5 people replying and just wasn't worth it, so I guess I'm guilty to a degree on that.

Oh, the good ole days...
 
I want to post S&T like I did a few years ago, but the whole Flikr thing gets me. That and the last few years have seen less downtime for scanning and such (most of my scanning is for uploading to Ebay). It is also almost impossible to trade like a few years back with the USPS postage hikes. With that being said, still great knowledge and members on this forum. Lots of good discussions which are difficult to have on mediums such as Facebook.
 
I've bought 2 cards, sold 12, and traded 3 more in the last 6 years. Some combination of family, kids, and losing my passion for collecting (which of itself is a sum of numerous moving parts). I'm more excited to see a handful of pickups from 2003 than I am a case of this years Cup.

Now get off my lawn and turn your blasted music down!
 
ChuckNorrisFearsSid said:
Agreed across the board. You mentioned new product launches, great point. I used to come straight to the forum after something released to see all the breaks and hits and such. Now it's just a handful of people posting breaks anymore. I used to post all of my breaks but then it turned into the same 5 people replying and just wasn't worth it, so I guess I'm guilty to a degree on that.

Oh, the good ole days...
Click to expand...

...exactly. Was very surprised on the lack of breaks and postings on this site over past years. Economy? Time? OPC Northern lights got lots of love, OPC plat, not so much. Ice? Not so much either.

I can say the posting boom was Crosby years, with a little resurgence for McDavid and a little with Matthews, but this and last year has been a bit thin. This surprises me since the quality of young players in the last 3 years has been surprisingly good, but only time will tell how good, eh?
 
sdpdesign said:
...exactly. Was very surprised on the lack of breaks and postings on this site over past years. Economy? Time? OPC Northern lights got lots of love, OPC plat, not so much. Ice? Not so much either.

I can say the posting boom was Crosby years, with a little resurgence for McDavid and a little with Matthews, but this and last year has been a bit thin. This surprises me since the quality of young players in the last 3 years has been surprisingly good, but only time will tell how good, eh?
Click to expand...

The post before yours outlines one of the bigger reasons why box breaks seem to be down across the board.

cardboardnostalgia said:
Box Breakers have driven the majority of people to Facebook and away from really collecting anything.
Click to expand...

Why would someone post their results from a break where they end up with 1-2 cards that are 1 per pack inserts after spending $30-who knows how much spots top out at now for the newest and shiniest prospects team. It is amazing how much the hobby is driven now by catering products to these box/case breakers. How many products are now catered to those types of breakers? 50%? 75%?

Collecting is becoming not about collecting but instead chasing the newest MacGuffin to sell.
 
Just my two cents here, but it seems like there are too many means of communication/interacting within the hobby. I don't think hobby interest is waning, I'm more in the mindset that it is slowly expanding for hockey. That being said, the number of ways to interact with fellow is growing at a larger rate than the number of collectors coming in. before it was shows, forums. Now there is Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, multiple forums, etc. This also creates niche's within each medium meaning a smaller group of people interacting with each other on any given platform. Although this can have some advantages it also isolates and has many disadvantages. Many interesting thoughts and opportunities are missed due to the fact you just can't keep up with everything.

Perfect example is I am not on Twitter or Facebook therefore I miss out on potentially big PC items and HAVE. It would be nice to see a more centralized hobby platform that was visited by the vast majority... but obviously that would be a HUGE undertaking due to the nature/characteristics of collectors within the hobby.


Could go on for ages about it, but I'll stop here.



From a new "millennial" member.
 
KAB-1993 said:
Just my two cents here, but it seems like there are too many means of communication/interacting within the hobby. I don't think hobby interest is waning, I'm more in the mindset that it is slowly expanding for hockey. That being said, the number of ways to interact with fellow is growing at a larger rate than the number of collectors coming in. before it was shows, forums. Now there is Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, multiple forums, etc. This also creates niche's within each medium meaning a smaller group of people interacting with each other on any given platform. Although this can have some advantages it also isolates and has many disadvantages. Many interesting thoughts and opportunities are missed due to the fact you just can't keep up with everything.

Perfect example is I am not on Twitter or Facebook therefore I miss out on potentially big PC items and HAVE. It would be nice to see a more centralized hobby platform that was visited by the vast majority... but obviously that would be a HUGE undertaking due to the nature/characteristics of collectors within the hobby.


Could go on for ages about it, but I'll stop here.



From a new "millennial" member.
Click to expand...


Great thoughts on this, thanks for sharing them. I agree that collectors having more points of contact online can spread things a little thin when it comes to looking at the activity levels in specific places like forums.

Centralizing things on here like the good ol' days would be awesome, but quite a hard task to push collectors over here. We can all keep trying I guess.


...And welcome to the site! :beer:
 
Yeah I truly believe that these types of boards are the best. I know it's a little harder to post a pic, but I use imgur and its been fine. I love the feedback system, the ability to use lots of txt if needed, and just the overall comfort. I tried facebook for 1 week to try and get Luongo cards and it drove me over the edge. HI and SCF have always been my favs
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
390,135
Messages
2,238,795
Members
4,169
Latest member
Misso
Back
Top