tomiseksj
Moderator
Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
Posts: 6,269
What I collect: Worldwide stamps/covers, Cinderellas, Ohio Prepaid Sales Tax Receipts, U.S. WWII Ration ephemera
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Post by tomiseksj on Dec 1, 2023 23:26:24 GMT
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Post by daniel on Dec 2, 2023 0:03:47 GMT
Well, that was a downer. Barely any positive feedback at all apart from comments from Judge 5. I'm surprised that we rated as well as we did. They didn't seem to be keen on nor understood the concept of a Forum. They were judging us as a club which we are not. As far as forums are concerned, I would say that this one is far better organised and inclusive than most.
Daniel
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hdm1950
Member
Posts: 1,608
What I collect: I collect world wide up to 1965 with several specialty albums added due to volume of material I have acquired. At this point I am focused on Canada and British America. I am always on the lookout for stamps and covers with postmarks from communities in Queens County, Nova Scotia. I do list various goods including stamps occasionally on eBay as hdm50
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Post by hdm1950 on Dec 2, 2023 1:03:17 GMT
It was interesting to read the judges comments and are not really surprising since the TSF does not fit within the structure of in person stamp clubs. I did not find anything mean spirited in the comments, just normal constructive criticism as one would expect when we open ourselves to the process. Personally I find I am a bad judge in things like this because I am a positive person to a fault. I do hope our editor and contributors do not take any of this personal. Your efforts are really appreciated by those who count, the forum members.
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Dec 2, 2023 2:05:53 GMT
Crikey! Frankly, I was gobsmacked, I didn't find anything mean spirited as Daniel, but ignorance, most certainly. Goodness knows what a perfect score edition would look like.
I tried in vain, to get an Ottoman based group, join a forum a few years back. They opted for social media, Facebook. At last look they were getting perhaps 3-5 posts a month.
I'd opine that this forum, amongst 4-5 others, are the best interactive Philatelic meeting places on the planet. Ease of navigation, immediate response to a collector's query, generosity of spirit and gifts, marvelous moderation, and an inclusive constitution.
These forum style, meeting places, are seeding the future of Philately, in a friendly, open environment, at the touch of a keyboard.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,408
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Dec 2, 2023 2:49:46 GMT
When judging websites, I wonder if they actually compare usage statistics. I mean it is one thing to have a nicely designed website, with links to resources and maybe a reference library, but how many hours do the members actually spend on those sites? For example, I’m a member of the Eire Philatelic Association which had a very high scoring website. Sure, it’s nice, but I rarely use it because it doesn’t provide anything that I need very often. But The Stamp Forum? This is stamp central for me.
To me those websites are like grandma’s perfect furniture with the plastic on it. Sure it looks good, but no one wants to sit on it. The Stamp Forum, on the other hand, is all that comfy furniture in the rec room where everyone likes to hangout.
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,914
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Dec 2, 2023 2:57:09 GMT
"To me those websites are like grandma’s perfect furniture with the plastic on it. Sure it looks good, but no one wants to sit on it." Oh! my goodness, I am unashamedly going to steal that line Physical stamp clubs, are a different experience altogether, I would certainly visit every month, if I were not a 3 hour drive away, from mine. A cuppa, a biscuit, catch up with old friends, auctions, a good library. I have several nostalgic memories, of clubs I have belonged to, one in the back room, of a washing machine clearance room, with fellas in their 80's running it. Another in a Perth council broadsheet printer. with a member total of about 10 stamp tragics, myself included.
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dorincard
Member
Posts: 1,453
What I collect: My focus is on Wild Mammals on maximum cards. Occasionally, I get or create maximum cards with other animals, or any other topic.
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Post by dorincard on Dec 2, 2023 4:45:57 GMT
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Dec 2, 2023 8:05:49 GMT
Sigh. Sorry for the length of this post. It's late and I tend to ramble when it's late...
I made some wishy-washy comments in the shoutbox when the awards came out, not knowing the judging criteria and the like. Looking at the criteria, it's clear the ideal, 100 point stamp club website isn't what TSF should be shooting for. It's what I need when I'm in a new city and looking for a club to visit, but not when I'm looking for an online stamp forum.
When I read the feedback, I see conflicted judges. They have this criteria that tries to define the perfect website for a traditional, in person club. But we aren't that. We are something else entirely. So I read a bit of 'why did this racehorse enter a beauty pageant?' in the feedback. At the core, there is the question: What is a club website for? What is TSF for? The answers are wildly different in my mind. And yet, we could benefit from taking some of the criteria and some of the feedback to heart, where our goals might overlap a bit. For example, part of what a club website is for is to help new folks find the club, come to a meeting, join the club and participate in (mainly in person, regularly scheduled) club activities. I'd expect the 100 point clubs to have good practices in place for welcoming new members and helping them get comfortable in the fabric of the club. Some of those practices could be expressed in a well designed website, with clear information on how to join, where the meetings are, etc. And they would complement other practices for when folks actually show up at a meeting. I'd suggest that TSF shares that mini-goal. We'd like the site to help folks find TSF, join and participate in (always online, rarely scheduled, but highly enjoyable) club activities. Maybe the criteria and feedback could trigger some ideas for us to be more intentional in how we welcome new members and help them settle in and get comfortable in the fabric of our club. On the flipside, part of what TSF is for (for me at least) is sharing philatelic knowledge and experience, no matter what level we're at in the hobby or what 'type' of philately we practice. We're awesome at that part! There's more philatelic knowledge shared here every day, by more people, about more topics, than the 100 point club websites can publish in a year. That's by design. Long may it continue. To build on philatelia's post, our site is intended to be used, often and repeatedly. I check back here 2-3 times per day and I'm not even one of the heavy TSF users. Is a 100 point club website intended to be used every month even? Prior to every meeting? Again, our 'what is it for' is different than the 100 point club. We can still improve on our unique 'whats it for' but we're striving to reach a different end point. PS - to flip-flop one more time, I wonder why the APS is taking an interest in club websites. I suspect the goal of this 'competition' is to encourage all club websites to aspire to some minimum standard of clarity and usefulness (within the local club context). More collectors finding, joining and participating in local clubs is good for the traditional APS model. Awesome.
There are some clubs that could really benefit from bringing their websites into the present. When I moved to Victoria I looked for a local club and looked specifically for their website. The local club's site wouldn't rate a medal in 2020. But I can see how this criteria would make their site better for newcomers like me in that context.
But again, TSF doesn't need to be a better version of a local stamp club. If we want to improve, we need to be a better version of an international online stamp forum. Take what helps us in that goal and ignore the rest.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,355
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Dec 2, 2023 11:39:47 GMT
A discussion only social media web site will not likely get the top level in the website competition with rules based around a traditional stamp club. TSF joined APS as chapter/club. As a club, it pays dues and has some privileges over an affiliate listing. TSF also has a newsletter that competes in the newsletter competiton so TSF can complete fully in this category.
You can look at the higher winning level sites and get an idea what they think is best by their rules. On any web site, the primary question is how easy is it to find the information you want. This means curating content. This is a challenge for most social media platforms. It focuses on today. Facebook has many stamp groups but try to find out what was posted 2 months ago.
Stamporama, another discussion board, joined APS as an affliate/society (affiliates so not pay dues so fewer APS benefits than a club) but it does have a more traditional website side where content is stored outside the discussion in more organized format. SOR did not enter the 2023 competition but in the past it had won a vermiel award in the past. I did not see the feedback on its scoring. Disclaimer: I am the APS rep and moderator at SOR.
I do not think one should worry about chasing medals, but rather focus on serving its members as measured by active members and member contribution. But one can say the same about exhibitors chasing medals with its rules that often involves having to spend a lot of money.
Here is the announcement video and comments from a couple judges.
Now, if one wants to score higher, I would follow what I would do for an ISO audit. I would take the criteria and do a self-assessment as a team. Then, discuss how one can demonstrate they are meeting the requirement. One could post this on the website for a judge to see to declare your compliance especially since websites do not have standard content like a book. (In ISO, auditing yourself is a requirement).
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