Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I know some of you are active in some of these other sites as well. How, in your estimation, do the sites differ from each other? What does Stamp Bears offer that I can't get at Stamporama, for example?
I'm not much of a joiner, and I am unlikely to jump on another site just because they also deal with stamps. I am just curious as to whether the other sites offer something different -- perhaps supplemental -- to SOR.
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05:09:43pm
Ray
I think this is a personal decision you will have to make. Myself, I have tried 2 of the three you have mentioned as well as several others. My comfort level is met here because, when I first joined, I was treated like I had been here forever. When I asked "stupid" questions, I received answers, not cynical, snide responses. Right away I felt like I was at a meeting of my local stamp club, not an online community of faceless persons.
I think you should join some of the other sites. Most members here are also members on several other sites, and some frequent them more than they do here because their needs are better met there. I am a member of three local stamp clubs, and I attend meetings of each, but one I attend more than the others because I just prefer it.
I like having you here, but it is not my place to tell you this site is your best choice - that is a decision you have to make for yourself.
Bobby
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"I've been on SOR for about two years, not very active on the discussion boards"
The message boards are only as active as the members make them. One who doesn't participate in the discussions can't blame others or the site for the lack of activity.
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07:54:16pm
I agree, it is your decision. I have tried other boards and found them either difficult to use or the people just seemed a bit snide. I've found SOR to be the best by far. 
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I've always been taught that if I can't say anything nice about something I shouldn't say anything, so I won't say anything about Stampboards. LOL
But I do enjoy some of the discussion on other sites. Stamporama is my main home and Stamp Forums is like a little vacation cabin for me. I do believe that you get out of things what you're willing to contribute. I enjoy the sites more that I actually participate in. You can't make friends if you never chat with anyone after all! So dive in and have FUN!!! 
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I just visited the Stamp Bear site and found (as a Visitor) several articles ...one on Canada security features on the Baby animal stamps and another article on perforations...But alas I don
t quite understand the selling and trading aspect of the group...It was an interesting adventure....but not as easy to follow as Stamporama ...... As for Stamp Forum unless I make 50 posts I can`t access any information........Thankyou for being such a friendly group. and helping me along the way........
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Hi Everyone;
I too have been to stampbears but only as a visitor and didn't join their group or post
there. I was able to find some interesting info on stamps from France with un-official
WW2 victory local overprints, intended to inspire patriotism, and welcome the liberators.
Their threads seemed well-writen and informative. But I only read a few. I did notice
that page loads there take 10-20 times as long as here. I had a hunch they are using
way too much unnecessary Java code. So I disabled Java scripting and the page loads
go very much better, almost as fast as on here. So if you have dial-up and you are ex-
periencing slow load times on any other site, try turning off Java scripting. Sometimes
with Java off certain buttons don't work tho.
Keep on stampin'....
TuskenRaider
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If you have a problem with Maths, do you ask the nice lady at the local primary school, or the Emeritus Professor of Pure Maths at the local University. There is no right answer.
Frankly it depends on your problem and what you want to get from them.
Stampboards is a good example. They have a very diverse membership, the majority of whom are specialists.If you are a specialist wanting comparatively obscure information (What was the printed paper rate in Xland in 1902? What route would an airmail letter have taken from Yalia to Ziana in 1929? What is the highest known Fieldpost number ever recorded in Abcdia?)they are probably your very best chance of a quick and accurate answer. On the other hand, if you just want them to identify a stamp because it's in an alphabet you can't read, you are not going to get an enthusiastic welcome.
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"As for Stamp Forum unless I make 50 posts I can`t access any information."
I think (or, at least, I hope) that it's more nuanced than that. I think the only limitations are that you can't offer to buy or sell, or enter any giveaway drawings*, until you've reached 50 posts. I think otherwise you're absolutely welcome to ask any stamp-related questions at all, or to show items from your collection, etc.
And not that you'd want or need to do this, but I think you're free to offer something for free on there without reaching that 50-post threshold. It's just when money changes hands, or when somebody else is offering something for free, that the minimum kicks in. And the only reason for that is so that there are not too many drive-by posters, who enroll themselves into the drawings but then never participate in anyway.
* The exception, which I think they've recently added, is for members of the APS or BNAPS. I think the 50-post requirement is waived, or else significantly reduced, at least to enter the giveaways. (I just saw that in the last couple of days.)
If you experience any problems on there, please feel free to contact me (through here, if you'd like). That board has a special place in my heart, and, although it's a relatively quiet board, there is a lot of depth and expertise among its participants.
-- Dave
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Glad my first impressions were not unique...Thanks guys....
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Thanks for the responses, everyone. I wasn't looking for a different forum to join, and Stamporama will remain my online stamp home.
My impressions after several visits to each over the last few days:
Stampboards is the biggest, with a lot of expertise among its members. Maybe a bit daunting to someone still new to stamp collecting such as myself.
Stamp Bears is a friendly, easygoing site, and I think it's closest to SOR in its "feel." Because I couldn't see much difference between us and them, I decided not to join Stamp Bears. I might still hop on the discussion boards to lurk every once in awhile.
Stamp Community Forum has what seem to be thousands of discussion posts online, covering many years. Informative. I think its interface is not attractive, and I was at first confused when trying to navigate the site.
Stamporama has the cleanest, easiest to navigate, interface of them all. Thanks to all who were instrumental in getting this site up and running, and keeping it going. For better or worse, you might be hearing more from me in the future.
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12:33:57pm
Stampboards' problems run deeper than too much expertise. They may be the biggest, but they are far short of being the best
And it might be useful to understand the definition of an expert;
".... An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less..... Eventually he knows absolutely everything about virtually nothing..... "
If you do not believe me read an article about Quantum Physics.
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i have tried several forums, stampboards, delphi, delcampe board, and stamporama, but i tend to find myself coming here first and elsewhere second. i don't want to diss the other places since they have a lot to offer, but mostly i think overall i find here more welcoming.
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I used to look at stampcommunity.org now and then, but as Ray already said, the interface is not that user friendly. The amount of accumulated knowledge is huge though, although it is very hard to find exactly what you were looking for. On the other hand, the chance of not finding what you wanted to know is rather small.
I have not been to stampcommunity for a lot of months and I guess that says it all.
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I agree with much of what has been said. I regularly visit Stamporama and Stampboards, and far prefer this site. It seems to me that Stamporama members are generally reasonable, friendly people who don't put on airs, and often go out of their way to help out other collectors. Stampboards I find a bit intimidating, perhaps because the "tone" of discussions sometimes gets a bit testy. Also, it's very Australia-centric, although there are many threads of interest there too. Although I don't post a lot to the Stamporama discussion forums, I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from people who know a lot more than I do about our hobby.
Eric
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I am a member here and a fairly regular user of stampboards. I also have used several others in the past, but I am afraid that most of the active people on them seem to have gravitated to one or the other.
I take the point that Stampboards can be perceived as very Australia based ( after all it started there and most of the early members were Australia collectors) - and in fairness it is the only one to cater for serious Australia specialists. However Stamporama is quite USA based - the difference being that there are other locations for USA specialists. However Stampboards has the stated aim of being the location for all philatelic knowledge on every subject under the sun - and the accumulated knowledge on display is absolutely phenomenal-if you can find it. To some degree it is a victim of it's own success, and some skill is required to access the information you require such is the amount of material on the site. Stamporama is much easier to use - purely because the amount of raw information is much less, and is more beginner friendly - again for the same reason.
Some people take exception to the tone of comments on Stampboards - I am a general collector of whole world issues and hence know a little about a lot, but not a lot about anything. As such I am one of the group who potentially gets a bit of "stick" on Stampboards( although I have never fallen foul myself - for very good reasons). I only ask when I have done as much research as I can, and I take the trouble to express myself clearly and in good English using paragraphs and correct spelling and punctuation ( a pet peeve among the senior members of the board). This peeve upsets people, but personally I am with the board - if I cannot take the trouble to take care with my presentation, how can I expect people to take the trouble to help ? - it should be noted that a fair amount of tolerance is shown in this respect to people whose first language is obviously not English.
It is horses for courses - if you are looking for general information, Stamporama is quicker and easier ( especially in a pro-active sense). However if you are looking for information in depth, or obscure facts then Stampboards is the board of choice - they have more real specialists in more subjects than anywhere else I have ever found -plus the information already there is immense - you don't even have to ask most of the time!
Malcolm
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01:55:43pm
' .... I take the trouble to express myself clearly and in good English using paragraphs and correct spelling and punctuation ( a pet peeve among the senior members of the board). ...."
As long as you remember that they can't read and understand your posts there if you do not put a space line between paragraphs as is done in almost every newspaper and magazine article the literate world.(NOT ! )
They are a bit asinine about that.
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I am a regular member of Stamporama and The Stamp Forum. I joined Stampboards a year ago, but after a month or two, decided I wouldn't be going back there again
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I've been on SOR for about two years, not very active on the discussion boards, but I've bought lots of good stuff from both the auctions and approvals. It's only been recently that I was made aware of other discussion sites, such as Stamp Community Forum, Stampboards, and Stamp Bears.
I know some of you are active in some of these other sites as well. How, in your estimation, do the sites differ from each other? What does Stamp Bears offer that I can't get at Stamporama, for example?
I'm not much of a joiner, and I am unlikely to jump on another site just because they also deal with stamps. I am just curious as to whether the other sites offer something different -- perhaps supplemental -- to SOR.
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
03 Jan 2015
05:09:43pm
re: Other stamp discussion sites
Ray
I think this is a personal decision you will have to make. Myself, I have tried 2 of the three you have mentioned as well as several others. My comfort level is met here because, when I first joined, I was treated like I had been here forever. When I asked "stupid" questions, I received answers, not cynical, snide responses. Right away I felt like I was at a meeting of my local stamp club, not an online community of faceless persons.
I think you should join some of the other sites. Most members here are also members on several other sites, and some frequent them more than they do here because their needs are better met there. I am a member of three local stamp clubs, and I attend meetings of each, but one I attend more than the others because I just prefer it.
I like having you here, but it is not my place to tell you this site is your best choice - that is a decision you have to make for yourself.
Bobby
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re: Other stamp discussion sites
"I've been on SOR for about two years, not very active on the discussion boards"
The message boards are only as active as the members make them. One who doesn't participate in the discussions can't blame others or the site for the lack of activity.
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03 Jan 2015
07:54:16pm
re: Other stamp discussion sites
I agree, it is your decision. I have tried other boards and found them either difficult to use or the people just seemed a bit snide. I've found SOR to be the best by far.
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re: Other stamp discussion sites
I've always been taught that if I can't say anything nice about something I shouldn't say anything, so I won't say anything about Stampboards. LOL
But I do enjoy some of the discussion on other sites. Stamporama is my main home and Stamp Forums is like a little vacation cabin for me. I do believe that you get out of things what you're willing to contribute. I enjoy the sites more that I actually participate in. You can't make friends if you never chat with anyone after all! So dive in and have FUN!!!
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09:00:07pm
re: Other stamp discussion sites
I just visited the Stamp Bear site and found (as a Visitor) several articles ...one on Canada security features on the Baby animal stamps and another article on perforations...But alas I don
t quite understand the selling and trading aspect of the group...It was an interesting adventure....but not as easy to follow as Stamporama ...... As for Stamp Forum unless I make 50 posts I can`t access any information........Thankyou for being such a friendly group. and helping me along the way........
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re: Other stamp discussion sites
Hi Everyone;
I too have been to stampbears but only as a visitor and didn't join their group or post
there. I was able to find some interesting info on stamps from France with un-official
WW2 victory local overprints, intended to inspire patriotism, and welcome the liberators.
Their threads seemed well-writen and informative. But I only read a few. I did notice
that page loads there take 10-20 times as long as here. I had a hunch they are using
way too much unnecessary Java code. So I disabled Java scripting and the page loads
go very much better, almost as fast as on here. So if you have dial-up and you are ex-
periencing slow load times on any other site, try turning off Java scripting. Sometimes
with Java off certain buttons don't work tho.
Keep on stampin'....
TuskenRaider
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01:31:37pm
re: Other stamp discussion sites
If you have a problem with Maths, do you ask the nice lady at the local primary school, or the Emeritus Professor of Pure Maths at the local University. There is no right answer.
Frankly it depends on your problem and what you want to get from them.
Stampboards is a good example. They have a very diverse membership, the majority of whom are specialists.If you are a specialist wanting comparatively obscure information (What was the printed paper rate in Xland in 1902? What route would an airmail letter have taken from Yalia to Ziana in 1929? What is the highest known Fieldpost number ever recorded in Abcdia?)they are probably your very best chance of a quick and accurate answer. On the other hand, if you just want them to identify a stamp because it's in an alphabet you can't read, you are not going to get an enthusiastic welcome.
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re: Other stamp discussion sites
"As for Stamp Forum unless I make 50 posts I can`t access any information."
I think (or, at least, I hope) that it's more nuanced than that. I think the only limitations are that you can't offer to buy or sell, or enter any giveaway drawings*, until you've reached 50 posts. I think otherwise you're absolutely welcome to ask any stamp-related questions at all, or to show items from your collection, etc.
And not that you'd want or need to do this, but I think you're free to offer something for free on there without reaching that 50-post threshold. It's just when money changes hands, or when somebody else is offering something for free, that the minimum kicks in. And the only reason for that is so that there are not too many drive-by posters, who enroll themselves into the drawings but then never participate in anyway.
* The exception, which I think they've recently added, is for members of the APS or BNAPS. I think the 50-post requirement is waived, or else significantly reduced, at least to enter the giveaways. (I just saw that in the last couple of days.)
If you experience any problems on there, please feel free to contact me (through here, if you'd like). That board has a special place in my heart, and, although it's a relatively quiet board, there is a lot of depth and expertise among its participants.
-- Dave
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02:11:40pm
re: Other stamp discussion sites
Glad my first impressions were not unique...Thanks guys....
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re: Other stamp discussion sites
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I wasn't looking for a different forum to join, and Stamporama will remain my online stamp home.
My impressions after several visits to each over the last few days:
Stampboards is the biggest, with a lot of expertise among its members. Maybe a bit daunting to someone still new to stamp collecting such as myself.
Stamp Bears is a friendly, easygoing site, and I think it's closest to SOR in its "feel." Because I couldn't see much difference between us and them, I decided not to join Stamp Bears. I might still hop on the discussion boards to lurk every once in awhile.
Stamp Community Forum has what seem to be thousands of discussion posts online, covering many years. Informative. I think its interface is not attractive, and I was at first confused when trying to navigate the site.
Stamporama has the cleanest, easiest to navigate, interface of them all. Thanks to all who were instrumental in getting this site up and running, and keeping it going. For better or worse, you might be hearing more from me in the future.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
05 Jan 2015
12:33:57pm
re: Other stamp discussion sites
Stampboards' problems run deeper than too much expertise. They may be the biggest, but they are far short of being the best
And it might be useful to understand the definition of an expert;
".... An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less..... Eventually he knows absolutely everything about virtually nothing..... "
If you do not believe me read an article about Quantum Physics.
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re: Other stamp discussion sites
i have tried several forums, stampboards, delphi, delcampe board, and stamporama, but i tend to find myself coming here first and elsewhere second. i don't want to diss the other places since they have a lot to offer, but mostly i think overall i find here more welcoming.
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Auctions - Approvals
re: Other stamp discussion sites
I used to look at stampcommunity.org now and then, but as Ray already said, the interface is not that user friendly. The amount of accumulated knowledge is huge though, although it is very hard to find exactly what you were looking for. On the other hand, the chance of not finding what you wanted to know is rather small.
I have not been to stampcommunity for a lot of months and I guess that says it all.
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12:44:22pm
Approvals
re: Other stamp discussion sites
I agree with much of what has been said. I regularly visit Stamporama and Stampboards, and far prefer this site. It seems to me that Stamporama members are generally reasonable, friendly people who don't put on airs, and often go out of their way to help out other collectors. Stampboards I find a bit intimidating, perhaps because the "tone" of discussions sometimes gets a bit testy. Also, it's very Australia-centric, although there are many threads of interest there too. Although I don't post a lot to the Stamporama discussion forums, I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from people who know a lot more than I do about our hobby.
Eric
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11:28:27am
re: Other stamp discussion sites
I am a member here and a fairly regular user of stampboards. I also have used several others in the past, but I am afraid that most of the active people on them seem to have gravitated to one or the other.
I take the point that Stampboards can be perceived as very Australia based ( after all it started there and most of the early members were Australia collectors) - and in fairness it is the only one to cater for serious Australia specialists. However Stamporama is quite USA based - the difference being that there are other locations for USA specialists. However Stampboards has the stated aim of being the location for all philatelic knowledge on every subject under the sun - and the accumulated knowledge on display is absolutely phenomenal-if you can find it. To some degree it is a victim of it's own success, and some skill is required to access the information you require such is the amount of material on the site. Stamporama is much easier to use - purely because the amount of raw information is much less, and is more beginner friendly - again for the same reason.
Some people take exception to the tone of comments on Stampboards - I am a general collector of whole world issues and hence know a little about a lot, but not a lot about anything. As such I am one of the group who potentially gets a bit of "stick" on Stampboards( although I have never fallen foul myself - for very good reasons). I only ask when I have done as much research as I can, and I take the trouble to express myself clearly and in good English using paragraphs and correct spelling and punctuation ( a pet peeve among the senior members of the board). This peeve upsets people, but personally I am with the board - if I cannot take the trouble to take care with my presentation, how can I expect people to take the trouble to help ? - it should be noted that a fair amount of tolerance is shown in this respect to people whose first language is obviously not English.
It is horses for courses - if you are looking for general information, Stamporama is quicker and easier ( especially in a pro-active sense). However if you are looking for information in depth, or obscure facts then Stampboards is the board of choice - they have more real specialists in more subjects than anywhere else I have ever found -plus the information already there is immense - you don't even have to ask most of the time!
Malcolm
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
09 Jan 2015
01:55:43pm
re: Other stamp discussion sites
' .... I take the trouble to express myself clearly and in good English using paragraphs and correct spelling and punctuation ( a pet peeve among the senior members of the board). ...."
As long as you remember that they can't read and understand your posts there if you do not put a space line between paragraphs as is done in almost every newspaper and magazine article the literate world.(NOT ! )
They are a bit asinine about that.
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re: Other stamp discussion sites
I am a regular member of Stamporama and The Stamp Forum. I joined Stampboards a year ago, but after a month or two, decided I wouldn't be going back there again
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