STOP WHINING , STOP COMPLAINING.

We are still here and we are still one.

Need I remind each and everyone of you that in april of 2005 when I joined there were only 3 or 4 of us active posters.. plus Bob's alleged ghost posters..LOL (got to be an old timer to remember the accusations thrown at Bob and his fledgling site) We didn't grow because Bob built it, we grew because we enjoyed each others company about numerous topics, from sports, to tv shows, movies, and of course the dreaded political forum. And the Hobby.

Are there still Hobbyist out here everyday? OF course there is!

Trouble is we have NO CONTENT!

Let me give you a few suggestions

1. somebody start spearheading a new release topic every week. Easy to research.. goto dave ad adams and copy their product blurbs with a suggested retail price and date

AND EXPRESS YOUR OWN OPINION! THAT ALWAYS RATTLED SOME CAGES.

2. start talking about sports again. The draft, hockey playoffs, basketball playoffs, ring tossing, baseball, Frisbee golf cow chip tossing, competitive beer drinking..

IT DOENT MATTER WHAT THE TOPIC IS, OTHERS MIGHT JOIN IN!

3. Lets have a showoff showcase showdown thread, here Ill start one!
Check out my Non sport showcase showdown topic in show and tell!

NOT NOW YOU GOTTA LET ME FINISH THIS FIRST!

4. Go post your favorite movie topic and lets have a poll and let people nominate and post movies to vote on!

OK SOUND LAME BUT...

5. Write a movie review. Gosh knows I don't want to spend $11 to be the first to see Iron Man 3.. however Star Trek into darkness looks like a bad robot!

6. start a hobby talk article about an old set you liked or a set your assembling!

7. Post a wantlist for gosh sakes!
MINE IS IN MY SIG!

8. Post a political topic that will stir up debate and good clean healthy discussion with a little name calling on the side

COME ON RICHARD YOU PROMISED!


and Im on a roll and my brain is smoking
We got to reboot this site just like a few of us booted it the first time.

It takes a team! We have a team, we just need to bring them home.

AND IN MY BEST BELUSHI IMPERSONATION..."WHO'S WITH ME?!!!"

I am not giving up till the germans bomb pearl harbor by the way!

I'm with ya. Had to take a little break for awhile but I'm back and ready to go. When I found this site I couldnt believe that something like it even existed and after a few trades, I quickly felt like I was part of a family. I was on here everyday, it was part of my daily routine and I couldnt imagine a day without checking in and trying to make some trades and read all the posts and such. I have seen the site "slow down" as some would say but we, the members, are to blame for that. I'm ready to help to bring this family back to where it was. I've said it before and I'll say it again ..... (in my best Ric Flair voice) .... wether you hate it or you like it, learn to love it, TCC is the best in the world.

I second that Ken and Steve!

I see my tcc resident artist and close sketch confidant lurking!

"Germans?"
"Forget it He's rolling."

I concur with that sentiment!

I will try to get on a little more here and there. And you know I can talk. lol


My big thing is how we can get more people plugged back in and join the site? Keeping the hardcore people is one thing. But we also need new blood. Word of mouth works to a point. But like me, I really don't know anyone in my area that also collects. Other then the card shop owners (I don't know anyone who goes in them? They are always empty when I go). Unless he would let me put up a flyer there. Maybe others on here could ask there shop to put a flyer. We also need a big overhall of the site. Yes it can get by without it, but if new people find the site and the look at the home page its might make them leave. Like the big window right in the middle (first thing they will see as it jumps out because of size) "January 2011 Member of the Month". And if you go down, the hobby news. Stuff from 2006! And the box reviews 2009!. I mean I really like the lay out and how stuff works on here, but it just needs updates. Maybe some banners and new info. Just some basics, so when new people do come here they actually will read some stuff and might get started! Also not sure if Bob runs the Facebook page or whatnot, but maybe get that up and kicking. And people will see it on peoples list and might check it out. A way to pull in new people, maybe. And maybe a little bigger like button on the home page that says like "ready to get started?" and then under that "click here"! Also if you guys know some people email and want to send them a invite use the link I posted here. (if this feature works? I'm not sure). Maybe if you have contacts for people that used to get on all the time but don't and more send them a heads up on FB or yahoo or what not. But just a couple ideas, -Jason


http://www.tradingcardcentral.com/feedback.php


And on more thing. Maybe we can start getting people in the chat room? I just checked it and it looks like it still works. We could get some real conversations going in there in real time. Just a thought. A great easy way to work out some deals also and you can go back and forth easy.

I guess one thing that might help is when you trade with other collectors from some of those other places (or you sell your stuff on Ebay or Sportlots or wherever) you could put in a custom made TCC "business" card. Put TCC and the url on one of those decoy blanks?

Hey it's a thought. I know it won't attract a cast of thousands, but it might bring in a few straglers.

Bluto, I like your enthusiam, however, I think the Germans bombed TCC!

Like Jason, I think the biggest issue is getting new members, even without a new home page this place needs new members. Currently, I am not sure anyone is approving new members, especially now that Richard resigned, or if there even are any. Maybe I am wrong, but you need new people to keep trades happening or box breaks going or topics going with more than 10 opinions. I love TCC and have been devoted here since I first found it 8 years ago (2005), but even the regulars rarely hang out here anymore. I come here at lunch and see so little activity, I start random searches on the internet to keep from getting bored. There are a lot of great people here, TCC has just lost it's fire and hasn't changed very much since it's early inception. Other sites push their site by doing daily box breaks which is where a lot of interest is anymore, or by having new members which allows trading to keep somewhat fresh, or by having contests, or interesting conversations. We have some of that, but if new people can't get in, then things really will not change as it is the same people voicing the same opinions or showing the same trade items. I don't have any ideas on how to change things, I tried what I could and even that hasn't helped.

Not to be a Debbie Downer but....


Attracting new folks won't serve much purpose if nobody to approve them. Members by join date:

link

So last one was in Feb. You can go thru 5 pages of them and only find 3 with more than 50 posts of the ones that have been approved. The list of folks waiting to be approved is huge and full of ones like this (or so I hear as I don't have access to that stuff):

profile

Bots that only here to put links to other things for sale or porno links etc.....is their only reason to be here. I used to spend hours of my time going thru and removing crap like that in profiles, but it became a why bother as they put it back faster than I can remove them.

Of the Mods left I count 7 that have been even on the site the last two days, so half bascially:

link

Of those I'm not sure who has full access, but my guess is a couple, and Dave was the last one that dealt with the arduous task of going thru and sorting out the real folks wanting approval from the Bots/Spammers.

Can this site run w/o an Admin? Apparently as it has been almost 3 years now. Problem is it gets harder to justify putting ones time into something that even the Admin don't give a crap about, that and not knowing if site will go poof at any given time on you as nobody has that info or is told anything. I have done my part for a long time now because of my love for the site, but that can only go so far. The Team has been w/o a leader basically now for a few months, the couple of us that do anything around here have been doing what we can or have time for (or what we can justify). I have been just making my own decisions, as if I post a topic looking for feedback from the Team on something and only get a response from one person, there really is no point in me making a topic in our area as I can play point/counter point by myself if I so choose. It really "bites" when I had to put the Admin on CTO, and if one has to do so with any other Team Members then the "why bother" point of view kicks in some more.

Don't get me wrong, I love this site as it got me back into the Hobby and I have met a lot of great folks here. But those I choose to have contact with I can do so on another site or Facebook or via Email. I have gave a lot to this site along with many other people (more than most can know as it is behind the scenes so to speak), but I also told Dave long ago that I wasn't going to be the last rat jumping from the sinking ship (he and Richard both had the ability to remove them-self and I don't, and I was turned down the time I wanted to be removed from the Team). So out of us Vets that do anything here, there is nobody with the time and/or desire to be the Leader, which don't bode well at all.

End of rant and too long of a post, sorry for the long read but had to say my piece.

Peace out.

Oh, I'm always lurking about.


I have to admit, it's not only TCC. There are other sites I frequented feverishly that have simply migrated onto Facebook and never looked back.

I was extremely active with a group of folks on a horror forum, many of whom I'm very close friends with now. Around the same time TCC started slowing down, those horror folks were posting more and more on Facebook. Now the horror message boards is a ghost town (pun intended).

Is there a TCC Facebook page? Can we somehow connect the two in a stronger way?

Thanks for firing up the troops here, Mr. Emerick.

Lord knows that I was sadly lacking in that virtue. Nonetheless, I'll be a member that contributes consistently and (hopefully) wisely to a site that I hold dear.

Opened up a powder keg in the Politics Forum for starters.

Collect Hard!,
RGBII

Bob, mr Road runner

Lets assemble a team again!

lets get new approvals rolling

What do you need me to do.

ive been on the sidelines too long after my debacle with wanerjr

Im ready to play!

Touché

Collect Hard!,
RGBII

Yep there is one: TCC on Facebook it doesn't get much attention though. Just like a lot of other early FB pages/groups (before FB made major changes to everyone's "newsfeeds" and implimented the Timeline) it appears dead Jim er Ted.

As Bob has control of the FB page I don't see connecting to something that is as old or older than the front page here that hasn't been updated also.

I started a Facebook page for TCC quite some time ago, and started out doing daily updates on it. After the insights started working though, and I realized that the posts on there were only reaching 2-3 people a month I quit doing anything on it and just deleted it.

The "official" one cannot be maintained and, last time I checked, had some pretty vulgar things on it posted by an irate member who was upset he was banned from TCC.

By the way, if someone else wants to start a new one I'll be one of the first to "like" it, as long as it's updated regularly.

Yes Kirk, Thats the FB I used to post on, had a few Contest going on promoting the site with the friends I had when I was on, had 7 come on and pressed "Like", plus maybe I shouldn't haved Spamed it about the Box Breaks! But I gave it a try to get more members here, that was a long time ago!

You know I came from SCF over here 2 yrs ago, SCF was the only site I knew of till I came across TCC, Brian northicehero99 was the first I ever talked to, think it was about the year of a Pavel Datsyuk RC I was seeking, from there I met Dwight urbanmonk and others whom I built a great friendship with, It was nice that I was well welcomed by great members! funny how I have more post here and have made more transactions in a short amount of time than SCF since 2008! has to tell you something?

I try to promote and give my best to post contest and be active on the forums, but sometimes feel like by myself at doing it! Really hope we can kick start this site back up! I'm not going anywhere, just got here!

I know I was not as active as others but I have always loved TCC the best out of all the community sites out there and am willing to do anything I can to keep this site going.

I kinda do kinda don't want to be a member of the team. But if it would help out and give use a chance at getting kick started again I would take on a little bit. Maybe if I could help approve new people? I don't really want to be one that polices the site. I am not sure how exactly the sign up process even works as its been a long time, but could we maybe do something to it to make sure it kinda weeds out the spam? But let me know if I can be of some help, I don't want to take on a full load but I would be glad to pitch in a little here and there as I can!

In order to approve members you have to have access to the whole administrative control panel (something I don't have, but never wanted it as Transactions were my baby and kept me busy enough), which usually goes only to certain veteran members on the Team as quite the responsibility. Back in the day Bob did all the approval stuff and nobody was taught any tricks to making it easier, as we had no warning of him going "poof" nor any communication from him about it either, so we was flying blind so to speak. So needless to say it is an arduous process from what I have heard, it is a huge list now to go thru as nobody has done anything with it in months (again so I have heard as I don't have access to it nor do I want it).
Sometimes you can tell by nic or email, others you can't

Payday loans:

profile

not sure but don't want to click link:

profile

toys:

profile

Jerseys:

profile

bunch of outlets:

profile

That is just from the 28 members that were onsite at the time I looked, all have zero posts and from what I know are probably waiting approval. So over 1/6th of the folks online at this time when I"m on are spamming, and 3/4's of them have zero posts here. So like 6 real people or active members online with me right at this moment out of 28 (if you go thru all the nics that have been online today you will get similar results).

ACK I didn't realize but should have known the "Official FB" page was maintained by the legendary Bob.

Oh well, maybe I need to clean out some of my page and group likes.

Jason, the method for becoming a CZT Team member was either you were selected by Bob or the CZT via a vote based on history on site and the need. When things were busy there was a big need as transactions could overload 4-5 people with all the error corrections, chasing for status updates, etc. Not to mention resolving disputes, removing inappropriate posts from new approved accounts, etc, etc. Now that things have slowed, not sure where things stand on those.

I would be willing to do other things on here as well. I just don't want a huge load dropped on me. So I put it out there and if it gets decided that fine, if not thats fine as well. Or even if it would be a temporary thing, just to have a extra hand until we can get up and rolling again and maybe a couple people that have kinda pulled back or stepped back get the urge to come back full strength. And im not pointing out anyone specific! Just kinda talking as a whole. I just want to bring the site back to life as I really did like coming here a lot. Though I cant get on as much as I used to, I would still like to see it booming when I do get on. But ether way, whether it be part of the team or just part of the group that make up the site, I will try to do my part as I can!!

194 guests and 17 members active right now.

what the heck?

Some of the stuff you guys are discussing is easy to fix, some not
1) why not call bob and offer to admin/ buy the site? its really easy just ask
2) find a programmer to freshen things up
3) get someone who knows SEO and web presence to help\

it's a matter of knowing how and wanting to do it

I have experience with #3.

Yes sir, it is much easier stated than done.

Collect Hard!,
RGBII

I can't pretend to be as knowledgeable as the rest of you on the topic...but it is my understanding that it is next to impossible to get ahold of Bob..and that he has been approached about selling and didn't have much interest...not sure the motivation of keeping the site if not maintaining it as I can't believe it is generating much revenue...

Seems it might be better to start a new site...TCC.com is not available...

Touché, sad but accurate insight into reality.

Collect Hard!,
RGBII

I will be busting a couple of boxes of 2013 Bowman Jumbo next week. I will do 2 full reviews to get some new content in the "Reviews " forum. I have been neglecting the breaks as of late.

Jerad

I have provided bob's full contact information to a specific member here. there are some tricks to gettign this stuff.
the issue miight be that the site is monitized and the money coming in is greater than the money going out.
I've held on to a 'dead' site for years just because the name is good and now, after a few years i am finally doing something with it...it could be that way

I have a feeling that you have it the nail on the head.

Bob is a good guy, Im sure he will be back around. Sometimes life leads us down different paths with 8' tall hedgegroves surrounding us so we cannot see any light. not sure what specifically is going on, but I am patient and behind him 110%.

As long as the site is here and we are all here, I am not going to fault Bob.

Last I heard, long time ago was the site revenue was enough to offset the servers to host it, but I was not given specifics whether it was just enough or more. My guess would be more based on the volume we put up, but I would think these advertising companies would continue to monitor activity and would adjust payment accordingly. So if at one time you were getting 10,000 views, but now are getting 1,000 they would lower the amount paid? Not sure as I have never been involved with that, but why pay for a porsche if you are driving a hugo?

We had access to his info, getting a response from using said info is a totally different ball of wax.





I should keep my mouth shut.....but sometimes I don't, although it is rare (least in the public area as those on the Team can attest).

I love this site and currently I am still here and part of the Team. Not going to disagree with life and what it deals us at times, as those that know me well know I can relate to it quite well as I have been dealing with much manure for awhile now. It is bad enough when one has to put a member of the Team on restriction, let alone the Admin when they owe people for things they have received and/or go AWOL w/o any communication whatsoever. So in reality Bob is no different than anyone else in the current group he is in even though he started this site (as my bias can't be justified anymore, nor should have existed if I'm going to be fair to everyone). Don't get me wrong I think the world of Bob, and wouldn't have bothered giving all of my time that I have given to this site both before and after his disappearance. And I give a rats behind about the money he owes me, it is more just principle of it at this point so has no bearing on my thoughts. It is more that I got set up to be biased, as cut him slack I wouldn't have with any other member, and just makes me look bad as I waited much longer than I would have with any other member currently in the CTO club. So what bugs me the most is the lack of any communication with the Team that got left holding the reins so to speak. Yes some things not needed to be made public, much of the crap I have been going thru not been announced to all (or very many folks for that matter as never a topic and all via PM to those I choose to tell), but if I was no longer going to fulfill my duties as a Team Member I would let the Team know, even if I don't give them a specific reason or want to go into any detail.

Said too much, but it had to be said I felt (my apologies if I pizzed anyone off with my point of view). I still currently come here daily, just not spending hours here like I used to as I Mod on another site also, and it is a very active site and also fits my current PC focus as it is mainly a Hockey Card site (reverse of this site as other 3 sports are the dead forums there), so not only deserves my time but fits my needs for my current collecting focus as well. As to how much longer I will be on the Team here is hard to say, but I doubt I will make a public announcement when I do decide to stop, but I will let the Team know even if I choose not to go into detail as to why (not like it takes a brain surgeon, as nobody wants to be the last rat jumping the sinking ship, even though it is coming to that really in my mind).

All I will say on the subject, and serious this time as I won't post anything else on the subject or respond to it (well as for sure as I can be, as I "never say never", as it is setting oneself up to fail then for sure), so my intent anyway to be done with the subject in all areas of the board (public area and our area).

dwight

I care.

I care that you are around .

I care about you and your well being having met you and your wife in person all those years ago.

I respect you and what you continue to do.

Nobody faults you for airing your grievances sometimes things are better off being said than not!

You are my friend first and foremost and a great collector who's devotion to the hobby is unending it seems!

I dont need to say anymore

But, I love you Dwight!

$11 for a movie? How old is this thread?

come to st louis, rob, we can go see Star trek on 5/17 for $11.00 each!

Dwight,

Although I'm not active here I appreciate all you have done here past and present. We've sent each other $x,xxx's in free cards and I know you've done the same for others!!!!!!! Know that you are valued here! TCC will make a comeback!!! Bob looks like a ###### now but he is genuinely a good guy and will correct things when he sees fit. Hang in there brother! Please.

Jeremy

Love you too dear

This site's revenue is dropping, but is still plenty more than enough to pay for the server costs. The site will likely continue to be "online" because it's still making money. Google Adsense only makes up a portion of the revenue for TCC, and it earned around $85 in the month of April. That alone is enough to pay for the server costs here at TCC. I should also note that April has been the lowest earning month for TCC, so far, this year too (by quite a bit, actually).

MJ
I can state for a fact that if the site is making that much money on just google adsense that what you see now will continue to be the norm. Monitizing is an important key to web success as if the site pays for itself/ makes money it is much easier to just let it off it's leash and run. Building a new site is not the answer as who here wants to invest the time to promote it correctly? sure yo ucould scrape the members list and invite everyone (not hard)but getting this up and going is tough. The initial cost to use invision, get a name, email and hosting will run about 350 dollars with year over year costs being about 150ish..kinda puts that $85 from adsense in perspective?

just my .02 but I do know what I am talking about

The numbers coming from Google Adsense are showing signs of decline over the last few years. They used to be more than 3 times that.

Is starting a new site "the" answer? Probably not, but when you can't do anything with this one, what else do you do?

Who here wants to invest the time to promote it correctly? Depending on what you call "correctly", I'm sure there are plenty of people who would get involved if it were a joint effort to try to do it.

Also, $150 would not buy a server good enough to host TCC, with all of its traffic, for a year. If you could find a host that claimed they could do it for that, I'd avoid them.

Finally, I've known all along how much money this site makes. I also assume that's why it's still here. It certainly wouldn't still be here if it were losing money.

Capitalism rocks.

Tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Collect hard!,
RGBII

MJ
go daddy will give you the space and bandwidth..reasonably..I manage almost 80 sites there and its reasonable hosting
an invision power board license is 50 and then 50/yr for support/ upgrades, email is 20/yr, icann is 0 or so...hosting even at the outside is 125...still enough to make a profit
all you ned is a name and some time

If you're talking about hosting a site with the traffic that TCC has on Godaddy's shared hosting, you really have no idea what it takes to run a site of this magnitude. Their shared hosting does not allocate enough processing power, or RAM, to run TCC (or any other decently sized forum for that matter). Space and bandwidth would both be of very little concern when trying to host TCC. We'll just have to agree to disagree here and move on to the next conversation.

Well, that response didn't go over so well. Let me attempt to
articulate my point . . .

I believe the intention of the original post was to breathe some
much needed life into TCC. When it becomes about profit margins
and the pure filth of money, it tends to taint our precious hobby.

While I understand the financial interests of those that have
commented here, nonetheless, it cheapens the end product
when the "bottom line" is worshipped.

We don't need bean counters, we need dedicated Hobbyists to
do what we have done here in the past. That is, put our hearts
and souls into the site and our obsession.

End o' rant, where are my meds?

Collect Hard!,
RGBII

ok brothers, im back in blue.. lets fire this mother up