Rehashing an old subject.Supercharge the forum

[Steve/sewell]

Does anyone else feel the forum could use a face lift and some specific categories added to make searching for older posts for information easier and a lot more streamlined.The most collected quite valuable,widely diverse and representing virtually the entire United States in manufacture Bitters bottles do not have a specific category.The second most collected and probably the most historic and valuable (Historic Flasks and bottles) don't have their own category.
All of the great medicine bottles should have a category making them searchable and listing them in some sort of archive for easy use.Black glass the oldest
form in our country could stand to have it's own category.

I know the forum has a category called bottles to post all of these in and for the most part it works well.When it doesn't work well is when trying to find information you may have read months ago now buried in layers of added posts.I am aware the forum has a search feature which works ok when trying to find old information.As for the added cost maybe Roger could add a membership fee of $20.00 a year which would give members full access to post in every category in the forum.I know twenty dollars might be hard for some members to afford but most of us would spend that on a bottle on eBay in a heartbeat.This would make it a lot easier for Roger to run the website.Think how nice the forum could be with archived bottle pictures like Gunthers site with his bottle nexus.Paying to be a member will also cut down on users who have malicious ideas to harm or ridicule forum members by requiring them to pay to be a member.Non paying users could gain full access to every category but would not be able to post in all of them but maybe just a category called what is this bottle.

This place has some great people, very knowledgeable,very kind and most will help just about anyone with a glass related question.Remember how well Lobeys Secret Santa went last year.The participating members should be doubled this year.Does anyone else agree,disagree has a different take please take the time to respond.

 

[morbious_fod]

Honestly I think things work pretty good around here and allow everyone to participate without expecting them to fork over money for the privilege. If we made a section for every possible bottle out there this would be one very long and difficult to navigate site. Because everyone with their particular collecting interest will want their own particular section. Paying would also keep out anyone with a question, thus we would be down to everyone congratulating each other about the finds that they found all the time and it would get pretty boring. New blood isn't going to join the site when they see the price for participation. I seriously doubt I would have ever joined if we had to pay, and I doubt very few others would either. Sooner or later you would be down to you and Lobey, and boy that would be boring. Just kiddin'.

Maybe another solution is to take sponsorships, or advertising to offset the cost, or better yet have the threads mentioned by you and charge the people interested in those particular threads $20 and see how far you get. The search feature is kinda annoying; however, with some patience you can find what you are looking for. Maybe another solution is that people stop posting a new thread every time they find something and have one long thread that they update much as I have been doing. That would cut down on the number of different threads, and maybe some of the information wouldn't get buried as deep as it does. I have found that this solution works very well when you are looking for a photo of a bottle you posted some months back which has some bearing on a present thread, no searching, just look through the older posts of the same thread.

Honestly one thing that is cost prohibitive for a site like this isn't the amount of threads, but bandwidth, and posting pictures in every post not related to the subject at hand eats up a lot of that and there has been a lot of that going on lately. Just saying.

 

[JOETHECROW]

Another simple and easy task is to use google, with antique-bottles.net,then your search topic.....works very well.Seems to recognize things the forums search does not. I love it here,...it's woven into the tapestry of my daily life,..even more so since I find myself at home more, since I'm job hunting....I'd hate to have to choose between grocerys or coming here.[]

 

[Steve/sewell]

Do you really think twenty dollars is a lot to ask? Most members are paying that for monthly DSL Internet speeds already and double that for 8 meg cable.I bet you as I typed this at least one member has purchased a bottle and 30 or more members have purchased bottles in excess of twenty dollars in the last week.How about free for a year then you pay twenty bucks.I think it would go a long way into brighting the place up.I also feel people who could contribute more would if the site were a little more specific in nature.I agree with all of you it works fine as it is but I feel it could be a whole lot better and more organized.Morbious how many bottle categories could there possibly be? Historical flasks,Bitters,medicines,whiskey and liquors,Beer,soda,poisons,food bottles,jars,poisons,mineral waters,inks,black glass,fire grenades,bar ware,vases,pitchers,stem ware,marbles, pot lids,glass, Whimseys,utilities,colognes,blown three mold and reproductions.Thats 25 categories doesn't seem like a lot to me and most experienced collectors know what they have and would post them in the correct categories. The novice first time collectors would post just like they currently do in the before or after 1900 category.I am sure you could add a few more but not many as most bottles would fit into these categorys.You could keep the other existing categories with the exception of (before 1900 or after 1900).Just make a new category titled what is this.Most of the piranah Wikipedia's here would still answer the question being asked.
I know this place is woven into the fabric of our some of our lives I just feel it could be a lot greater and maybe then the serious collectors would view this site as more of a knowledge base then in turn they would share their knowledge and expertise Rich (Lobeycat).I like the idea of sponsors Morbious,Glassworks,American bottles,eBay,all of these sites would benefit from advertisements on this site.and then attract the serious collectors to this site a win win for all concerned.Joe, You could keep a portion of the forum free to allow novices to get their feet wet and for members going through tough economic times,Twenty a household seems fair.Just as you said Lobey most get the bug and then clutter up their homes with glass,using that same rational there are hundreds of people with fantastic collection's already who might share there knowledge and show their bottles to all of us making us wiser and more informed then we currently are.This would only promote the hobby further dont you think.Free is not always best.

 

[glass man]

BROTHER STEVE:IS 20 DOLLARS TOO MUCH TO ASK" IS ALL REALATIVE...WELL IT IS FOR US...WISH IT WASN'T,BUT I THINK SADLY 20 BUCKS WILL BECOME HARDER AND HARDER TO COME BY FOR MANY.I AM HAVING TO SELL MY COLLECTION AS MONEY IS NEEDED...WHEN MY COLLECTION IS GONE[WELL I WILL ALWAYS HAVE SOME BOTTLES,CHEAP ,BUT THAT IS COOL!] I CAN AT LEAST COME ON HERE A SEE OTHER'S BOTTLES...HEY THAT IS GREAT TO ME...AND GET TO TALK ABOUT THEM! AS FOR "SERIOUS COLLECTORS" I AM PRETTY SURE MOST ALL HERE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT OUR COLLECTING! IF YOU MEAN LIKE "BIG NAME"OR "BIG SHOT" COLLECTORS OR SOMETHING ,HEY I SEE SOME OF THESE PEOPLE AT BOTTLE SHOWS AND MOST WILL BUY AND HAVE BOUGHT FROM ME IF I CUT MY PRICE IN HALF ! TRY TO GET THEM DOWN THOUGH! WELL I AIN'T TRYING TO START NO BOTTLE CULTURE WARS ON HERE...I'M JUST SAYING..I KNOW SOME OF THE "SERIOUS COLLECTORS" AND THEY HAVE "SERIOUS COLLECTIONS AND SERIOUS MONEY" I HAVE KNOWN MANY OF THEM FOR YEARS! NOT BAD PEOPLE! JUST.... GOOD LUCK ON GETTING SOME OF THEM TO GIVE 20 BUCKS! [] JAMIE

 

[RedGinger]

Just particpating in a 10.00 auction was hard enough for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the book I got, Marjorie was very helpful with the process and I wa glad to be able to help the forum. For some of us $20.00 is a lot. How about doubling that amount to $40.00 for two people in a household who are members. Unless Roger has a problem, I don't see why it should be changed.

 

[peejrey]

I'm not saying 20$ is a lot but lobeycat is right after a while people will stop coming here. Looking at all the different categories on this wonderful site offers, i don't know if another category is needed. If we start charging people won't come here they'll go to Antiquebottles.com. It was the first site I used when i started, until I came here, I love it here. And like times are now i couldn't pay anything. Of my opinion i think the site is great as-is.

 

[GuntherHess]

people won't come here they'll go to Antiquebottles.com

??? That's Reggies site, he doesnt have a forum does he??

 

[RED Matthews]

Well this has been an interesting read. I think I liked the response of JOETHECROW the best. I come here just about everyday to look for someones questions that I can resolve for them. To explain some of the early glass making practices that I have learned about by spending a lot of time reading and studying the marks left on glass by the making process.

I get rewarded by the things I read here, that fill in the information I haven't or can't read in old books. Primarily because the bottle maker that ran his shop, didn't tell anyone how his forming was accomplished, unless they were part of his shop crew. It was an early form of JOB SECURITY!

So my response is just one of a happy cat purring by an open fire. RED Matthews

 

[morbious_fod]

ORIGINAL: Steve/sewell
I agree with all of you it works fine as it is but I feel it could be a whole lot better and more organized.Morbious how many bottle categories could there possibly be? Historical flasks,Bitters,medicines,whiskey and liquors,Beer,soda,poisons,food bottles,jars,poisons,mineral waters,inks,black glass,fire grenades,bar ware,vases,pitchers,stem ware,marbles, pot lids,glass, Whimseys,utilities,colognes,blown three mold and reproductions.Thats 25 categories doesn't seem like a lot to me and most experienced collectors know what they have and would post them in the correct categories.

25 categories would make for a very long main page on this site, and a lot of scrolling just to find the particular thread we happen to be interested in. It doesn't seem like a lot until you are having to deal with it every day, then you have to have moderators for each, because even if they are paying there will still be the flamers, trolls, and jerk wads who will continue to stir up trouble.

Free is not always best.

Actually Free is best when it comes to trying to preserve the bottle collecting hobby. A good chunk of collectors are getting much older now, and the new generation knows nothing of glass containers in their daily lives, thus the nostalgia doesn't exist. The hobby is slowly dying off, except for a few younger individuals who are just naturally inclined to collecting, and are awed by old glass, or in the greater cases old soda bottles which are the closest to their daily lives. This was the reasoning behind the decisions I made concerning my own site. I could have just worked on a book for ten years, and published about ten copies, only to have it disappear into obscurity. I decided that my site needed to be free to the public, because through it maybe someone will discover the hobby for themselves. That is what keeping this site free means, inspiring the "Have I stumbled upon a gold mine" novices to see what is out there and to be able to ask questions and communicate with the members on all of these sections in order to learn more about the hobby. Rather than basically telling them that in order to communicate with us one on one they have to pay twenty bucks, or post a question about their bottles in one specific section, and then read our posts that we handed down from upon high. The ultimate new members should be seen and not heard unless they are willing to fork over the cash.