Site Forum

I've spent close to an hour and a half this evening (and am still not finished) on something that I believe should not have to occur. I submitted a proposal awhile back that would stop this action and it currently sits with 1448 points (not sure what that means) in the New Feature - Proposed. I have personally moved it to my #1 priority.

Basically because of the way I collect (similar to anyone else who uses the multiple collection function) I've set it up to separate cards accordingly. I have these collections:

My Want Lists are associated with each collection. When I, or my trade partner, accept a trade using the transaction tools the system then places the cards involved as "In-Transaction", and if you look at the actual collection page it will show in the "In-Transaction" section. Once we've marked them as "Package Sent", then they are moved by the system into "In-Transit" still within the collection they originated from. Once we've marked it as "Package Received" the system then transfers the cards into the Main Collection, regardless of where they were drawn from. So, because I (and others, too) have multiple collections, I would then have to move them into the appropriate collection, and that's where I believe the system needs to be changed.

If you notice there are 160 cards in Main Collection in the image above. This led to the action that I've spent too much time on this evening. I can't say it's unnecessary because I need to move them, but to me it's illogical to allow multiple collections and associated functions and then scrap all that to put them where they don't belong - in the Main Collection. Life would be so much easier for me (and others who keep their collection organized with TCDB) if the cards were distributed to their appropriate collection.

The second proposal I wish to note, found here  with 671 points, would prevent mistakes when choosing an action. Here's a picture of what happens immediately after selecting an action:

Can you tell what the action I requested be done was? What precedes that pop-up box is a selection from the "Choose an action" drop-down menu, which happens in a split second after choosing it. This evening I inadvertently made a mistake in moving a card (not the one shown) because I actually selected a collection above the one I actually wanted to pick. I've requested that the question that is asked in the pop-up box add the verbiage associated with the action chosen to keep us from making inadvertent mistakes. Presently if you notice what happens after you click "OK" you'll see the action chosen briefly on the drop-down menu, but then it disappears. If you don't happen to see it, and it does happen quickly, you may not know if the system did what you told it to do. I happened to see that I had requested the cards be moved to the wrong collection, and then had to spend some extra time correcting the mistake. If, however, I had been asked, "Are you sure you want to Move all items to Baseball - All-Stars, Inserts, and Small Sets?" I could have saved myself some time because that's not where I wanted to move them.

Anyway, I'm asking for your support for these two changes. Please rate them as you desire, and know that I believe this to enhance our ability to enjoy our collections even more.

I completely understand your frustration Joshua. But this is also why I never bothered to jump into the Multiple Collections portion of this site when it started. I knew there would be "growing pains" about how it worked. I'd rather just deal with the site the way I was dealing with it for the first several years. Adding those "new" features didn't help me and I knew it was going to create a mess for me later. I've already had to deal with that on other sites over the years and didn't want it to mess me up here too. The multiple collections feature is the same thing as when Beckett added new folders to collections many years ago. At first it was great, but then all kinds of issues started popping up. So I'm waiting out the collection feature here just like I waited out the folders option on there. But since this site is set up so much differently than Beckett, I can easily find my teams or people without needing the cards to be posted in a specific "folder or collection". A quick name search gets me to the right list that can then be broke down by the drop-down lists to show me what I have or need. I can't do that on Beckett and therefore the separate folders and collections are a neccessity on there, but not the case on here.

I'm not knocking or discounting your post or position here, just stating how it doesn't work for me. I just wanted to point out a way that your cataloging style doesn't work for everyone on TCDB. I know there are many collectors here that will agree with you and will vote for those changes. I'm fine with that and I hope they do vote for the changes. I'm just saying that I won't vote for it and I won't use the Multiple Collections feature until it gets more refined to work excellently.

I believe I gave them both high marks, but the latter moreso. With the way I have my multiple collections set up the first request doesn't affect me, but I can see how it would be helpful...and may affect me at some point later. 

Currently ranked 33 (going directly to collection of wantlist) and 25 (better messaging) in my list.

Reason for the first one to be so difficult to implement - and I may be one of the reasons - I have almost 200 collections. The collections overlap in some spots. There are some multi-player cards and even some single-player cards that could be wanted in 2 or more collections. If I make a trade that gets me one of them, which collection should it go to? Because of this, I have cleared out my "Main Collection" to have only 1 item in the collection portion (my old Sweet Caporal pin of Dick Hoblitzel, I have a couple set wants in the want list) so when stuff comes in, I can easily see the new-to-my-collection cards and move them appropriately. And yes, some have been moved to the wrong collection because the messages do not say which collection they are moving to. The message thing should be a much easier fix.

Dan, It's not much of a problem really when it involves a small quantity of cards, no matter the number of collections. But I've just redistributed 160 cards from about 80 different sets. In a few cases it involved me having to move cards from one set into three different collections. It's a tedium that I partake in voluntarily when setting up my Want List. I just believe the capability is there to keep the flow of cards within the collection they originated from just as they are kept within the sport category.

Regarding single player cards belonging to more than one collection. I have a hierarchy that I follow that prevents that. My '87 Topps Glossy All-Star Valenzuela card only goes into my "Baseball - All-Stars, Inserts, & Small Sets" Collection and not into my "Baseball - MLB PC".

Multiple player cards are problematic at times, but there aren't that many to cause me much lose too much sleep, though I've wavered on how to handle them. The 1979 Topps #6 1978 Strikeout Leaders - Nolan Ryan / J.R. Richard LL, for example, finds itself in both my "Baseball - MLB PC" (Ryan with Angels) and in my "Baseball - Astros/Colt 45s PC & Team Sets" (Richard with Houston). Other such cards only get assigned to one collection, but in all cases I have added a note to let me know where the card physically is.

All in all, I believe this is doable and extremely helpful for those of us who deal with this issue. If it doesn't get done, so be it, I'll be disappointed, but I promise I won't throw a hissy fit over it. AND I want to add that I know nothing about the programming of such a beast, though I believe the logic is there and readily accessible. Just flick that switch (verbiage from my days with the phone company). 

Hi Joshua,

Knowing datbases the way I do, and having somewhat of an understanding how Admin probably has the collections as part of it, it might be possible to handle cards that are only present on one want list (or there is only one copy on the want list - I knowe I have a couple cards where I have multiples listed in the want list), but for other cases, it might not work to your liking either. I'm sure it's feasible, or Admin wouldn't have let it go through the screening process to be voted upon. I am under the impression that anything that is in the list is stuff that 1 - can be done, and 2 - Admin is okay with doing.

If it would help, you can move cards by player.  Like if you got a bunch of Berkmans but they're all in different sets..  I wonder what method you're using that takes so long.

David, moving  cards by player won't help because he'll belong to either one of two collections. At one point when I considered going with multiple collections a player, namely an Astros player could have gone into one of three collections, but I chose to consolidate my Astros Team sets with my Astros PC to avert that three-headed monster to a more manageable one.

Again, my logic is that the transaction system can draw from Want Lists in multiple collections into one trade and guide them along in each step of the process still connected to that originating collection until one clicks "Package Received", then the system disregards where they were drawn from dumps it all into a collection that never was meant to be its home.

I get that, and I preferred the current system, but I dont keep my collection on here anymore so my opinion doesn't matter.  I was just trying to suggest a possible shortcut.

I see a case of making the site personal, I was always under the impression that’s a no no. To be perfectly honest doesn’t  bother me now, but could in the future. Not sure how to vote if at all.