Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
There are some good selection capabilities, including the "Display all", "Display Only" and "Exclude", and the "Plus".....and I made good use of some today to eliminate from view "Sheets" as I only wanted to look at stamps.
But I tried to do more, and I wanted to test the limits of our capabilities. I wanted to Exclude "Sheets", and also "used"....as an example. The program however does not have an "OR" capability. It searched on "sheet" AND "used". and I fell back on a bigger rather than smaller filtered selection list.
So I am wondering loud. Do we have a range of search Syntax options, to search on more than one key word? What syntax options do we have. Should we have more? Can we combine both exclude and select only? What do people who use the auction board do to limit what they look at just to areas of interest?
Curious on what others are doing?
rrr...
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I search using the "exclude" function for a couple of sellers only. Mostly because I haven't figured out how to whittle the list down by any other search terms. I haven't really tried that hard to limit searches because in the past, there weren't all that many lots, and I just liked looking at everything that was listed.
Recently, the auction lot numbers seem to have greatly increased, and it is starting to take too long to go through the whole list.
Don't know the first thing about the "behind the scenes" requirements (other than it probably takes a lot of time and effort). Wondering how any improvement to a search function could be accomplished without a refinement in the seller's listing descriptions......
Sally
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Quote: """Recently, the auction lot numbers seem to have greatly increased, and it is starting to take too long to go through the whole list."""
I am like you Sally, I try to look at auctions on a daily basis, usually I look at items closing within 24 hours (old habit from ebay) and new listing, but as the list gets longer, it is more and more important to make the search selection efficient...or I won't bother 
!
So two things enter...search capability AND category list (see my old post on the topic). They are inter-related, and critical to me.
Let me give an example. I don't collect covers or sheets, so I want my list to exclude both covers OR sheets when I search and try to be more efficient. NOT currently possible. I need to exclude one or the other at a time.
I want to look at Middle East countries only. Not currently possible because they are lumped with Asia, and I could not select ALL the countries by listing them under key work, because of the AND vs OR syntax....so I suffer through hundreds of items that don't interest me, or get tired and move on elsewhere 
! 
So the two issues of Category list AND syntax are related. When I hear some object to (minor changes) refinements to the category list, my reaction is.....they are not buying here, or they have much more patience than I do! Measured improvements are not a crime, or we would all be riding horses and listening to radio on our old galena sets! Let us use the power of the tools we have in the 21st century!
Still curious to hear from other buyers. What do you do? Do you ever try to use the power of the computer to simplify your auction activity? What tools do you deem useful that are currently missing? What tools do you recommend, that you currently use? What category changes would improve your life? 
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Ralph:
I'm a self-defined Stamporama stamp buyer. I have never sold a stamp.
My fast-fading memory suggests I may have discussed this issue with you previously under a different thread.
By your terms, I am a luddite as I do not generally support your proposals for change. Yes, your suggestions may be good for you but how many are marching in Ralph's army?
Stamporama is a hobby club of stamp collectors. Hobbyists as I know them are not driving on German autobahns, they are into their hobbies to relax, to escape from the train-train journalier and, yes, even to unfocus and ignore the clock for a bit.
I accept there are some Stamporama members who aren't hobbyists, perhaps that is the pebble in your shoe.
One of my ISPs (Google) has, indeed, an army of hired hacks who, to justify their salaries, daily churn out a constant stream of website changes called "improvements". It's very much like the breakfast cereal that has been marketed for the last century and every box of it is labelled "new" and "improved".
Sure, Stamporama isn't perfect, it never will be. It's "search" function and stamp categories have been criticized
since before I joined. I am far from being computer knowledgeable and internet savvy, yet even the "search" functions of the most sophisticated websites that I have visited leave something to be desired. (I suspect it is because their techno-geeks do not use the English language in the manner I was taught.)
This is my opinion, Ralph, nothing more.
John Derry
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Hi John
I love Stamp Clubs. Would much rather trade and talk stamps than be on the commercial sites. And I do more trading than outright purchasing. I always think of selling in a club as a method to arbitrate trades among people with unequal items to sell...not a commercial enterprise.
And like you, I have not sold anything (yet), but I trade a lot...and I do intend to trade or sell here(selling as a second choice to outright trading, and also to make some of my duplicates available to collectors like me, because I am downsizing).
So please don't imagine I have any intention of pushing for an army of programmers and all the bells and whistles no one really wants!
But small gradual improvements...that, I am ALL for, and I don't understand why you seem to want no changes! That does not make it less of a club!
Improvements are good. I would love a trading platform, as an example!
And yes, we did discuss something related to categories some time back, and if my (failing) memory is right, it seems you (or was it someone else?) did not want any changes to our current system, while I suggested taking a closer look at it, and for my own needs suggesting a couple.
I agreed with Tim that we do not need a multi-layered detailed category system that will satisfy no one and complicate things.
But that does not mean we cannot have a few changes, if users feel it is appropriate...I don't feel our current list reflects the activity focus of the auctions, or the interests of the members...for example. Take a look: several categories have close to 1000 items daily, and several just have a handful. Also some groupings are expedient rather than logical. I for one find the single grouping of Asia and Middle East (as an example) annoying...it is as illogical(to me) as grouping US and Mexico (under a N. America label).
That would sure irritate the US centrist collectors.
To push it to an extreme, we could have NO categories at all, and just use keyword search? It sure would make it simpler? And possibly work just as well as now? Not really...
If I am a lone voice, I will be ignored, rightfully so, but if others also have suggestions and it makes sense, why not listen to them? but I am digressing, this is not about categories......
As I described above in my post, category and sort capability are related.
My question is to find out what other users of the auctions want, to make the auction platform easier to use!?
I know what I want, which is to reduce the list of daily items I look at to a manageable few items I want to look at, and to ignore the rest. And I would love to do it with just a few keystrokes, rather than successive approximations.
How it is done is worth exploring too me. I see two overlapping pathways...category refinements and search software. A very complex category systems removes the need for software capabilities, and vice versa. If you don't want any category refinements, please allow some software capabilities to palliate to its limitations. I imagine possibly a growing number of auction items, making the current system unwieldy to the point where one does not want to bother looking...I am close to that point myself!
This is my opinion, John, nothing more.
rrr...
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Approvals
I have been playing with the Auction Selection Line trying to get a much more concise listing of auction items, meeting what I am looking for, rather than looking at all there is listed.
There are some good selection capabilities, including the "Display all", "Display Only" and "Exclude", and the "Plus".....and I made good use of some today to eliminate from view "Sheets" as I only wanted to look at stamps.
But I tried to do more, and I wanted to test the limits of our capabilities. I wanted to Exclude "Sheets", and also "used"....as an example. The program however does not have an "OR" capability. It searched on "sheet" AND "used". and I fell back on a bigger rather than smaller filtered selection list.
So I am wondering loud. Do we have a range of search Syntax options, to search on more than one key word? What syntax options do we have. Should we have more? Can we combine both exclude and select only? What do people who use the auction board do to limit what they look at just to areas of interest?
Curious on what others are doing?
rrr...
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re: Auction Item Selection Syntax and category list revisted
I search using the "exclude" function for a couple of sellers only. Mostly because I haven't figured out how to whittle the list down by any other search terms. I haven't really tried that hard to limit searches because in the past, there weren't all that many lots, and I just liked looking at everything that was listed.
Recently, the auction lot numbers seem to have greatly increased, and it is starting to take too long to go through the whole list.
Don't know the first thing about the "behind the scenes" requirements (other than it probably takes a lot of time and effort). Wondering how any improvement to a search function could be accomplished without a refinement in the seller's listing descriptions......
Sally
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this post
Approvals
re: Auction Item Selection Syntax and category list revisted
Quote: """Recently, the auction lot numbers seem to have greatly increased, and it is starting to take too long to go through the whole list."""
I am like you Sally, I try to look at auctions on a daily basis, usually I look at items closing within 24 hours (old habit from ebay) and new listing, but as the list gets longer, it is more and more important to make the search selection efficient...or I won't bother !
So two things enter...search capability AND category list (see my old post on the topic). They are inter-related, and critical to me.
Let me give an example. I don't collect covers or sheets, so I want my list to exclude both covers OR sheets when I search and try to be more efficient. NOT currently possible. I need to exclude one or the other at a time.
I want to look at Middle East countries only. Not currently possible because they are lumped with Asia, and I could not select ALL the countries by listing them under key work, because of the AND vs OR syntax....so I suffer through hundreds of items that don't interest me, or get tired and move on elsewhere !
So the two issues of Category list AND syntax are related. When I hear some object to (minor changes) refinements to the category list, my reaction is.....they are not buying here, or they have much more patience than I do! Measured improvements are not a crime, or we would all be riding horses and listening to radio on our old galena sets! Let us use the power of the tools we have in the 21st century!
Still curious to hear from other buyers. What do you do? Do you ever try to use the power of the computer to simplify your auction activity? What tools do you deem useful that are currently missing? What tools do you recommend, that you currently use? What category changes would improve your life?
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The past is a foreign country, they do things different there.
21 Jul 2013
07:25:55pm
re: Auction Item Selection Syntax and category list revisted
Ralph:
I'm a self-defined Stamporama stamp buyer. I have never sold a stamp.
My fast-fading memory suggests I may have discussed this issue with you previously under a different thread.
By your terms, I am a luddite as I do not generally support your proposals for change. Yes, your suggestions may be good for you but how many are marching in Ralph's army?
Stamporama is a hobby club of stamp collectors. Hobbyists as I know them are not driving on German autobahns, they are into their hobbies to relax, to escape from the train-train journalier and, yes, even to unfocus and ignore the clock for a bit.
I accept there are some Stamporama members who aren't hobbyists, perhaps that is the pebble in your shoe.
One of my ISPs (Google) has, indeed, an army of hired hacks who, to justify their salaries, daily churn out a constant stream of website changes called "improvements". It's very much like the breakfast cereal that has been marketed for the last century and every box of it is labelled "new" and "improved".
Sure, Stamporama isn't perfect, it never will be. It's "search" function and stamp categories have been criticized
since before I joined. I am far from being computer knowledgeable and internet savvy, yet even the "search" functions of the most sophisticated websites that I have visited leave something to be desired. (I suspect it is because their techno-geeks do not use the English language in the manner I was taught.)
This is my opinion, Ralph, nothing more.
John Derry
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Approvals
re: Auction Item Selection Syntax and category list revisted
Hi John
I love Stamp Clubs. Would much rather trade and talk stamps than be on the commercial sites. And I do more trading than outright purchasing. I always think of selling in a club as a method to arbitrate trades among people with unequal items to sell...not a commercial enterprise.
And like you, I have not sold anything (yet), but I trade a lot...and I do intend to trade or sell here(selling as a second choice to outright trading, and also to make some of my duplicates available to collectors like me, because I am downsizing).
So please don't imagine I have any intention of pushing for an army of programmers and all the bells and whistles no one really wants!
But small gradual improvements...that, I am ALL for, and I don't understand why you seem to want no changes! That does not make it less of a club!
Improvements are good. I would love a trading platform, as an example!
And yes, we did discuss something related to categories some time back, and if my (failing) memory is right, it seems you (or was it someone else?) did not want any changes to our current system, while I suggested taking a closer look at it, and for my own needs suggesting a couple.
I agreed with Tim that we do not need a multi-layered detailed category system that will satisfy no one and complicate things.
But that does not mean we cannot have a few changes, if users feel it is appropriate...I don't feel our current list reflects the activity focus of the auctions, or the interests of the members...for example. Take a look: several categories have close to 1000 items daily, and several just have a handful. Also some groupings are expedient rather than logical. I for one find the single grouping of Asia and Middle East (as an example) annoying...it is as illogical(to me) as grouping US and Mexico (under a N. America label).
That would sure irritate the US centrist collectors.
To push it to an extreme, we could have NO categories at all, and just use keyword search? It sure would make it simpler? And possibly work just as well as now? Not really...
If I am a lone voice, I will be ignored, rightfully so, but if others also have suggestions and it makes sense, why not listen to them? but I am digressing, this is not about categories......
As I described above in my post, category and sort capability are related.
My question is to find out what other users of the auctions want, to make the auction platform easier to use!?
I know what I want, which is to reduce the list of daily items I look at to a manageable few items I want to look at, and to ignore the rest. And I would love to do it with just a few keystrokes, rather than successive approximations.
How it is done is worth exploring too me. I see two overlapping pathways...category refinements and search software. A very complex category systems removes the need for software capabilities, and vice versa. If you don't want any category refinements, please allow some software capabilities to palliate to its limitations. I imagine possibly a growing number of auction items, making the current system unwieldy to the point where one does not want to bother looking...I am close to that point myself!
This is my opinion, John, nothing more.
rrr...
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