Thursday, October 5, 2017

5 Years Ago Today

Is when I truly joined the Trading Card Database! Although my registration date is in 2011, I didn't really do anything with the site other than use it for checklist purposes, as I went through scanning my collection for my own website.

I don't remember what changed, but October 5th, 2012 is when I started entering my collection and my scans. Since that time, there is not a day that has gone by that I have not been on there...not counting when I was in the hospital in 2013, coming to within literally 5 minutes of dying. The Database is now my home page, and the first thing I check every day- even before I check my Facebook page.

The Database has played a major role in my life, as well. When I started entering my collection, I was not collecting the the NBA. That seems so hard to believe, but I had left the sport in 2006- something I now consider one of, if not THE, biggest mistake(s) of my life. When I was going through my paper listings entering my collection, it brought back a lot of great memories, and soon I was back collecting full time. That would not have happened if I did not join there, most likely, although I had started watching the sport again before then.

More recently, I got into NHL because of a forum thread there. When the Golden Knights announced their logo last year, there was a thread about it. I wanted to see the logo, so I put NHL Network on my tv, and I got hooked! By the end of the show (Actually, about three of four airings of the show) I was an NHL fan, and now it's a part of every day of my life...and of course, I am now collecting NHL cards as well. To celebrate the anniversary, I'm going to open some hockey cards I purchased last month.

Cardboard History is also a direct result of my membership there. I hadn't read any card blogs, in fact I didn't know the concept even existed, before I started reading the ones that show up on the right side of the page there. I began reading them in either late 2013 or early 2014, and I finally decided, in November 2014, to start my own. It's been pretty darn rewarding. to say the least, and I've got people I consider friends now that I met via the blog.

My current main project would not have been possible if I had not joined there...for my entire time in the hobby, I've been a set collector. It's just how I think, anything else seems foreign and wrong, lol. But nowadays it's pretty much impossible to build sets like I prefer, so I'm focusing on getting at least one card of every person who got a card for the NBA, NASCAR, and now, NHL. I figured out who was missing from my collection by literally clicking on every single name that I was not sure was in my collection or not. I couldn't just go through the list of names because of the college and other non-NBA people that have cards, I had to actually look at each listing and see if they were NBA people or not. Then, when I finished the NBA, I did racing in the same way. Eventually, when I have more of a collection built up, I'll do the same for the NHL.

In my five years I've posted 70,802 front scans, 71,282 back scans, 3080 checklists, 699 box images, 595 pack images and 68 ads. I've earned 233,188 points in that time! I've contributed something to every single category, several of which saw me buy cards with the specific intent to be able to post them there, which, it turned out, all I could do was the packs themselves- the cards were already done! (Yeah, I didn't research it at all, LOL!)

When I joined, the completed Non-Sport galleries were a single page, around 20 sets if I remember correctly. Now, it's thousands. Basketball was only on two pages, if that much, and I can't recall how many pages racing took up in the Gallery, but I think it was one. All that's not something I can take credit for - though I have certainly contributed- but it shows how much the site has grown in the last 5 years.

I've also been on the receiving end of a significant amount of kindness...for the past couple years, I've gotten more cards as gifts from friends in the hobby or in trades than I've purchased for myself. Where else do you find people with that kind of kindness? the world needs more people like card people. I've also pulled off some big trades- this coming Saturday I'll be shipping out my second trade where more than 1000 cards change hands in both directions, both of which with members there. I've been trading online since the year 2000 so that's a pretty big deal.

It is, for sure, the greatest card site on the internet. Better than my own- both of my own- by such a wide margin it's incalculable. I plan to be there for as long as I live, although sometime next year, I'm going to run out of cards that need scans! It doesn't matter, it won't stop me from finding something on there to do.

Modified a post I made on the forum there to get this post. Mostly I had to change "here" to "there" but some wording was changed as well

17 comments:

  1. Very impressive! You have posted so much and the scans look great. Oh yeah, I definitely agree with you that the world needs more "card people". What a great bunch they are, kind and generous and always willing to help you. Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

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  2. Billy,
    Congrats on 5 years at the database. I saw the post over there, or is it here? I am impressed by your determination for all that scanning. My scanning is what delays most of my posts on my blogs. I usually know which cards I want to scan or what type of image I need to search for (if I am adding something extra to a post or posting something on my original Non-Card blog).

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    1. I have actually been working on slowly scanning my collection since 2009, someday I will break even. I had a bunch I could do right when I joined because of that. But I love to scan and usually work on some every day.

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  3. A great feat and a huge contribution to the card hobby! Thanks for all you do in making it a great place to visit and an amazing blog to read.

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    1. Thank you! I've got some sumo scans ready to go when the checklists go up!

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  4. Congrats on 5 years Billy! That's a hell of a lot of scanning time. You've gotten me hooked on The Trading Card Database too. Finally started using it this year post-Zistle and I'm already up to 12,000+ cards added to my collection and counting. Going to take me a while but, like you, I enjoy the process and find it cathartic. Anyway here's to another 5 years for ya!

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    1. Glad to hear! It's really addicting. And if you put up a tradelist/wantlist, you'll be surprised how often and how large the trades will be!

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  5. Your contributions to the site are so much appreciated! Congrats to 5 years!

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  6. I had joined a couple of years ago but I was using Zistle but after the evil giant forced them to sell Zistle I went to TCDB. I go through cycles where I will update my collection on the site but I don't do it regularly, I really should because the site is such a helpful tool for collectors.

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    1. I've seen you pop up on the forum a few times. I didn't even touch on the documentation aspect in my post. It's currently the only place I have my baseball and football cards documented. I should have mentioned that!

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  7. Happy Anniversary! You are definitely one of the big reasons the TCDB is as great as it is! Keep it up!

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  8. I joined in 2008 and keep coming back daily, Your blog is insightful also

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    1. Wow I had no idea it even existed in 2008. I wish I did!

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  9. That is a lot of scans my friend. Congrats on your dedication.

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