Are accounts getting approved anymore?

[mystical_tutor]

I'm in too

Thanks dragsamou for activating my account and richard for the mails.

My collecting interests are very similar to olesch. My big goal would be to get a a nice ungraded card from every oldschool set (a to dk with the exception of beta). my alpha set is in a very good progress. I've most of the easy to get cards and nearly all of the trickier ones (fungusaur, animate wall, web etc.) But some of the big cards are still missing (underground sea, ancestral recall...).

Welcome aboard! Jump in and enjoy the collecting felowship.

Gary

[mwagee]

Alexis,

One of the guys who is organizing the Benson AP purchases is asking if his account to librarities can be approved - he registered under the handle givememana. It would help a lot to facilitate communications.

Thanks in advance.

[dragsamou]

Alexis,

One of the guys who is organizing the Benson AP purchases is asking if his account to librarities can be approved - he registered under the handle givememana. It would help a lot to facilitate communications.

Thanks in advance.

DONE

[mwagee]

cheers! much appreciated :))

[gzeiger]

Is it possible to either expand the number of people who can approve accounts, or use an automated process such as CAPTCHA to screen out bots? This forum is dying because of how hard it is to get an account.

[mystical_tutor]

My posts to Alexis have gone unopened for some time.

Gary

[gzeiger]

That's exactly why we need at least a couple other moderators who can do this. I'm not sure I would be the best choice since my military obligations will periodically keep me away for weeks, but almost everyone that has posted recently I would trust to activate accounts. Actually that's exactly why it's becoming a big deal - I believe the account mentioned just above that was registered in April was the last time we had a post by someone who had been a member less than five years, and at least two of us had to send messages to Alexis on his behalf to get that account activated. It's gotten to the point where MOTL will soon be a better site to look for and discuss rarities, and that's a big problem.

[notsofasteddie]

That's exactly why we need at least a couple other moderators who can do this. I'm not sure I would be the best choice since my military obligations will periodically keep me away for weeks, but almost everyone that has posted recently I would trust to activate accounts. Actually that's exactly why it's becoming a big deal - I believe the account mentioned just above that was registered in April was the last time we had a post by someone who had been a member less than five years, and at least two of us had to send messages to Alexis on his behalf to get that account activated. It's gotten to the point where MOTL will soon be a better site to look for and discuss rarities, and that's a big problem.

The other side of the dearth of new members problem is that many of the older members have faded away as life's changes have taken them from the game. Of the 70 members from 2003, many haven't been active in years. Here are the names of the most active ones (over 200 posts) and the date of their last post: Ralph Herold - 10/2007, Flatmatt - 11/2007, Alexis - 06/2012, Bigfatkitty, 08/2012*, Silver.Palladin - 04/2008, Erl00 - 09/2012*, TerraFrost - 06/2008, Archivist - 06/2012, Macone - 07/2011, Mintcollector - 01/2007, L0qii - 09/2012, Agzz - 08/2010, Tha_Gunslinger - 08/2012, Axios - 06/2011, Drycereal - 09/2012, Gryfalia - 09/2012, Tenacious_Dyl - 12/2009, Fvzappa - 08/2012, Squt - 04/2012. * 1 post in the last twelve (12) months.

Without new members who are collectors, the Librarities will slowly fade. While there may be some risks involved with new members, without an infusion of new blood, the site will become a shadow of its former self.

[mystical_tutor]

I hate to say it but it already is a shadow of it's former self--at least from the time when I reregistered it has become a ghost town.

I have been paying attention to the Guests numbers at the bottom of the page. I often see a half dozen.

Gary

[CHaPuZaS]

I know of at least two spanish people that want to register in the forum but can´t.

[hammr7]

I agree, and have for some time agreed, that this site needs serious updating and broader membership from the Magic Community.

This site was once the best not only for information on older rarities (it still is, at least for most categories it covers), but was also the melting pot for those who lived through, and in many cases, created, all the Magic cards and Magic related items the enriched the entire gaming experience. Coming here meant not only the chance to research factual information, but to also get many of the background stories about the individuals and companies that played important roles (often directly from key individuals).

These days it seems to have been reduced to:

1. A place for old-timers to list what languages new Magic products are produced in, and ISBN codes for those products. Or to list new tokens and list cards.

2. An informal place for old-timers to describe possible new "errors".

3. A place where old-timers can buy/trade/sell and brag about recent pickups with each other.

In other words, it has become quite "provincial", a comfortable site for a few old friends, and now focusing on the special collecting ativities of those few members. This is a far cry from the original mission of being the pre-eminent, world class, best of class site for accumulating all that was Magic, especially all the rarities.

Even with the information that has been amassed, most of these categories have not been updated in many years. As the repository for information regarding specific older items, there are many authorized releases of related items, such as promotional items, dating back to the mid-1990's, that are not even mentioned on this site.

We have been through discussions of this problem before. Alexis has detailed medical and personal problems that have adversely impacted his ability to handle the site. Like everyone, I feel bad for the calamities with which Alexis has dealt. But feeling bad about what has happened does not help anything.

The current problem is that Alexis offers no contingency to improve or expand the site unless he personally performs and approves each action. And it is more than obvious that he is currently either unable or uninterested in personally promoting the site itself, or necessary site improvements.

Even when he can show up, this site needs more than Alexis just updating certain categories. This site needs more than tolerating a few new members. These actions are necessary tactical procedures required of any real-time informational site, but there should be a strategic vision as well.

And this site needs a lot more overall activity than has happened over the last 4 years. Even as the game of Magic is reaching larger world-wide audiences, more and more of the earliest movers and shakers of the game are disappearing. Their knowledge is disappearing as well. This site is the logical repository for every bit of information they can offer, but they can't even say hello, and we are woefully inadequate to even ask for their stories if they could say hello.

I have no insights into Alexis' current situation or to his motivations. But there is no optimistic answer unless Alexis either becomes more involved or allows others to assume additional responsibility. If life precludes his personal participation, and if his personality or ego preclude his allowing others to help, there is little or nothing the rest of us can do.

[Worth]

I also know several people with accounts either waiting to be approved or people who have heard they never get approved so they dont even bother.

These people would be great additions to the community, and communities like this eventually just die if there aren't ways to welcome new people into them. :(

Like hammr, I am in no way trying to make light of what's going on with Alexis, but every time it looks like it might get better, we have a flurry of approvals, a couple of updates, and then everything goes dark again for months.

I am willing to help, and I know many other long-standing members would be too.

Please let us help! This site is too awesome for it to die.

[GlobalBoosterHunter]

It took me three attempts and I contacted quite a few of the members via email trying to get in!

It was worth it in the end but there are only a few new posts a day and as mentioned they are usually around the same topics.

I find the forum to be the most pleasant I am currently involved with, the silver collecting forums can get quite heated and it is best to avoid the Real Estate ones altogether.

However, it is a lot of work keeping it going and although us newcomers can't match the old timers for knowledge and experience we can at least keep the momentum going by asking questions you already know the answers to.

[mystical_tutor]

The thing is the best board will be a mixture of both young (new) and old (ya, old).

Gary

[pp]

Sorry for the trouble, but it's Alexis's board so he makes the rules.

He had a lot of problems the last months, it's not an excuse but maybe an explanation.

Patrick