This week I unceremoniously celebrated the 15th anniversary of this blog. It feels a bit disingenuous to celebrate such things since I’ve been relatively stagnant on this platform in recent years. But to just let such events go unnoticed only further the idea that I am no longer involved.
This blog is the foundation for all that is of my social media/internet presence. It all started on July 3, 2008. This was months after Beckett Media decided to revamp its website and the heavily active message boards essentially evaporated and some persons were left with no place to congregate. Blogging was the popular for people to express themselves as vlogs and even podcasts hadn’t quite taken hold. And microblogging platform Twitter was still a year or so away from taking the world by storm.
Over the years I changed various things about the blog for various reasons. Most noticeably has been my absence here in lieu of Twitter, where it is easier to share thoughts and interact with users. But all along there has been a strong desire to return to this because this is my home, where I like to chronicle things.
When I go searching for card images, or opinions I’ve shared and want to reshare, I like to point people here, because reading an old Twitter thread can be tedious.
In that vein, in this celebratory post, I’d like to share something I wrote on Twitter over the weekend. I think it’s important to share good vibes for our hobby.
The following was posted on Twiter by me on 7/2/2023 as I contemplated my place in the hobby, some 15 years after this blog began, and some 35-plus years after I ripped into my first pack of cards.:
Want to know why your favorite influencers are wildly successful? It’s because there is a world of hobby enthusiasts who don’t know what they don’t know. So if ANY content is presented to them in entertaining fashion, it gains reactions among similar folks. What can you do?
1.) Welcome new folks instead of berating them, assuming they don’t come in acting like their You Tube/ Instagram card education makes them the smartest in the chat.
2) Educate folks when opportunities arise, again assuming they are open to such.
3) Be kind – we were all new once.
4) Understand YOUR way of collecting is NOT the only way to enjoy the hobby.
5) People need to have their own experiences, so don’t get personally offended if they chose to not listen to your advice, solicited or not.
6) Call out influencers sharing bad information.
7) Be encouraging. This is NOT a hobby of exclusivity among its participants.
8) Celebrate others who are happy with their pulls/collections, regardless of the actual value.
9) Don’t assume you as a veteran hobbyists knows more than anyone else in the room. Be humble.
And lastly … 10) Listen. The questions, frustration and enjoyment of newer hobbyists can teach veterans about our own involvement. Some of us NEED our passions reignited; need new perspective. We can learn from each other without being elitists.
This entry was posted on July 8, 2023 at 7:07 am and is filed under Commentary, Misc. with tags baseball, baseball cards, Cardboard Icons, sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
cardboardicons.com
Cardboardicons turns 15; a list of 10 tips for veteran collectors to stay positive with new hobbyists
This week I unceremoniously celebrated the 15th anniversary of this blog. It feels a bit disingenuous to celebrate such things since I’ve been relatively stagnant on this platform in recent years. But to just let such events go unnoticed only further the idea that I am no longer involved.
This blog is the foundation for all that is of my social media/internet presence. It all started on July 3, 2008. This was months after Beckett Media decided to revamp its website and the heavily active message boards essentially evaporated and some persons were left with no place to congregate. Blogging was the popular for people to express themselves as vlogs and even podcasts hadn’t quite taken hold. And microblogging platform Twitter was still a year or so away from taking the world by storm.
Over the years I changed various things about the blog for various reasons. Most noticeably has been my absence here in lieu of Twitter, where it is easier to share thoughts and interact with users. But all along there has been a strong desire to return to this because this is my home, where I like to chronicle things.
When I go searching for card images, or opinions I’ve shared and want to reshare, I like to point people here, because reading an old Twitter thread can be tedious.
In that vein, in this celebratory post, I’d like to share something I wrote on Twitter over the weekend. I think it’s important to share good vibes for our hobby.
The following was posted on Twiter by me on 7/2/2023 as I contemplated my place in the hobby, some 15 years after this blog began, and some 35-plus years after I ripped into my first pack of cards.:
Want to know why your favorite influencers are wildly successful? It’s because there is a world of hobby enthusiasts who don’t know what they don’t know. So if ANY content is presented to them in entertaining fashion, it gains reactions among similar folks. What can you do?
1.) Welcome new folks instead of berating them, assuming they don’t come in acting like their You Tube/ Instagram card education makes them the smartest in the chat.
2) Educate folks when opportunities arise, again assuming they are open to such.
3) Be kind – we were all new once.
4) Understand YOUR way of collecting is NOT the only way to enjoy the hobby.
5) People need to have their own experiences, so don’t get personally offended if they chose to not listen to your advice, solicited or not.
6) Call out influencers sharing bad information.
7) Be encouraging. This is NOT a hobby of exclusivity among its participants.
8) Celebrate others who are happy with their pulls/collections, regardless of the actual value.
9) Don’t assume you as a veteran hobbyists knows more than anyone else in the room. Be humble.
And lastly … 10) Listen. The questions, frustration and enjoyment of newer hobbyists can teach veterans about our own involvement. Some of us NEED our passions reignited; need new perspective. We can learn from each other without being elitists.
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This entry was posted on July 8, 2023 at 7:07 am and is filed under Commentary, Misc. with tags baseball, baseball cards, Cardboard Icons, sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.