Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Poll: Preferences for a new Collectors Roster

For many years Oldgas.com operated a Collectors Roster to help collectors to network together, especially those who had a similar collecting specialty or regional location. In recent years, the Roster had been attracting way more spam submissions than collector submissions, so new submissions were disabled a while back.

I'm wondering if it would be a better system for members to list their collecting specialty within a new section of the forum. Not really intended for discussions, but rather as a reference for who collects what and what area are they located.

Use the poll below to state your preferences, should we decide to start up a new collectors specialty roster. Post your thoughts as a reply.

We could hide the new section from public view, so only members who are logged in could see it, or we could allow non-members & Google to see it, but not see your email or name in your Profile.

We could have separate sections for different regions, or put everyone together. Or not do it at all.

Collectors Roster Preferences multiple choice, up to 2 choices

All listings together in a new forum section (29%, 39 Votes)

Listings in multiple sections by time zone (7%, 9 Votes)

Hide from view unless logged in (45%, 61 Votes)

Allow public to see listings, but not Profile info (10%, 14 Votes)

Don't need a collectors roster (10%, 13 Votes)

Total Votes: 136 Voting on this poll ends: Sun Feb 01 2015 11:00 AM

I have been in the hobby 4 years and get to travel around the US for work several times throughout the year. It would be helpful for me to be able to get a listing of OG guys and the City and State they are in so I can reach out to them weeks before I get to their state. Some of the veteran OG members have this network of who is reputable and who may have some items of interest, but new guys lack that ability. Thanks

I really like the idea myself. I will be good for newer collectors to network, and I think it will be a benefit to this site in the long run.But, multiple listings by time zone may get complicated when trying to find folks. Id say simply divide everyone by state.

...I don't think the data should be accessible unless the user has provided a first and last name in their profile, and this roster should only be viewable to someone logged into Oldgas...

I’ve wanted to add my collector’s info to the collector’s forum for sometime now, but the link hasn’t let me. I did find out from Jim Potts that it has become a spam magnet. I Like the Idea of a new type collectors post that can only be viewed by logged in users, and like gulfiend! said maybe they should also provide there first and last names. I also like the fact that people can do a basic internet search and find topics for reference, as long as they can’t see your personal info. Let’s here some more opinions.

It would be interesting to see other collectors, what they primarily collect, and their region. That being said, I would only be in favor if..... You have to be a member (not available to outsiders or Google), and have a minimum of say 30 to 50 posts to get access to this list. That would weed out the ones posting just enough to get a value for a piece they want to sell on e-bay, etc. or wanting names for some other less than stellar reason. Some collectors have substantial time and money invested and would not appreciate their name available to just anybody.

Decades ago CTO use to publish a roster of members to those who wanted to buy a listing. In other words if you wanted to be listed you had to buy the roster. This was in the days way before internet. To keep everyone honest and to raise money for the site I personally think there should be a section which could only be enabled by Jim if the member paid a token amount of money to gain access to that section, like maybe 5 dollars. Perhaps this could be done on a yearly basis, again to limit spam use. Im not sure if this is doable, perhaps entering a personal pin or something. Just a thought. I would be in especially if it was in a format that was downloadable since I do not have a smart phone and it would be nice to call a collector who specializes in a particular item type of brand. John

I think it could be helpful, given the safeguards discussed. Perhaps it could be searched by category or state? Not sure if this feasible? Finding a quart can specialist may be more important than what time zone they are in, On the other hand, if you are traveling and want to find collectors nearby, a list organized by state would be much more useful as some time zones are VERY big. Thanks for your efforts to keep improving the site for all of us Jim!

I think the state by state would be great.

State by state + Internatonal. Not too much text, just name, email (xxx at yyy.com), speciality..
Possible to reach when logged on.

br
CLaes

Agree With Claes. State by state + Internatonal

I like gulfiend's idea. And if possible an ability to sort by State/International.

I had Jim remove my Roster listing years ago because of all the spam I was receiving. It worked, spam numbers dropped significantly. Just confirms his concerns of increasing amount of that going on.
I don't mind collectors contacting me for honest buy/sell/trade deals. But most of what I was getting was of a malicious nature.
Chuck

This is a great idea. Must be logged on and have minimum # of posts or something. If it had a way to automatically request an update annually to keep the data up to date it would be really cool but I am not sure that can be done.

Jim you are a rockstar!

I like the idea...as a new guy here and a regular traveler...I'd use it. But agree that spam/exploitation would quickly take the fun out of it. Agree that the minimum post requirement could be the way to go...if able. Maybe offer the ability for the collector to present their "state/county/town/address" so if someone wanted to "limit" access to county/town...then a follow-up (call or message)between the individuals would be the final buffer to the meeting/access. For myself I'd look into the individual's posts and so on before I'd consider meeting them.

I like the idea too!