New Machin Forum - continued ....

The forum has been going for 3 weeks now and some good active conversations taking place.

Have had three very important positive testimonials from those I would call "experts" in the field so we are gradually getting people who can answer the questions posed by the "not so expert" (like me for instance).

What is the one defining point that has arising in the messages so far.

You almost certainly have to have a copy of the Deegam handbook in order to "identify and manage" Machins properly.

You can obtain yours via this link: E-mail deegam@btopenworld.com>

Major problem so far - having to waste time removing posts and ids of people who just want to ruin everybody else's fun by posting adverts for porn and generally unwanted stuff. Fortunately not too many at the moment but I just don't understand how doing this gives these sickos any thrills - I think they need to get a life.

Too Many UK Stamp Issues - Sign the Petition

Someone in the UK has started to do something about it by raising a petition to the Royal Mail.

Unfortunately it needs 1000's of signatures for RM to even look at it seriously.

If you collect UK issues - wherever you are domiciled - and of course if you agree there are too many issues - please take a minute to sign this and add your own comments if you wish.

Sign The Petition Here Now

I have included the significant part of the original email I received.

Do you think the British Royal Mail is issuing too many stamps?
We get letters from collectors every week complaining that there are just too many stamp issues and they can't keep up.

We couldn't agree more. Do you? If so, PLEASE sign our on-line petition – and pass it on!

What's it all about? We are campaigning to stop Royal Mail issuing so many stamps each year.

Why? You might think that, from a cover producer's point of view, we must love all these extra stamp issues. Doesn't it make more money for us?

The answer is "no"!

Long term, we believe too many stamps is killing the hobby. Many cover collectors have given up all together because they just can't afford (or find storage space!) for all the extra covers each year.

And designing and producing (let alone arranging autographs for) this high number of covers (sometimes at the last minute, like this year's Harry Potter issue), is difficult and stressful.

We love many of the stamps being issued at the moment. The Beatles, Grand Prix and World of Inventions sets this year are especially terrific. And Harry Potter is a fabulous issue, which we hope will encourage kids to start collecting.

But! While Royal Mail is getting it right with many of the designs, we think they are getting it wrong with the sheer number of stamp issues. There were 3 stamp issues in July alone! And once you add Smilers sheets, miniature sheets and prestige booklets into the picture, it really is becoming unsustainable.

Please help us and the rest of the collecting community by signing our petition!

Ironically - just as I was about to post this I received yet another email from Royal Mail - this time advertising the "Scouts" issue of 26th July.

Stamp Mounts

As some of you will know I sell a couple of accessories on my marketplace site: http://www.stamp-collector.co.uk. I am going to add to that over the next week.

Due to the fact that most of my specialist albums require mounts, I have collected quite a few over the past couple of years, including some really different pre-cut sizes. I will be offering some of these (all will be unopened new packets) at much cheaper prices than normal retail (compare prices at this retail site http://tinyurl.com/ywbtju ).

I will offer a large variety of sizes and even some strips so that if you want to cut them to pre-determined sizes you can. Supplies are not inexhastible at these prices so jump in quick if you want them as I won't be buying any more.

UK Postage will be minimum £1 for up to 5 packets, or two strips, then discounted for each subsequent packet or strip, which could mean each packet costing as little as 20p for postage if you purchase multiple packs.


TIP OF THE DAY: It is probably more cost efficient if you buy certain accessories from the country you live in; as postage charges to send them outside the country of origin are usually prohibitive.

New Machin Forum - continued ....

OK - The forum has been up for just under 48 hours and I have 7 members, written some FAQs and found my first real problem.

I wanted to copy a post from one topic to another but leave the original in place. No can do.
Well to be exact - you can do it but it requires an unsupported MOD that I am not willing to experiment with in case it brings down the whole forum. I can't afford for the site to be down just as I have got it up so I will have to leave this until I can create a test site to make the changes on.
I need to do that anyway for future upgrades so it is on my to-do list.

Haven't got any "experts" to sign up yet which is a bit disappointing but it is early days yet.

Most of those signed up like the idea - but are not really contributing yet - almost like waiting for something to happen. I need to find something to generate their interest but I am struggling to do so at the moment - something controversial. The best item I have found so far isn't even really Machin related.

New Machin Forum Unveiled

So Day 1 is 07/07/07 - I like that.

I have finally completed my Forum - I have been searching for a Machin forum for ages and could never find one so I turned my technical talents to creating one (hee hee).

I started it in YABB, but I found the administration of that a bit frustrating so I turned to phpbb and created it using this utility. Much easier to control, definitely more user friendly.

Anyway - now it needs publicity - so if you know of anyone who would be interested please let them know. The link is at the top of this page on the left.

As this is an entirely new venture for me both in the creation and moderation of a forum - I will let you know how things go. Hopefully within a week I can report 5,000 new members - yeh right!

TIP OF THE DAY - If you want to create a forum use phpbb rather than YABB.