I want to make forum members aware that the future of NSU Card Talk is currently uncertain.

The forum’s hosting arrangement is coming due, and unless a solution can be put in place very soon, the forum could be taken offline as early as later this week. I am currently speaking with Beckett and Collectors to see whether they will permit a transfer of responsibility/ownership so that the forum can remain available to the collecting community.

At this point, nothing has been finalized. However, because of the short timeframe (I only found out about it myself at the end of last week), I felt it was important that members be aware of the situation rather than have the forum potentially disappear without notice. And to have the opportunity to copy any pertinent info/posts/etc. before the forum is removed.

If permission is granted to continue the forum independently, one possible approach would be to ask the community whether it would be willing to help support the annual hosting cost through voluntary crowdfunding or donations. The expense is more than I can reasonably take on personally, but it may be manageable if enough members want to help preserve the forum. The fee is somewhat expensive however, at nearly $1,000, so this may not be viable either.

This forum has served Non-Sport Update readers and non-sport card collectors for many years. Although activity is not what it once was, it remains a useful place for longtime collectors, occasional visitors, questions, discoveries, and hobby conversation. It would be a shame to lose the forum — and its years of discussions — without an effort to keep it going.

For now, no contributions are being requested. I simply wanted to let everyone know what is happening and ask that, if you value the forum, you watch for updates over the next few days.

If the forum is important to you, please feel free to reply to this thread. Expressions of interest may help show that there is still a community that wants to see NSU Card Talk continue. Of course, interest and funds to continue the hosting are two different things so ultimately, this may be the end.

Thank you.

Are there any costs above the $1k to keep the site going?

Harris, it's been a while. Never wanted to contact you directly as I figured you weren't in any position to discuss anything. Happy you came on to give everybody the bad news, if that makes sense. Don't know in which thread to reply, so go to the top.

I can't say I wasn't expecting it, but you would think that someone, like maybe Collectors, would see the positives of keeping Card Talk going or trying to incorporate it into whatever they are running. There are people here, both posting and reading, who buy a lot of trading cards. Real card collectors come here, not just the sellers. There is a ton of information in these threads that no one will find any place else. I'm hoping it won't all just get lost.

Anyway, in case this is the end, you still have Philly and I wish you much success. It goes without saying that your own contributions to this hobby and your family's contributions will not be forgotten by all of us who have spent so many years reading NSU and talking on this forum. Hopefully this is not truly my last post here. I will wait to hear what happens from you or maybe just get a broken link. Who knows? If a solution can be formulated, I hope someone will give it time to circulate and not just pull the rug out from under everyone.

If it's the end, I want you to know it's been my pleasure to talk with all of you regular contributors. Thanks for all the years and special thanks to the Toser family for keeping it going as long as they did. Best of luck to us all.

quote:

Originally posted by jcracch:
Are there any costs above the $1k to keep the site going?

$1K covers hosting and maintenance from the host for one year (essentially, the functionality we have right at this moment). It does not cover anything else such as external hosting of some of the branding images, which went away when nonsportupdate.com went defunct, though any charges like that would be minimal (and probably could be hosted here as well).

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Harris, it's been a while. Never wanted to contact you directly as I figured you weren't in any position to discuss anything. Happy you came on to give everybody the bad news, if that makes sense. Don't know in which thread to reply, so go to the top.

I can't say I wasn't expecting it, but you would think that someone, like maybe Collectors, would see the positives of keeping Card Talk going or trying to incorporate it into whatever they are running. There are people here, both posting and reading, who buy a lot of trading cards. Real card collectors come here, not just the sellers. There is a ton of information in these threads that no one will find any place else. I'm hoping it won't all just get lost.

Anyway, in case this is the end, you still have Philly and I wish you much success. It goes without saying that your own contributions to this hobby and your family's contributions will not be forgotten by all of us who have spent so many years reading NSU and talking on this forum. Hopefully this is not truly my last post here. I will wait to hear what happens from you or maybe just get a broken link. Who knows? If a solution can be formulated, I hope someone will give it time to circulate and not just pull the rug out from under everyone.

If it's the end, I want you to know it's been my pleasure to talk with all of you regular contributors. Thanks for all the years and special thanks to the Toser family for keeping it going as long as they did. Best of luck to us all.

Thanks very much, Raven. If this is the end, it's a shame after all of these years - this incarnation of NSU Card Talk goes back to 2,000, and there were other incarnations prior to that.

I have enjoyed hosting the forum all these years -- well, mostly anyway. Can't say I liked any of the contentious moments. But otherwise, it's been good!

Wow. I've wondered how long this could go on. This forum has been a big part of my collecting life, met some great people here. Harris tops the list. There is much good information in these pages, be a shame to just lose it.

Hi Harris,

Yes, thank you to you and your family for everything you have done for the forum, the magazine, and the hobby in general. It was a great magazine when I started reading it in 1995 and all those years after. I was glad Beckett kept it going though it lost that Toser flavor.

I figured Card Talk was running on fumes. There are a lot of people reading it and probably benefitting from the years of experience that has been typed here. I would of course donate what I can but we'll probably need some of the those lurkers out there to kick in even just a couple or a few bucks each to keep it going. Hey, I check the forum to look for or confirm info too.

Would a Kickstarter be the way to keep the forum afloat? Would a couple or a few card companies print a special promo as incentives? Maybe any onhand promos would work. It would be like whatever we would've pulled from our NSU issues had the magazine continued.

If nothing can be done, yes, it's been a great ride. It's fun learning more about cards, talking with various members in this still-young century. I guess I could join Blowout but it seems more about what cards are worth over there rather than just the fun. I'm not sure how many of those kids grew up in the 70's and 80's opening packs for fun having no idea that they were available by the case. We just wanted our favorite players and teams if they were sports packs. We just wanted to complete our sets if they were non-sports and we stuck our stickers to our notebooks, our desks, and somebody's car. We didn't get them sealed in carbonite with some number applied to the outside to tell us if it was any good.

I think Bill or somebody said there was a way to preserve what's here. Is it like stuffing a suitcase for a long trip but it's online? There's probably a 12-year old who knows how to do it.

Jess

Is it possible for me to download only my posts, in some format where I could search through them?

How big (in GB) is the archive of posts? Is there anyway that Internet Archive could Archive the forum as it exists, so that all of the data here would still be online?

Unfortunately, I don’t know about archiving the posts, either locally or through the Internet Archive. The forum software itself does not offer a way of downloading an archive of the entire database. Nor does it offer a way to download posts from a specific user, unfortunately. I wish it did.

I also wondered how long the forum would continue to exist with the demise of the magazine. This news, while not surprising, is very sad. I have gotten so much information from other collectors over the years, and having a place that facilitated trading was tremendous. I hope the forum will continue to exist and I am willing to make some contribution to keep that happening.