...that a bunch of duplicates were regularly loaded in anyway because the mods didn't know the database like the regular contributors did and that a ton of completely incorrect information was added, again, destroying the usefulness of what had been an extraordinarily well-run crowd-sourced site that had kept information up to date AND accurate.
All of the mess of the last many years simply cannot be corrected because SO much was done wrong for so long.
But the choice is: PinPics for old stuff from when the site was well-run or PTDB which is strongly catching up on content but lacks the history and order of the old PinPics.
Plus the majority of people on social media who don't use either, but simply are guided by ebay prices for the latest 'fire' pins.
I know no one likes to hear this or do it, but I've said this for YEARS since the original PinPics community-run and supported site was trashed: keep your own information independently and don't depend on a third party to do it for you.
I actually DO think it can be done, which is why I've spent a lot of time since the last time thinking and actually getting my own framework together. I actually have a development site 80-90% built (features, not listings), and it's actually on the internet. But I lack the back-backend knowledge (the real hardcore DB stuff) to guarantee that if the site got hacked or a failure that required the type of work Pinpics needs now, that I could provide it. That's the frustrating thing, the last time I didn't know exactly what was possible by someone who knows what they are doing, and now I do, so that's why it's *so* frustrating for me to watch all what has happened. "If you build it, they will come." People will seek out quality, and if a new site was worth it, people would talk about it and find it.
And unfortunately, many of the things I find so frustrating is why I can't commit to PTDB as much as others have. And I hate saying that, because I know
@starry_solo and
@TheMickeyMouseRules and the others that have added pins have put a TON of work into it, and I'm grateful for the backup information source, but they are still at the mercy of what Ryan built with no easy way to improve the things that need improving, themselves. The suggestions I posted up thread, go for PTDB too. They have keywords, but only limited ones. The tedium of trying to update your collection with hundreds of pins all at once, not having a solid way to link pins of the same series together (I know they have "same release" but that doesn't help when series pins aren't released at the same time), not always adding all pins of the same mystery sets all at once (I know some of you are good at that, but then there are others where it's all over the place
). Collectible Pin Trader, is the one that has more of the things I've wanted, but I don't find it as intuitive to find what I need, and I don't see people talk about too much so I don't know where it fits into all of this.
All of these sites have the same problem in that they seem constrained by the choices Britt made for Old Pinpics and then expand away from that in a few aspects, but not in a "throw the doors open wide" kinda way. Adding everything that a Pin Trading Database should contain means that, while you could map existing fields to new fields, reducing some of the work, ultimately EVERY listing would need to be touched because there would be so many fields needing data. I doubt there is the commitment for that, because if starting from scratch "would take years," and was rejected, so would this. My little project has 50+ fields for the "Encyclopedia" side, and another 15+ fields for the "Inventory" side (right now we are used to having 3. Wants, Owns, Trades... but what if you own multiple of the same pin, or have multiple copies of traders? hmmm...
)
Anyway, I know my vision is still likely years away, if ever, so last week I started building a personal inventory system in LibreOffice Base (don't have access to Access). That one only has like 25 fields and 10 subforms with some more fields, and 45 tables (if anyone has experience building a Microsoft Access database, they would understand, but I think even then, mine is particularly
anal "Comprehensive.") But that's still only part of the picture. People can make their own Inventory, but people can not build their own Encyclopedia of Pin Knowledge. Too much is released all over the world. It will never be as complete. You are lucky that you have multiple people that will let you know when every single Wonderland and Loki pin will be released, no matter the source. The rest of us aren't so lucky. And then there is the trading. If everyone went "personal" the only pin trading would be in person. Which is fine for SoCal and Central Florida, but not so great for the rest of us.
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