Pinpics Pin Trading : Past Present and Future Presentation at Comiccon

[unibear]

Doing a quick search on 'comic con pin pics', I found this little blurb:


Back for a second year at Comic-Con is Pin Pics, an exclusive insight into the world of Disney Pin Trading. Lead panelist Barry Koper (Disneyana expert) will take you back to the beginning of the Disney pin-trading hobby. Anthony and Samantha Medina (Pin Pics presidents) will take you through modern trends in trading and discuss the future direction of Disney pins as collectibles. Jennifer Colyn(Pin Pics event director) moderates, followed by Q&A. All pin traders, Disney enthusiasts, and collectors welcome.

 

[disneypinqueen]

Hmmm...to think that pinpics is representing the pin community as a whole and the future of pin trading is a scary thought. Maybe they should be working on fixing their wonderful site rather than preaching about the direction pin trading is "trending." Give me a break.
:soapbox:

 

[KT07]

Really has to make you wonder about who they will let be on stage at CC. Any old rip off can get up there and be a expert I guess. Lol

 

[YoSoyAhPuch]

I've been assigning grades to my pins for years. Mainly F's because they can't complete the written tests I give them.

It is hard to take a grading system seriously when the pin is a) placed crookedly in the graded box, b) the pin is easily removable from the box, and c) the label printed on the pin can be made with a pack of labels from Staples and your printer.

When PinPics was purchased, I, along with many others I'm sure, we're hoping for the site to get some simple upgrades which could be paid for using donations from the pin community. Seeing as it was a site by the community for the community, it's not like we were asking for much. Simple things like multiple images and scrapper comparison would have been nice. But then they started making it a "pay for play" kind of thing. They ignored our requests and tried to make money off of us. Now they claim to be the voice of the pin trading community? I call shenanigans. Pin traders are as diverse as the pins. To say that they have their finger to the pulse of pin trading/traders is interesting because if they did, they would know how disliked they are. Or maybe they do and don't care, which would be sad.

I enjoy using old PinPics. It is a simple system that I've used since the beginning of my pin trading, back when DizPins was still up. It was nice to see the community come together submit information to a database we could all use. I'll keep using it until old PinPics dies.

Dear PinPics, if you're reading this (and chances are, you are), take this to heart. I'm not the only one who feels this way.

 

[YoSoyAhPuch]

Oh, and yes, I'll change my sig ASAP!

 

[a4matte]

Now they claim to be the voice of the pin trading community? I call shenanigans.

We might not agree, but they are the one the majority of people are still using for reference. Until something better comes along that they can't bully or buy out, it's going to stay that way. They can arguably say they are the voice until the day comes and you can ask a good number of people "Where do you go for your pin reference?" and they don't say "PinPics."

 

[dopeydoc3]

I realize this will fall on the blindest of eyes and the deafest of ears (again) but..... if there was a single person on here (besides myself) that had any clue as to how frustrated and disappointed the Pinpics "techies" are - and have been since that first fateful announcement - that they haven't been able to make "new" PP as easy to use, and as comprehensively informative, as the original site..... or how genuinely long and hard and unsuccessfully (and at great expense) they have worked at it..... then the skies would open up and rain enough authentic Frozen, Rapunzel and WIR pins to cover North America. Sadly, there isn't one. Noone sees behind the curtain. And those that try either don't get to see, or they don't hear what they want to hear ("they won't answer our questions"), so they spew what they want. They think that somehow they are on some kind of righteous mission to save pin trading for the rest of "us." (They aren't!) And the haters just pile on.

Expecting it to change is probably foolish. And I'm sure that thinking of analogous situations - where people repeatedly bash a system that they would be lost without - wouldn't be difficult. I'm just not up for it at the moment. Eventually PP will figure it out and prevail - even if that just means abandoning the "new site" - and there will be a lot of eating crow.

In the meantime, most businesses in America have policies - posted or not - that they have the right to refuse service to anyone. One of my favorite signs to see hanging in any establishment says it just this simply - "BE NICE OR LEAVE." I love it!! If you owned a business - restaurant, medical office, gas station, doesn't matter - and one (or more) of your customers repeatedly abused you and/or your employees, you would escort them to the door and tell them not to return. That is a toxicity that is not worth any amount of customer revenue. I would personally not mind seeing PinPics exercise their right to do just that. Ain't nobody got time for that!!

:::stepping down off of soapbox:::

 

[2babus]

Eventually PP will figure it out and prevail - even if that just means abandoning the "new site" - and there will be a lot of eating crow.

I don't know about that. www.pintradingdb.com is really awesome. Once there are more pins in the database I won't have a need for pinpics anymore.

 

[Tealke]

that they haven't been able to make "new" PP as easy to use, and as comprehensively informative, as the original site..... or how genuinely long and hard and unsuccessfully (and at great expense) they have worked at it.....

Then you revert back to the old site that worked until you could get the new one working. You run the two sites side by side until you get the new site up to par. Stopping any updates to the old site while the new one is barely usable is a ridiculous way to run anything. All PinPics cares about is money now. So instead of running them side by side, and since they seem to not have the knowledge or desire to make it work, they discontinue the old site to try and force people into paying for the new for all the features.

If you owned a business - restaurant, medical office, gas station, doesn't matter - and one (or more) of your customers repeatedly abused you and/or your employees, you would escort them to the door and tell them not to return.

Other business weren't built by us supplying the material to create them. We have a little more say in this than a typical business which is not what PinPics was originally. Yet they seem to be sure at making it very hard for anyone else to compete now. When the site was a free service done as a hobby for all was when complaining should have been kept to a minimum. Now that they are taking user supplied information to make a profit they willingly open themselves for criticism.

 

[disneypinqueen]

In the meantime, most businesses in America have policies - posted or not - that they have the right to refuse service to anyone. One of my favorite signs to see hanging in any establishment says it just this simply - "BE NICE OR LEAVE." I love it!! If you owned a business - restaurant, medical office, gas station, doesn't matter - and one (or more) of your customers repeatedly abused you and/or your employees, you would escort them to the door and tell them not to return. That is a toxicity that is not worth any amount of customer revenue. I would personally not mind seeing PinPics exercise their right to do just that. Ain't nobody got time for that!!

:::stepping down off of soapbox:::

I love that quote too ~ I exercised my right to make up my own mind to not support that website and I left. And so did a lot of other people.

 

[courtneyjean]

Then you revert back to the old site that worked until you could get the new one working. You run the two sites side by side until you get the new site up to par. Stopping any updates to the old site while the new one is barely usable is a ridiculous way to run anything. All PinPics cares about is money now. So instead of running them side by side, and since they seem to not have the knowledge or desire to make it work, they discontinue the old site to try and force people into paying for the new for all the features.

Better yet, you don't take a site live AT ALL until you have thoroughly tested it. lol Especially one that you are expecting people to pay money to use.

 

[KT07]

I don't know about that. www.pintradingdb.com is really awesome. Once there are more pins in the database I won't have a need for pinpics anymore.

+1000000

I hope Ryan can keep it going if pin pricks try's to start pushing him around. At some point in time we will not need PP at all and they will just fade away in the dark. I for one can't wait for that day to come. PP sucks and they brought all this on them selfs.

 

[Merryweather]

I realize this will fall on the blindest of eyes and the deafest of ears (again) but..... if there was a single person on here (besides myself) that had any clue as to how frustrated and disappointed the Pinpics "techies" are - and have been since that first fateful announcement - that they haven't been able to make "new" PP as easy to use, and as comprehensively informative, as the original site..... or how genuinely long and hard and unsuccessfully (and at great expense) they have worked at it..... then the skies would open up and rain enough authentic Frozen, Rapunzel and WIR pins to cover North America. Sadly, there isn't one.

There is one. So it is time for pins to rain down from the skies :hsd:

 

[docfish2u]

We might not agree, but they are the one the majority of people are still using for reference. Until something better comes along that they can't bully or buy out, it's going to stay that way. They can arguably say they are the voice until the day comes and you can ask a good number of people "Where do you go for your pin reference?" and they don't say "PinPics."

The fact that people say pinpics is the problem. The people were starting to say DPP instead of pinpics and they strong armed DPP to shut down. They couldn't beat DPP even though what Ethan had done was within pinpics' rules at the time and they forced him out. To me the voices of change are coming. We here a lot of people upset with pinpics because of they way they do business. Why would you ban people because they checked out the new beta size they found though using a google search? It was pinpics fault for not protecting their site and pinpics blamed others instead of themselves. Change will happen!!!

I realize this will fall on the blindest of eyes and the deafest of ears (again) but..... if there was a single person on here (besides myself) that had any clue as to how frustrated and disappointed the Pinpics "techies" are - and have been since that first fateful announcement - that they haven't been able to make "new" PP as easy to use, and as comprehensively informative, as the original site..... or how genuinely long and hard and unsuccessfully (and at great expense) they have worked at it..... then the skies would open up and rain enough authentic Frozen, Rapunzel and WIR pins to cover North America. Sadly, there isn't one. Noone sees behind the curtain. And those that try either don't get to see, or they don't hear what they want to hear ("they won't answer our questions"), so they spew what they want. They think that somehow they are on some kind of righteous mission to save pin trading for the rest of "us." (They aren't!) And the haters just pile on.

Maybe pinpics should find some new "techies" since this is going on a year and all of the problems are still here. Or better yet, maybe they should have made sure they had a well running website before launching it. Every business needs to win the PR battle and pinpics has dropped the ball every chance they have had. I was willing to give them a chance because what I had been told about the site sounded really good. It has been a major failure! Their fault not ours. If nobody ever criticized anything then nothing would change. Instead of listening to what they were being told and giving feedback back to the people who you want to buy stuff from you they might be having more success and understanding customers. Instead it is blame the people and take none of the blame for themselves.

Expecting it to change is probably foolish. And I'm sure that thinking of analogous situations - where people repeatedly bash a system that they would be lost without - wouldn't be difficult. I'm just not up for it at the moment. Eventually PP will figure it out and prevail - even if that just means abandoning the "new site" - and there will be a lot of eating crow.

Maybe if they ate some crow to begin with they would not have as many people upset with them in the first place. I have seen no evidence that this group of owners have the ability to figure it out let alone prevail or eat crow.

In the meantime, most businesses in America have policies - posted or not - that they have the right to refuse service to anyone. One of my favorite signs to see hanging in any establishment says it just this simply - "BE NICE OR LEAVE." I love it!! If you owned a business - restaurant, medical office, gas station, doesn't matter - and one (or more) of your customers repeatedly abused you and/or your employees, you would escort them to the door and tell them not to return. That is a toxicity that is not worth any amount of customer revenue. I would personally not mind seeing PinPics exercise their right to do just that. Ain't nobody got time for that!!

:::stepping down off of soapbox:::

Pinpics has had the opportunity to put on the big boy pants and admit they screwed up. They have not, it is easier to blame others for that. If it were only one or two people or even one or two dozen people speaking out then you would be right. It would not be worth it for PP to listen to them. But as we have seen here for many months, it is not the case. Maybe the problem isn't the people complaining, maybe it is the people who are "running" the site now.

Then you revert back to the old site that worked until you could get the new one working. You run the two sites side by side until you get the new site up to par. Stopping any updates to the old site while the new one is barely usable is a ridiculous way to run anything. All PinPics cares about is money now. So instead of running them side by side, and since they seem to not have the knowledge or desire to make it work, they discontinue the old site to try and force people into paying for the new for all the features.

To be fair, you don't have to pay for the new pinpics unless you want the add on features like the price guide etc. You can still use the new site to set up trades at no cost. Of course there are many of us who refuse to use the new site at all.


Other business weren't built by us supplying the material to create them. We have a little more say in this than a typical business which is not what PinPics was originally. Yet they seem to be sure at making it very hard for anyone else to compete now. When the site was a free service done as a hobby for all was when complaining should have been kept to a minimum. Now that they are taking user supplied information to make a profit they willingly open themselves for criticism.

Great points!!!

Better yet, you don't take a site live AT ALL until you have thoroughly tested it. lol Especially one that you are expecting people to pay money to use.

This 100%. But again to be fair Microsoft does it all the time, putting out products and then having to fix them afterward. The difference though is at least Microsoft does actually do some fixing of the product and not just say they are. :lol:

 

[courtneyjean]

This 100%. But again to be fair Microsoft does it all the time, putting out products and then having to fix them afterward. The difference though is at least Microsoft does actually do some fixing of the product and not just say they are. :lol:

Oh absolutely! There are going to be bugs that come up on almost any kind of tech related product. It happens and it's understandable. But when you put out a product and people are expected to pay for it, you need to have a quick response time when it comes to fixing those bugs. Otherwise your reputation is going to be damaged, and people will be weary of buying your product. They have dug their own grave, and rather than filing lawsuits and hosting CC panels, they should probably focus more time on fixing their product. lol But i'm sure once they see their competition catching up, we will start seeing some quick fixes on their new site.

Also, it doesn't take a year to fix bugs. They could have probably rebuilt the entire system by now, a couple times over, if the "techies" working on the site knew what they were doing. Problem is, they probably still have people buying their services right now regardless of all the issues, hence why they don't seem to be in a hurry. lol

 

[bombardon3]

If anyone would like to give some feedback to Comic Con the email is programs@comic-con.org

Whether you loved it and want it back next year or you completely disagree with letting PinPics speak for the community, let them know. Regardless of your feelings about the actual panel, having a panel at SDCC is good for our hobby.

 

[KT07]

Oh absolutely! There are going to be bugs that come up on almost any kind of tech related product. It happens and it's understandable. But when you put out a product and people are expected to pay for it, you need to have a quick response time when it comes to fixing those bugs. Otherwise your reputation is going to be damaged, and people will be weary of buying your product. They have dug their own grave, and rather than filing lawsuits and hosting CC panels, they should probably focus more time on fixing their product. lol But i'm sure once they see their competition catching up, we will start seeing some quick fixes on their new site.

Also, it doesn't take a year to fix bugs. They could have probably rebuilt the entire system by now, a couple times over, if the "techies" working on the site knew what they were doing. Problem is, they probably still have people buying their services right now regardless of all the issues, hence why they don't seem to be in a hurry. lol

hey. We never know. Maybe they have the same crew as big Barry in the White House. They also take way to long to fix stuff and like to point the finger at anybody but them selfs. Lmao At least pin pricks didn't blow as much money on there crappy site that dose not work. :naughty:

 

[disneypinqueen]

If anyone would like to give some feedback to Comic Con the email is programs@comic-con.org

Whether you loved it and want it back next year or you completely disagree with letting PinPics speak for the community, let them know. Regardless of your feelings about the actual panel, having a panel at SDCC is good for our hobby.

Awesome! Thanks for the email addy.

 

[Aceastrococopuff]

If anyone would like to give some feedback to Comic Con the email is programs@comic-con.org

Whether you loved it and want it back next year or you completely disagree with letting PinPics speak for the community, let them know. Regardless of your feelings about the actual panel, having a panel at SDCC is good for our hobby.

Thanks for the email. Will send some feedback!

Reminder to all: Don't be overly aggressive in your feedback but rather calmly explain your frustration...

 

[Zagales14]

Much of my opinion has been previously stated, but I will say a couple of things:

1) If the pin pics owners were truly looking out for the best interest of the hobby, and not self gain -- if they were truly frustrated so deeply by the failure of the current site -- then why not revert to the old site, without charging anything for any feature, which is what much of the community is requesting for to begin with?? Pinpics did not have any problems until they tried to fix something that wasn't broken, and until they started to charge for user generated content (and if you bothered to look -- nobody tried to compete with them at that time because there was no need).

2) Ryan's database is very solid, and kudos to him and those helping him develop it! I hope it lasts for a long time, and I wish it all the success in the world. Maybe someday I will join. However, change is coming via another alternative -- one that is not vulnerable to legal technicalities or attacks, and one that is purely built for the best interest of the pin community based on the voices of that very pin community (I wont shed more light on this, so the appropriate person may do so at the right time). However you look at it -- the more options, the better.

The. End.

 

[Jabberwocky]

The problem is: the horses left the barn a long time ago. Whether PP shuts down the old site or the new site, the simple fact is, a lot of their former regular contributors stopped adding pins to the database a while ago and BOTH sites as a result are missing tons of pins that have been released over the past year or previewed for the coming months. A few get added here and there, but what was a comprehensive database with frequently hourly new additions of anything and everything being released is now two databases with a lot of critical missing data, therefore resulting in the devaluation of content on both. And I don't think it can even be fixed at this point. Too much is missing. Too much continues to be missed because too many people were driven away or left for whatever reasons.

And while I respect the new endeavors - these too cannot be comprehensive without EVERYONE'S participation (as PinPics used to have). Which won't happen since the community is so fractured and splinters further as the months pass. And if not comprehensive, they too will fade as the new traders/buyers/sellers/collectors continue to head en masse to social media, where it is sufficient to show a pic and a $ amount or theme/character of pins they want to trade for. People don't refer to the PinPics # of a pin anymore. They just say "can someone get me the new WDI Rapunzel or DSSH Olaf?" The first question to a new collector used to be "have you set up your PinPics yet? what's your username there?" And now, it's "what's your Instagram/Facebook?"

Whether through accident or intent, they have participated in their own expanding irrelevancy. And I find that very sad for the community as a whole. PinPics was at the heart of our community for so many years - and now that heart... is broken.

 

[PersinettePins]

The problem is: the horses left the barn a long time ago. Whether PP shuts down the old site or the new site, the simple fact is, a lot of their former regular contributors stopped adding pins to the database a while ago and BOTH sites as a result are missing tons of pins that have been released over the past year or previewed for the coming months. A few get added here and there, but what was a comprehensive database with frequently hourly new additions of anything and everything being released is now two databases with a lot of critical missing data, therefore resulting in the devaluation of content on both. And I don't think it can even be fixed at this point. Too much is missing. Too much continues to be missed because too many people were driven away or left for whatever reasons.

And while I respect the new endeavors - these too cannot be comprehensive without EVERYONE'S participation (as PinPics used to have). Which won't happen since the community is so fractured and splinters further as the months pass. And if not comprehensive, they too will fade as the new traders/buyers/sellers/collectors continue to head en masse to social media, where it is sufficient to show a pic and a $ amount or theme/character of pins they want to trade for. People don't refer to the PinPics # of a pin anymore. They just say "can someone get me the new WDI Rapunzel or DSSH Olaf?" The first question to a new collector used to be "have you set up your PinPics yet? what's your username there?" And now, it's "what's your Instagram/Facebook?"

Whether through accident or intent, they have participated in their own expanding irrelevancy. And I find that very sad for the community as a whole. PinPics was at the heart of our community for so many years - and now that heart... is broken.

Reading this rung so true to me it hurts. Being new I obviously don't know about the good ol' days, but seeing the FB and IG trends at DSF, everyone asking what your IG handle is, referencing eBay prices not trade/want ratios... It is very sad to whiteness something die. I will keep adding my pics to the new databases being built in the hopes they catch on.

 

[dopeydoc3]

:::sighhhhhhh:::

there's one in every crowd! thanks, Merry!

Originally Posted by dopeydoc3
I realize this will fall on the blindest of eyes and the deafest of ears (again) but..... if there was a single person on here (besides myself) that had any clue as to how frustrated and disappointed the Pinpics "techies" are - and have been since that first fateful announcement - that they haven't been able to make "new" PP as easy to use, and as comprehensively informative, as the original site..... or how genuinely long and hard and unsuccessfully (and at great expense) they have worked at it..... then the skies would open up and rain enough authentic Frozen, Rapunzel and WIR pins to cover North America. Sadly, there isn't one.

There is one. So it is time for pins to rain down from the skies :hsd:

 

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by dopeydoc3 [/COLOR]
I realize this will fall on the blindest of eyes and the deafest of ears (again) but..... if there was a single person on here (besides myself) that had any clue as to how frustrated and disappointed the Pinpics "techies" are - and have been since that first fateful announcement - that they haven't been able to make "new" PP as easy to use, and as comprehensively informative, as the original site..... or how genuinely long and hard and unsuccessfully (and at great expense) they have worked at it..... then the skies would open up and rain enough authentic Frozen, Rapunzel and WIR pins to cover North America. Sadly, there isn't one.

Maybe they should have made sure everything (or at least most of everything) was up and running BEFORE they took the site live. That is what a "real" company would have done. Obviously they have no clue on how to run a website or a business.

 

[broncobilly83]

I have a few thoughts about this, but need to work out how I want to say them before posting. As this a valid conversation about the state of the pin trading community as a whole, AS LONG AS THIS IS KEPT CIVIL AND EVERYONE RESPECTS EVERYONE ELSE'S OPINIONS; I do not see why the thread can not continue.