WINS Email Lists - The Lists indicate proper functioning, but we have been experiencing a slow down in post delivery for a while now and I am looking into it.  If you are experiencing any list problems, please let me know.

Auction News - As you read this, Auction 45 will be well underway having opened on October 6th and closing on October 13th.  In the previous Newsletter, I gave a bit of background into the auctions and touched on the formats that both sellers and bidders are requested to use to make coordinating the auction a little easier.  It didn't seem to work because many submissions from both sellers and bidders are still arriving that do not follow the format guidelines.  I can understand why those of you with high-speed Internet access of one sort or another think file and image sizes don't matter.  After all, you can download and view your images just fine so it's not your problem.  However, just because you can download large files fine, it doesn't mean everyone can.  Not everyone has high-speed Internet access; some of us are locked into very slow, old copper-cable, dial-up service.

When most Internet site developers build a web page, they take into consideration what the average Internet user's system capabilities are likely to be including monitor size and Internet access speed.  Most web pages aren't designed for the largest monitor sizes or fastest access speeds.  Few site viewers are willing to wait 10 to 15 minutes for a web page or an image to load and as far as an auction is concerned viewing that image can determine whether or not the viewer will place a bid.  If not taken into consideration, the site stands a chance of losing many possible viewers and maybe even a sale or two.  This is the biggest reason for our image size requirements; to make the WINS auction accessible to the largest audience.

So what does this have to do with the WINS actions?  The second reason, but less important; I'm locked into very slow, old copper-cable, dial-up Internet access, and often times my access speeds are below 20K.  In the last several auctions, I've been sent email with very large file attachments or I've been sent links to an online storage location where the file sizes ranges from 1.5 MB to 3.5 MB.  For those with high-speed access these file sizes aren't a problem.  However, it can take me up to 45 minutes to download just one image regardless if its attached to an email or sitting on a web site.  For months I have been asking members to abide by the Auction Rules and stay within the image and file size limits.  It seems that my requests have not been heard by everyone because as I write this there have been 17 members place bids in Auction 45.  It's odd, but eight of those members must never have seen the format because they didn't use it, two of them twice.

Imagine receiving between six and twelve email bids per day most of them don't use the bid format specified in the Auction Rules.  Each bidder simply lists their bid data randomly, sometimes out of numerical sequence, and often only provide a first name because I'm supposed to know everybody and their member numbers by heart.  So in order to place the bids on the auction page, I must spend time sorting through data to pick the necessary part, look up their registered name and member number and verify it with the enrolled email address, and then hope that I haven't made any errors in sorting, recording or posting.  If the auction was a new club feature I could better understand the confusion with submitting data in a specified format, but it isn't a new feature.  The auctions have been running since mid 1999 and most of the Rules for sellers and bidders have been in place the entire time.  I'm I the only one that sees a problem here?

So I am left with little choice; I am placing the members on notice.  Starting now if the formats specified in the Auction Rules are not followed, completion of this year's auction schedule - or at the very least my participation as coordinator - is in serious jeopardy.  I don't mind the time and effort it takes to run the auction, as a matter of fact I enjoy it.  But, I'm tired of tying up my system and telephone line for hours downloading data and images, and sorting through bid data for members who refuse to follow a few simple rules.  If you want the auctions to continue, do your part and follow the Auction Rules - especially the formats for submitting lot data and bids.

Auction Images - I understand that not everyone has a good imaging system (digital camera or good scanner) or quality graphics software.  You might even be using some free or low-end graphics software that may limit what you can do.  If you fall into any of these categories and think you may be one of the offenders providing oversized image files and would like to "work on the problem", contact me and I'll see what I can do to assist.

Images used in the WINS auctions and stored on the WINS web site are resized to fit on the auction page better and load fast as possible.  If you will look carefully, very little "white space" exists around any edge of the images and both sides of most coins are placed fairly close together.  The reason for this is, the smaller the image size, the faster it will load.  Also, less "white space" in an image means the overall image will be smaller, its file size will be smaller, and it will load faster, and the image will present more coin than blank space.  Full-size images are rarely used or linked in the auction for several reasons.  First, they can take a long time to load.  Second, few monitors can display a full-size coin image without having to use the horizontal or vertical scrolls.  For the most part, an image that fills a 600x800 page setting will give you a pretty good idea of what the coins looks like and if it has any serious problems.  If any image provided in the auction doesn't provide enough information because it is too small, a larger more detailed image can always be requested from the seller.  Lastly, this is WINS and I've never known a WINS member to tell a mistruth about any item placed in the auction.  Many members don't even use images in their auctions.

If you are providing your own online storage of your auction images and your images don't meet the format sizes specified in the Auction Rules, you aren't helping the situation and you may be losing potential bidders.  It takes about the same time to download an image attached to email as it does an image stored on a web site, but few folks are going to wait around 20 to 40 minutes to download a huge image file. Making certain your images are of the size specified in the Auction Rules will go a long way to help everyone.

A word about blurry auction images.  I fully understand the importance of images in any auction.  But, what good is an image that is so out of focus that you can barely tell what's in the image? If you aren't able to take images in focus then I recommend you forget about images and just provide a good item description.  Just make certain it is a description you can stand behind.

The Next Auction (the Christmas Auction) is scheduled for November 24th through December 8th.  Whether or not it takes place is up to those participating as sellers and bidders and whether or not the submission formats are followed.

The Web Site - Recent postings on the wins-talk List and the Business List have shown that very few of the members have bothered to read the Auction Rules let alone the List Posting Rules or the Bylaws.  It took a lot of time for many members to develop these items; all in the hope that they would make things run more smoothly.  However, if you don't read and follow them then you are part of the problem, not part of the solution.  If you want this Internet-based club to work, you simply must make an effort!  This is an Internet-based club and the web site is full of member-developed information.  How about taking a few minutes and reading through the stuff?  It could just help things work more smoothly.

As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for readin' my rant.  "See ya' at the auction".
JD White
WINS#7, Operations Admin