There are approximately 83,500 members on Numista. Typically, less than 35% are active accounts. I will use 30% here. 83,500 x 0.3 = 25,050 active users cataloging their coins.
The new format is largely unpopular. Anyone using the old format isn't adding values. I will assume that 75% of active users are using the old format. 25,050 x 0.25 = 6,262 users adding values to coins.
Not all users collect by date, mintmark or variety. Type collectors will only input one value for one coin, most likely a higher grade of the most common date. Overall, price values from type collectors will be drowned out by prolific data from date collectors. Date collectors will determine each coin's value. I will assume that half of our users collect by type only. 6,262 x 0.5 = 3,131 users adding values by date/mintmark.
There are five grades for each date and variety. Most collectors don't own one specimen of each grade. I will assume that ownership is spread evenly for each of the five grades. 3,131 x 0.2 = 626 users inputting values for each grade of each specific coin.
This assumes that all 626 users have that coin... NRI=1. As the rarity goes up, the number of owners goes down. This also assumes that all users are comfortable grading their coins. I assume that value data from ungraded coins isn't used in the value calculations.
Let's talk about this. The usefulness of the value tool here depends on the number of users participating in it. To do better, Numista can encourage:
1) more active accounts
2) using the new format
3) better incorporation of value data from type-only collectors
4) better incorporation of value data from users who don't grade their coins
Obviously the system needs more input.
Or by new users or by new coins from existing users.
Do you realy think that existing users will add values for coins that they already added in the catalogue?
As an existing user who had marked my purchase price on a corner of my cardboard coin holders where appropriate, now that I understand more of what is being done with the price data, I'm willing to go back through for an afternoon and add my purchase price.
I was hesitant to add that information when I initially saw the update for a few reasons. It was different, and I didn't see right off what the impact of entering prices would be. Would the numbers be visible to other people? There's something unsettling about contacting strangers online to arrange swaps, and then sending them my address, that if they can see valuation of my collection, I might be putting myself in position for there to be harm.
Another question I had was whether I should be paying my purchase price or trying to determine catalog value with grading my coins. I still think of myself as an amateur collector, and grading international coins is especially challenging. And, if I overpaid or underpaid, which number is more helpful to the community?
After using the new interface for a few weeks, I saw the average price indicated. It makes sense that this could be pulling from aggregated data across multiple users accounts across our community.
There is a separate thread requesting that personal purchase price be hidden when other people view a personal collection page. Seeing that thread confirmed my initial concerns, but also helped allay the concerns because that big has been corrected.
There was probably a forum post about the changes, but I haven't read it yet. So my comments are from my point of view as an irregular user of the site who tries to just bumble through changes and tries to get most things working. And on occasion finds time to scan the forums for changes and swap offers. As I'm becoming more comfortable with the updates, and understanding how the features could be helpful, I'm more inclined to set aside time and go back through my collection to add purchase values.
I hope this is a helpful perspective for the discussion thread here, as there seemed to be a lot of guessing about what our active users might be willing to do.
I suppose this might be an opportunity to ask about having some kind of regular outreach message to send notifications to the entire community. Sort of a quarterly newsletter or major announcements. I know that key threads can be made sticky in the forums, but periodic updates to the site that affect everyone, but won't matter after everyone is comfortable with the new interface, as an example, may not make sense to be sticky posts forever.
