Showing posts with label Forum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forum. Show all posts

11/29/2010

Do You Lurk?

Having done so much traveling this past week without my laptop, I often turned to the web on my phone  for the latest happenings in the doll world. I got to thinking how doll boards have changed my collecting experience.
When I was collecting Bratz dolls I found a Yahoo board that specialized in Bratz. That was my first. It was so much fun. I created my first doll story and had a very positive experience sharing my photos and looking at the photos other collectors posted.  I was already a collector of Tonner's Tiny Kitty, Tyler and Sydney dolls but looking back, I don't know how I survived without a network of collectors at my fingertips! The Tonner site, eBay and dealers' websites were all I had.
Sometime in 2004, I purchased my first Fashion Royalty doll on eBay and after that from other collectors. As I look back through my database, I see names of sellers that I could only have met on the boards.  Many have moved on to other pursuits or are collecting other types of dolls. One is running his own doll forum. Several have gone out of business.
One amazing experience was reading someone's post about a BIC exclusive Kyori coming out soon.  I wrote to BIC and that got me on the pre-order list to get the Ginza Kyori Gift Set. I had no idea what I was doing as I wasn't familiar with the big scramble for Fashion Royalty dolls. I think Ginza was the first FR doll I got at retail and that was no mean feat for a beginning FR collector back then. It was also the first year I attended a Fashion Royalty convention. That was in Toronto. If I hadn't been a board member, I wouldn't have known anyone in advance.

Like so many other collectors I became addicted to FR and the rest is pretty much history but I wanted to give a plug to the public doll boards I frequent most often.

The board which I have been a member of for the longest time is the Pink Parlor. The management has changed and the board is getting back to it's former lively self again. The (unstated) focus of the board is 1/6 scale dolls such as Fashion Royalty, Barbie and similar but many of the collectors have dolls that run the gamut. Registration is necessary and is free.

Logo Property of Pink Parlor. Click on it to go to the Pink Parlor.
Prego is the doll board I go to for the larger dolls like Tonner's Tyler, Sydney, Character Figures, Antoinette and similar 1/4 scale dolls. Again, the collectors there have eclectic collections and enjoy seeing pictures of other dolls. For a long time I thought that I couldn't post anything but repaints because many of the members have the most gorgeous collections of dolls that have been repainted.
I have learned that Prego is a safe board and that "factory" dolls are welcome as well as OOAK.  Many post pictures of Sybarite, Deva and Asian BJD dolls as well. If I post a question about something Tonner related, someone is bound to come up with the answer in minutes.  Registration is necessary and is free.
Here is the link to register to post at Prego:
http://tools.boardhost.com/reg/user=prego
Logo Property of Prego. Click on it to go to Prego.
If you collect Gene Marshall dolls and love fashions from that era, check out The Studio Commissary.
Every day the board posts a different vintage image in the header of either models or movie stars.
The Studio Commissary also hosts a link to the Fashion Sleuth which is a collection of images of real fashions which have been inspirations for doll fashions. For example, Azalea Ice Zita's gown was inspired by a Valentino. Board owner,  Mike Basala, has a great Flickr collection to which many sleuths have contributed. The board is open to all.

Valentino
Zita "Azalea Ice"

Dolly Daily is a forum as opposed to a message board. One big difference is that on an active message board, a topic can scroll off quickly. On a forum, there are tools to see the latest posts in a threaded or hierarchical structure. Here is a link to Wikipedia's explanation of the different types of on-line discussion sites.
Dolly Daily has areas for all different types of dolls, general questions, birthdays and introductions, selling and buying, member blogs and more. Contributors get access to a game arcade and a steam room.
Posts do not scroll off and are searchable by topic and poster's name.
Although I am a member there, I mostly lurk, but I do recommend this forum for it's huge resource of collectors and information. Registration is required and general membership is free.

Logo Property of Dolly Daily. Click on it to go to Dolly Daily

For ball jointed dolls I go to the Den of Angels. This is a very closely moderated forum containing more information than most collectors will ever need. There are many specific sub-forums so it's easy to navigate and find what you are looking for.  They have a huge membership from all over the world. Right now as I type this there are 541 users online. There are 30,852 members of which 10,319 are active members.
Membership is by invitation and free.

Logo Property of DoA. Click on it to go to Den of Angels

These are by no means all the doll boards out there. There are scores of Yahoo groups and other hosted boards in a multitude of formats. One or more is certainly right for you!

Are you still lurking?

9/28/2009

A New Doll Discussion Forum - DOLL THERAPY

A new forum has been unveiled by Claudia Fowler, the former Admin of SilkSpa. The new forum is called Doll Therapy. I love the name! Although some of us may need therapy due to the stresses of collecting and spending, it's so appropriate to how the majority of us view our dolls.

I asked Claudia to talk about SilkSpa, her former doll board and about Doll Therapy, the new one.

TG: When did you start SilkSpa?
CF: All this started off a chat room actually, in 2002 with a few other hell raisers. Such a place was missing at the time and what came out of those chats was so fun and interesting at the same time, that people participating in them were asking for transcripts every time… I emailed out so many that we started talking about looking for a more permanent avenue. The actual forum started on 2003.

TG: How long was SilkSpa in operation?CF: Three and a half very fun years and it was great. I have been posting on bulletin boards since before the internet and what I’ve always found so interesting to me is how people from everywhere and all walks of life can become like your extended family, or at least the bar where everyone knows your name. The community came together and we often wondered how big we should let this become before the Fire Department came over to close us down.

TG: How will Doll Therapy be different? What dolls are welcome? What features will we see?

CF: Doll Therapy is a very simple and seamless platform where everything you want from it is right there. It is purposefully very easy to read and navigate and yet, more powerful and full of features than any Doll Forum out there.

From it you can host your own pictures for free, publish multimedia posts and polls, review and rate, buy-sell-trade, leave auction-styled feedback, share how-to manuals and useful links, flaunt your OOAK’s, have your personal blog, friend your personal network, and of course have a chat room available 24/7, and we’re only scratching the surface.

We’ve been ahead of the curve since SilkSpa’s inception. At the time we were the first Doll site to provide a platform where messages weren’t lost at the end of the day. At the time all this new software either hadn’t been written, wasn’t evolved enough or I didn’t know that I could do this or that it could work so seamlessly, so Doll Therapy is truly it.

All Fashion Dolls are welcome. We will talk/chat/rate dolls we don’t collect ourselves as well... I think that what both newcomers and existing members were most impressed about was that we agreed to disagree, we really spoke our minds and didn’t hold back much, yet respected each other. The building blocks of a great community! …and I’d like to think that we’re just what the doctor ordered.

______

Well girls and boys, doesn't this sound great? I joined.

Check it out at this link and if you join - say Terri sent you! No, I don't get anything ;-)

DOLL THERAPY