Discussion about “About StampCollectingBlog.com”

1. Denis wrote:
   

   Hi,

   I’m stamps collector from Russia and I very like your blog.
   The articles you wrote are very helpful for me.
   Unfortunately a lot of people here in Russia that are collectors also do not know English (this is very often issue for the people who was born in USSR when we were out of the border)
   I would like to translate your articles you placed here and add them to Runet (sites in Russia’ part of the Internet).
   If you’re OK with that – I would like to translate them, and of course will add the links to this blog to keep your copyright.

   What do you think about?
   Thanks.

2. Keijo wrote:
   

   Hi Denis,

   I have considered translating some of the articles to major languages (russian, german, spanish, france etc) a long time. And I have even tested up some “auto-translation” tools – but they appear to provide somewhat poor results (yes, the page content has been somewhat understandable, but grammar-wise they have been intolerable).

   As your suggestion…If You (or anybody else for that matter)wishes to translate some of the blog content to their first (native) language, then I’d suggest that the content, both original and ANY translated versions, would be hosted here at stampcollectingblog.com (for example stampcollectingblog.com/ru/which-of-these-stamps-went-up-in-value.php would contain Russian version of this page). The translated entries could be sent to me (by email, by file upload or some other means), and then I’d simply put them into proper place.

   I can’t / won’t provide money for any of the translations, but proper credit’s (name and possibly a link back to translator webpage if such exists) for the hard work would be always put in their place… And very likely it would become a very wiki-like system, where (at least in theory) anyone could contribute to translation work.

   How do you think about my counter-proposal?

3. Denis wrote:
   

   Keijo,

   Yeah, I have the same experience with auto-translate tools and seems the software does not have enough “skills” to translate any materials in human-readable view.

   I want to clarify your suggestion:

   “the content, both original and ANY translated versions, would be hosted here at stampcollectingblog.com”
   

   Is this mean that I cannot place translated version on my site with keeping the link to your blog and your copyright? Simply adding the link to translated version on your site is not very good for Russia as not so many people know English and they will be confused to visit some English-language site.

   However I’m absolutely OK with following:
   1. I translate the text.
   2. Inform you that I did that and provide you translated version via mail
   3. Put the text of the translated version of the article on my site and write near the link to original version of the article (URL to your site) and add your copyright as author near the article.
   4. I do not care about getting the money for translation as I’m interesting in that.

   Of course you have any rights to add translated text on your own site or any other resources you want.

   Please, inform me if this works for you. Thank you in advance.
   Denis.

4. Keijo wrote:
   

   Hi Denis,

   this mean that I cannot place translated version on my site with keeping the link to your blog and your copyright

   Sadly yes (and I did give this some serious time).

   The reason I’m against publishing my content outside this domain, is that I’ve (sadly already) experienced how badly things can go with such “open distribution”. By keeping all the pieces in one place, I wish (or at least hope to) to keep a far more better control in case of possible issues.

   …as not so many people know English and they will be confused to visit some English-language site

   I have partial solution /fix for this (like written on 1,000 comments and translating blog to multilingualpost)… I’ll simply translate some key areas of “theme” to proper languages (so that instead of “Leave a reply” the translated Russian page would say for example “Добавить комментарий”)… But no, it would not remove all the English content from viewers of the translation. This blog is written and updated mainly in English, and as such it will also live on.

   Hope you’ll understand my point.
   best,
   -keijo-

5. Denis wrote:
   

   Yes, sure.

   Thanks for the clarification.

6. shaikh wrote:
   

   Hi

   I’m a writer and would like to do a guest blog on an amazing set of stamps being released in the UK very soon. How can I get in touch/email?

   Could you perhaps email me?

7. Keijo wrote:
   

   @shaikh… Thanks for the offer, but no thank You…I’m not totally excluding the idea of having some guest bloggers / writers in future. But even in such case, they will be people I know & value as collectors.

8. Jim Hall wrote:
   

   hello:

   I have just started or re-started my collecting interests, and wonder if you could have contest of sorts, about favorite stamp collecting stories or what stamp collecting means to me.
   I have also published on PhilatelicDataBase.Com in the past and I would like to add my feelings to your site as well.
   jim hall

9. Keijo wrote:
   

   @Jim Hall

   Anything is possible. It all depends to a very large degree on how much resources (mainly time) and interest I can devote into such venture. After all, this blog is a personal website of mine and I have limited number of hours to put in. The main goal of this blog is to share my views about the challenges and pleasures of worldwide collecting. I’ve put some extra care to keep the blog and it’s content open for all: anyone can chime in about any topic any time as long as they keep the messages polite and legal. For example the “Ask anything about stamps, life etc.” section has a mountain of questions, opinions, stories from people reading the blog – and anyone can freely add their own messages for others to view.

   But still, in the end, the main focus of this blog is me and my collection. And that’s the way I like to keep it

10. Jim Hall wrote:
    

    Hello:
    I would like to be able to SEND you my duplicates of my world collection for YOU to GIVE away to other YOUNG STAMP COLLECTORS in YOUR AREA. I will send them to you, I will suffer the postage, so that someone in your country will have something for thier collection.

    All I need is your address and a response to this note!

    Please respond

    JIM

11. Keijo wrote:
    

    @Jim Hall… I thank You for the generous offer, but (and I’ve written this before)…

    I’m just one guy middle of nowhere, and I have little/none means or interest to become a channel for donations to charity. Seriously. A lot of people may not think about it, but there’s quite a lot of work involved in accepting donations and pushing them onwards (been there, done that).

    That said, I have no objections IF somebody wants to give ME some free stamps (as a personal gift; as that is the only thing I can accept per Finnish legislation)… If anyone is interested of this option, my mailing address can be found on my exchange page.

    all the best,
    -keijo-

12. Bill Coons wrote:
    

    Hi Keijo,

    I also have been a collector for over 25-30 years and collect various type of issues. My largest collection is Wildlife on Stamps which is comprised of issues of 10 or more stamps in a specific set or series. Also includes WWF Stamps & Maximum CardsI saw a blog, on your site, about Stamp Collecting Software and I also was not very happy with what I found–to complicated so I developed my own.

    How do I go about advertising my databases on this your website?

    Please give me feed back at your convienence.

    Regards,

    Bill

13. Keijo wrote:
    

    @Bill… Interesting looking products. I’m bit puzzled by the screenshots that show Scott catalog numbers and values. Did you get a license from Amos/Scott in order to use them; or are they something end users are expected to type?

    Re, advertising on the blog… This has been asked by many in recent months, and I finally made a page about advertising on the blog. I recommend taking a look on it for starters. If interested, we can talk further details in private (simply follow the instrutions on advertising page)… I know the rates I’m asking are not of the cheapest kind, but in the end there’s no point for me to sign up individual advertisers at lower rates that this.

14. H.N.D wrote:
    

    Can I promote my new stamp blog on your site. It would work intandem with yours and not be contradictory as I collect and trade new issues in mint condition – not to your style I think. Anyway, if not that is ok as well. Thanks for the great blog.

15. Keijo wrote:
    

    @H.N.D.

    You can always contribute to discussion, and include your website URL in the comment box “Your website” field. A lot of people do this (with quite good success).

    You can also share any website/URL in comment contents IF it relates to page topic / discussion.

    And you can always suggest a website/blog to be added to my StumbleUpon list of stamp related websites (but as a word of warning, I very rarely accept new websites or anything with commercial nature. In order to end up on my recommended list, the blog/website has to provide lots of useful content/value).

    But everything else is a BIG no-no!

    These simple rules exist for reason: to avoid link/comment spam. Each week I have to delete anywhere between 5-20 comments because of their spammy nature. If you are interested what link/comment spam looks like, here’s a recent example. Just click to view this Google search results page (it will not harm your computer or privacy, I guarantee that). As you notice, the same message/comment has been added onto thousands of blogs. Of course this is not done manually, as there are dedicated programs to do all the hard work (locating blogs, adding comments etc). If you wonder why, it’s all due the old (and so usual) money & fame. Links attract random visitors, and above all they can result in much better visibility on search engine results. It’s sad that supposedly collector friendly websites (like coollectors.com in this case) rely on method like this. In my books they are plain evil … Anyway, if I see any comment unfit, I will simply hit the delete button. As simple as that….

    I do have a range advertising options for stamp dealers/auctioneers and others business looking for valid advertising solutions on my blog: http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/advertise-on-stamp-collecting-blog

16. Jason Bramley wrote:
    

    Hi Keijo,

    I am putting together a graphic book and one of the chapters is specifically about postage stamps. I would like to show a sample of stamps year by year over the past century.
    I noticed some of your stamps on Google images and thought that you might be able to help.

    Could you contact me and I will let you know more about the project.

    Many thanks!

    Jason Bramley

17. Keijo wrote:
    

    @Jason… Sounds interesting Please check your inbox for my email.

Leave a new response

All responses are moderated before publishing. Responses should be respectful of other voices in the discussion, and I reserve the right to edit or delete comments at my discretion.

If You want to share an picture/photo, simply write the entire URL of the photo in the comments field.

Please do not place buying/selling/advertising oriented messages as they will not be published.

Your name (required)

Your e-Mail (will not be published) (required)

Your website

And finally... A small IQ test. Please click the picture that is NOT a postage stamp. Afterwards press the "Submit Comment" button below images.