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« on: February 23, 2024, 02:57:00 AM »
Wow! It's so good to see someone(s) using the Forum! Welcome!
I'm the same Geoff that takes care of the Club website, including the Master List and all the other Club services. I've gotten out of the habit of regularly logging into the Forum because everyone seemed to prefer Facebook (for some reason unknown to me), but maybe now I'll have to visit the Forum regularly. You can use the Forum to make suggestions about Club services, or even just questions about the services in general. I refuse to spend any more time than necessary on FB, but I'd be willing to spend more time in the Forum if enough people are interested.
I first saw WFF mice at the Mole Hole in Solvang in 1996, but didn't buy any until the following year when I realized the Factory actually retired mice each year--so much for procrastination! Later in 1997 I attended a class in Boston, and while I was out, I thought I'd visit "that place where the make the mice". The Factory was very gracious about welcoming a last-minute visitor. It was a life-altering visit, to say the least.
I started accumulating pricing data once I realized there was a primitive secondary market (this was pre-eBay) that eventually evolved into the Nu Insight WFF pricing service. Back then I was simply trying to figure out if a mouse was selling for a good price. Now the price database has data as early as 1985 and gets fresh data every month. While Nu Insight is not an official part of the Club, the Club has an agreement to run a subscriber pool that allows Club members to subscribe at a significant discount. The pool runs from March 3rd of each year to March 3rd of the next.
Don't remember exactly when I took custody of the Master List; NBR probably remembers. Back in the day there were 2 or 3 of us tracking the mice, but eventually I was the only one left. The Master List started as a web version of an Excel spreadsheet, but the spreadsheet format grew too--let's face it--ugly and unwieldy, so I learned how to weave web pages with a real database, and that's what you see today. It's seen gradual refinements over the years, the most recent being a mobile-friendly format that adjust to screen size so it can accommodate phones, tablets, and desktops.
Most of the other services are offshoots (hacks) of the Master List. My next project is a Master List of WFF-related paraphernalia that have no official item number, hence they are not easily integrated into the regular Master List (e.g., prints, sketches, cards). That list will depend on contributions from the WFF community. I'm hoping to make that available later this year.
Keep up the conversations! This Forum is easier to use than FB, despite what FB users say, so I'm inclined to impart more information here than on FB. Let the FB users come here if they want to find out what's happening!
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