Ætheling Posted September 3, 2005 Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 Coinpeople is one of those forums that is shaped by the members for the members. Having watched the forum grow from its days when it started out as the ‘Stujoe Collection’ it has continually been adapted by each new wave of regulars that have trodden through the posting halls of this digital realm. Not only has the forum grown as a knowledge base it has also developed something very unique to Coinpeople. Namely some of the most elaborate and over the top ways to both totally entertain the posters but also to let them enjoy some friendly rivalry, show off their coins and perhaps win a prize. The Popular Coin Idol these days is as much a backbone of Coinpeople as the regular coin posting forums are, but how did this all start? Back in 2003 there was a thing known as the Numismatic Idol Competition, which was run by Stujoe. The idea of the competition was that each week two member’s coins would go together and the forum would vote for the coin they preferred, the winner would then remain on to face the next week’s challenger. This competition eventually led to the spin off competition known as the Ugly Coin Competition, which debuted towards the end of 2003 the competition ran exactly the same way the only obvious difference being that the ugliest coin won instead of the prettiest! Late 2003 and early 2004 there was discussion about a more complex and forum inclusive version of the Numismatic Idol Competition. Stujoe gathered ideas and opinions into how best to approach it and to gauge how much interest there would be in such a scheme. The results were mixed, the idea was well received but no one was really sure how such a competition could be run effectively so the idea was shelved for a while. But as 2004 progressed interest had been rekindled in the idea, but the same problem of how to run it was raised and how time consuming it might be, no one knew. There was only one way to find out and that was to just give it a go. Having got to grips with the Ugly Coin Competition, I stepped forward to offer assistance and basically jumped in the deep end and decided just try any method to see if the competition was possible to run in a coherent way, Sir Sisu was kind enough to take over the Ugly Coin Competition to allow me to finally get to grips with a new challenge. US and World coins were split into separate areas under the assumption that some members might always vote US over a world coin. Entries were begun and coins started arriving left right and centre before I had any idea of where the heck to put them, how to sort the pictures out or even how to group them. PCI-1 was a complete experiment that proved to have some very mixed results. Eventually a system was figured out where coins went into groups of 8, the only problem being was that these groups of 8 were extremely diverse. Within the first few rounds cries of “unfair” began to resound with regards to some groupings. A gold coin landed against a euro, a commemorative took on a gothic florin (which later went on to steal the show). PCI-1 was successful in two respects. Firstly it successfully pointed out that such a competition could be done, was popular and would help people to share their collection with others and inspire others to buy coins they never even knew they wanted. Secondly it was successful in showing where all the flaws were, much like a boat being submerged in water the leaks quickly showed. Not long after the curtain closed on PCI-1, the sequel came along with even more entries than the one before. PCI-2 was going to be bigger and better and the mistakes of PCI-1 were going to be corrected as far as possible. The first noticeable problem was the categories. PCI-1’s main goal had been to ensure that no member would have two of their own coins against each other until it was unavoidable. This saw unfair pairings, therefore PCI-2 overruled this condition and ensured that coins of similar styles would go together first and foremost (even if it ended up being one member fighting it out with themselves) rather than having ‘unfair’ pairings from the off. PCI-2 inaugurated the new category system where silver, gold, copper etc. would all be kept within their own groups to fight it out amongst similar coins until there was a winner for each group. Only once each and every group had a winner that’s when they were mixed up and went against each other as the drawing out of the official Hat (aka Stujoe) dictated. PCI-2 ultimately proved more successful that it’s predecessor and the enthusiasm for the competition picked up to the point where members were discussing what they were going to enter in PCI-3 before PCI-2 was even finished! Due to popular demand (and coercion) PCI-3 swiftly followed. In fact the entries for PCI-3 had begun before PCI-2 had even finished. Whilst PCI-3 proved popular it seemed as if interest had waned a little in some areas since the previous season and therefore some groups of three had appeared due to the lack of entries in some categories, whilst other categories were overflowing. It was considered at the time that perhaps the competitions should be slowed down or spread out a little to enable people to have more chance of acquire new coins for before each season commenced. This and other more pressing engagements that were occupying my time meant that PCI-3 would be the last PCI competition to be conducted by myself (for now). Plus I felt that perhaps the competition could be improved by allowing someone else to have a go maybe they would be able to modify a few of the remaining problems that perhaps I was unable to see or deal with, because by this point I was stuck in the routine of it and the experimentation had seemingly stopped. In order for the PCI to evolve it would require a fresh approach and thus Stujoe was kind enough to step up to the job. PCI-4 started off with some new innovations, first of all one lingering problem that had never been resolved had been the variation in the size of the pictures presented. Some members would present pictures wider than the regular forum posting space whilst others would post pictures no bigger than 1” square. Stujoe managed to standardise this by making the use of the Omnicoin site a obligatory requirement for participation. This also allowed him to add links to each of the Omnicoin pages themselves. As PCI-4 comes to a close so does another successful chapter in PCI history, but even as this one closes another one is about to open for PCI-5 is around the corner and it just goes to show how much this competition has become part of the very essence of what is coinpeople. Long may it continue… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trantor_3 Posted September 3, 2005 Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 amen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ætheling Posted September 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 Alot of the physical evidence of it got lost when the old forum went down so i thought i'd record a little of this history here whilst i can still remember it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ætheling Posted September 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 What i would like to know Stujoe if it is still possible is which coins have came 1st and second in each PCI competition. PCI-1 = 1st place went to Stujoe's 1864 florin PCI-2 = 1st place went to ??? PCI-3 = 1st place went to ??? PCI-4 = Must have been the bust dollar no? Once we get to the end of PCI-8 (Hopefully we'll get that far) i'd like to do a champions competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted September 3, 2005 Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 Good stuff! The first in the History of CoinPeople series? This has always been a place, from back when I started the forum to now under Anton, where the user's have been incredibly involved. All the competitions and specialized forums and other features show this very well. Whether it works (like the PCI) or doesn't work (like Name That Coin), it is always fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted September 3, 2005 Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 Double post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted September 3, 2005 Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 What i would like to know Stujoe if it is still possible is which coins have came 1st and second in each PCI competition. PCI-1 = 1st place went to Stujoe's 1864 florin PCI-2 = 1st place went to ??? PCI-3 = 1st place went to ??? PCI-4 = Must have been the bust dollar no? Once we get to the end of PCI-8 (Hopefully we'll get that far) i'd like to do a champions competition. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> PCI-1 = 1st place went to Stujoe's 1864 florin (it wasn't mine when it won! I bought it from the winner later, if you recall. ) PCI-2 = 1st place went to Bustchaser's 1830 Half Dollar PCI-3 = 1st place went to Guilford Courthouse's 1856 British Halfpenny? PCI-4 = A tie for the first time between banivechi's Hungary, 2 Pengo 1939 and gpnyc's 1799 Draped Bust Dollar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ætheling Posted September 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 I know i had the florin when it won, kinda nice that was... running the competition and winning it! I've never come close since mind! Only thing is do any of those pictures still exist for those coins? I they can be sourced it's best to save them before they're totally lost. I haven't seen Guilford Courthouse in a long time... The florin, the half dollar and the other two shouldn't be a problem. PCI-4 ended on a draw did it... i think you should flip a coin on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted September 3, 2005 Report Share Posted September 3, 2005 And it is funny that you should mention Numismatic Idol. I just asked the Powers That Be about making me up a Numismatic Idol forum where I can post the old competitions like I did with the Ugly Coin Competitions. I may eventually do the same with the PCI 1, 2 and 3 (and the rest of 4) as time permits. Although with 3, I probably don't have all the pictures any more since a lot of it happened while I was deployed. I still have the whole of the old CoinPeople site on my hard drive and it is accessible. The only problem is some of the images that I never got copied over to the server. Without looking, I think all of season 1 and 2 were copied. Parts of 3 are probably still in the albums on my hard drive but probably not all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiffibunny Posted September 4, 2005 Report Share Posted September 4, 2005 The powers that be have granted your request. Boy it sounds weird reading YOU say that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stujoe Posted September 4, 2005 Report Share Posted September 4, 2005 It looks perfect! Thanks! As a side note, I think it is pretty funny that the first Numismatic Idol had 4 votes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 And we're in PCI 10 now, I think... The coins in the "Coinpeople" titlebar image at the top of every webpage were chosen in a PCI too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted March 15, 2010 Report Share Posted March 15, 2010 A very nice thread. PCI has a long and interesting history here. I agree that it has become as much a part of CoinPeople as any of the forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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