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  • February 22, 2022 00:14
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February 22, 2022 00:14
To avoid going off-topic in the other thread:

Many people still do not understand the difference between block and sheet.
I sometimes correct a zipper, for relaxation, but it is mopping with the tap open.

Some deliberately change it to Block and Sheet: #2497283 #3755277 #3777607 #3260039 #3755441 (just to name a few recent ones).
And this one is really completely incomprehensible: #5170901

I wonder if it's even worth making a distinction (I'm also somewhat lost on its usefulness).
Can Block and Sheet not be merged into Block/sheet?
Or is that swearing in church?
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February 22, 2022 13:00
 I wonder if it's worth continuing to make a distinction (the usefulness of it eludes me somewhat).
Can't Blok and Velletje be merged into Blok/sheet?
Or is that swearing in church?

A distinction must be clear and useful, otherwise a distinction is meaningless.
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  • February 22, 2022 18:21
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February 22, 2022 18:21
Block and sheet are clearly described in the manual. There is a big difference between these two. Block: a collection of one or more different stamps, surrounded by a sheet border. The property is that a block is issued separately. Sheet / sheet: a collection of several stamps, in which at least one stamp occurs several times, surrounded by a sheet border.. 
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  • February 22, 2022 18:28
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February 22, 2022 18:28
The definition here on LD is clear.
But explain to a layman why the first of the examples below is a Block and the second is a Sheet.
And why that difference matters.

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  • February 22, 2022 18:39
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February 22, 2022 18:39
Seems obvious to me. The top one has 6 different stamps, the bottom one has 3 different stamps 2x.
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  • February 22, 2022 19:37
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February 22, 2022 19:37
stripspeldjes

In the past, it would have been discussed many times before, almost even fought.
The Stamp Handbook has a clear and easy-to-apply rule: that's what we do in the LD Stamp Catalog. What other catalogs do is their own business. Each has its own insights and idiosyncrasies.
There is no pin, not even a strip pin :), to get in between.

Mixing the two (block and sheet) is not a good idea. Nor does it make the definition complex. Now everyone understands the definition. You see one stamp that appears more than once: sheetlet.

Besides clarity, there is another great advantage of this definition. In practice, a large number of items are excluded from the standard view (with standard filter on). There are countries where you can find a block with several of those stamps on LD for each stamp. Or combined 'blocks' in which several stamps are repeated several times.

When searching, you as a user have the advantage that (after all, you have the block or sheet in your hand, right in front of your nose) can already set up a first large filter. Without having to think much. It is a block or a sheet. The definition is simple and as clear as pump water (in a non-polluted area).

It strikes me that in recent weeks existing agreements are constantly questioning are drawn, and that confusion is sown. To regularize your own wrong registrations? If mistakes are made (everyone does from time to time), you might as well use the energy to make things right. If you were wrong, then there is still no problem. If you erase the 'trail'.

As a reward for all the attempts at anarchy, I will give you some extra philosophical writing for this.
No definition, decision or agreement - how complicated and complex you make them - will lead to everyone's 100% satisfaction.
No rule to follow written in single lines will be followed if you expand 10 pages about it. Rather to follow less. Who reads 10 pages about something that you can explain in a few words? And if you do read it, how many know after 6 pages what was written after 2 pages?
Every decision and agreement is the result of choices that are made. They have to be made because nobody is alone here on LD. Many of us are stuck together in the same structure. As a collector, or as a shop owner. Every choice is a win, and always some loss. Taking the loss because a decision is ALWAYS better than no decision, that's great.
Learn to live with the drawbacks of something that has benefits. You have to be able to do it.
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February 22, 2022 22:12
Thanks for your detailed response, Raoul, but it doesn't help me.

Everyone refers me to the Handbook for an explanation of the difference, even though I already mentioned that I know the definition. Years ago I provided the background pages of Blok and Velletje with the new definitions, even before they were included in the Handbook. There were endless discussions about this (emotional) subject at the time, until Arco finally took the plunge. All arguments for that decision are completely clear to me and had my support.

It strikes me that in recent weeks existing agreements are constantly being questioned, and that confusion is being sown.
In this case I did it, as I indicated in my first post, because a lot of things are still incorrectly filled in and changed with these kinds of items (see e.g. the History of 308759). I think it's easier to convince people of the need for an appointment if you can explain the argument for that choice.

Mixing the two (block and sheet) is not a good idea.
It is clear that everyone has their own idea in their head of what you call a block and what a sheet, but I have not heard from anyone in all those years what exactly the physical difference is. It's apparently too intuitive or too subtle. The definition of LD is conclusive, but also completely artificial.
I can't think of an example of a situation in which I (for example with Kinderpostzegels, as in the example above) make a separate selection of Bokken on my screen, and a separate selection of Sheets.
You say that it is useful to be able to make a selection to find your own item faster, but I don't believe that experienced users search that way. And less experienced users, who might benefit from this, are not familiar with the LD definition.
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  • February 22, 2022 22:33
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February 22, 2022 22:33
It is better, if an item or parts of it has been approved, to have it frozen by an administrator. Then nothing will be changed. If someone does not agree with something, they can always write to the administrator.
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February 22, 2022 22:40
Freezing is definitely a good idea.
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February 22, 2022 22:53
It is better, if an item has been approved by an administrator, to freeze it.
Completely contradictory to the principle of a wiki. We can't keep up with reviewing already, let alone that we have to freeze and thaw 700,000 every day.
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February 22, 2022 22:59
If an admin has approved something, they don't do it without reason. So he doesn't have to defrost anything anymore, only if he had a bad day. As it is now, when everything has been reviewed, you can start again because everything has been changed.
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  • February 22, 2022 23:17
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February 22, 2022 23:17
We're straying completely from the original topic. If the entire process is questioned (Raoul also mentioned this in another post) then maybe we can throw the 700,000 items in the trash and start over. :-(
Can someone find me an item where ALL fields are filled in and where the administrator has reviewed it with an encyclopedia so that this item is correct without errors and can be frozen?
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  • February 22, 2022 23:25
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February 22, 2022 23:25
It's not like ALL fields should be frozen. (And it certainly doesn't apply to empty fields.)

We may have different ideas about an administrator's job, but when I (in my rubric) review an item, it does mean that I have checked the information and assessed it (based on my knowledge and experience) as correct. The last thing I want is for someone else to add incorrect information unchecked after that.

If you as an administrator can't prevent your approved items from being changed, then you actually have no more permissions than any other user .

(PS Part of the problem is that no one can tell from the item that it has been reviewed without checking the History first – which hardly anyone does.)
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  • February 22, 2022 23:33
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February 22, 2022 23:33
No one has said that the entire process is being questioned. Nobody said we can throw 700,000 items in the trash. It has only been said that if something is good it does not need to be changed. Saves a lot of work for everyone.
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February 22, 2022 23:39
I'm not going to comment further on it, but you probably understood from my post that we have a different view on the meaning of a wiki.
It doesn't matter here, but there is another section where each item is reviewed and frozen the day of addition. You can't even correct a typo anymore. I've written to the admin a few times (successfully, no criticism) but the procedure is so cumbersome that I never look at that section again.
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February 22, 2022 23:46
No one has said that the entire process is being questioned.
Every post on the stamp forum for weeks (or months?) has been about the handbook being unclear and that we want to do it differently. Changes should be possible if necessary, but there are limits.
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February 23, 2022 00:00
That's why there is also complete method. There are just a few more dots, which could use a little more clarity. There is no need to push boundaries. I'm also not responding anymore because it's bedtime, good night.
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October 30, 2022 22:23
Thousands of sheets were viewed and corrected if necessary.
We remember (see handbook and background info):
- all different stamps = block
- at least 1 stamp 2x = sheet
- nominal value = if the total is literally written on it (not the value of 1 stamp and not calculating the total yourself)
It is indeed mopping with the tap open, so from now on there will be regular checks and everyone will be thought of by me with a pm.
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October 31, 2022 08:01
not the value of 1 stamp
Unless the block contains only one seal.
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  • October 31, 2022 09:03
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October 31, 2022 09:03
The problem is not the clarity of the Handbook, but the LD user who fails to read and apply the Handbook.
Educating users often takes me a few hours a day! Then you take out those rushed users who fit this definition.
Yesterday a large user (seller) who enters a whole row of "parrots", neatly with edition 2016 Parrots, with 1 toothless block. A little later the same block follows, but toothed, with the title PARKIETEN and issue name 2016 Parakeets. He didn't seem to realize what was wrong with that.
A nominal value of a sheet of 10x75 also indicates the problem described above.
In short: Education is the key, not continuing to "improve" the Handbook.
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October 31, 2022 10:14
Indeed.

A (small) group of users sometimes makes it a bit colorful.
It protection mechanism 'block vwb add and change' is a powerful tool here:
- protecting those users against unnecessary work (will still be rejected or changed back ... a waste of work);
- protecting the managers against the influx (mopping with the taps open ...) of a lot of extra work to detect, reject and/or adjust all of this.
If it really doesn't work, then that block will remain. It's rare, but unfortunately it happens. However, those users can still do a lot: use everything that LD makes available. Only adding and not changing items. But there are still many possibilities, without impact on the quality of the catalogs on LD.

A large group of dutiful users (including the administrators) have put a lot of things right in the past year. Especially the important 'Face Value' field. with this, the search function based on that field has become even more powerful and better.

The importance of Issue (name) should be emphasized a bit better in my opinion. How powerful is that field! You click on it in the detail of an item and pop: everything from that issue in a selection on your screen. Many (mainly new) users are not aware of this.
With a few administrators, the lame issue names (those that do not start with the year) were, and are currently being addressed. In the alphabetical overview there were sometimes hundreds per letter.
The effort has, among other things, brought up several hundred duplications.
Only for the letter T and V there are still about 80 to do. It decreases every day.
The few cripples that remain have something wrong with them (or special, like 'DELETE') and that is still being investigated (and fixed).
If you feel like it, you can, for example, continue mucking out the 'All Countries' issue (1977-1980 remains). It is a dull job where after a few dozen rectifications you want to throw the computer through the window.
But in this way, the new cripples can now be spotted more easily and quickly. Some users without manual knowledge can be recognized by this: what they enter in the fields 'Nominal value' and/or 'Issuance'.

The next phase will be the empty boxes (no issue filled in).
Each item is entitled to its Issue (name)!
You don't have to be an administrator to contribute to this either.
It is a lot of searching and puzzle work. But it is always a definitive contribution to the quality of the catalogues.

I think it is advisable if you see a user struggling (several non-conforming inputs and/or changes) in an area where a specific administrator is on ( specialty -> see overview of administrators, or in a country/area via 'Options / Administrators ), to signal that manager.
Although an administrator must be able to see this immediately via the administrator module (for new input and changes), not every administrator is available 24/7 in volunteer work. A signal is then very useful.

Oh, I hope you enjoy reading. In any case: I like to write :)
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October 31, 2022 12:44
Raoul62 I see you replaced issue "Unknown" with "0000 Unknown" ( #9438765 ). Is that the standard we agree on for this?
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October 31, 2022 13:25
Helv
An additional consequence. No more.
The items where nothing is found (searches can take a long time!) '0000' is placed in front of them (among others by me).
Necessary, because when going over (by different administrators and conscientious users) they have to be removed from the overview per letter. Otherwise they will be treated a 2nd, 3rd, .. time, each time by different people. Loss of time.
The list per letter must be empty (except for the D).
It has been established that this provides an additional advantage: they come 'in the picture'. 0000 appears first in the lists. Remarkable. This has already yielded something: someone with an 'ah yes, I know that' experience who then adds the appropriate year of issue.
A by-catch.

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October 31, 2022 13:26
Is therefore not 'Unknown' for the issue. Only for the items where the year of issue cannot be traced (by those who took the trouble to treat those issues)
A more in-depth answer will fall back on my aversion to the 'Personal' junk.
Nice, an item 'My neighbor'. But what that neighbor has to do with philately ...
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  • October 31, 2022 13:57
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October 31, 2022 13:57

not the value of 1 stamp
Unless the block contains only one seal.
Of course you are right for 1 stamp, but I was in the sheets. And a vellete of 1 stamp is impossible (for those who were not allowed to realize it yet).
In the coming months it will be the turn of the blocks. There too great chaos, sometimes the word "blocks" reminds me more of toys than of philately.
New importers be warned.
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