IconBuffet | Free Icons, Stock Icons, Custom Icon Design

seanhussey on Jun 13, 2007

I'm kinda with you. I'm almost out of stamps, I have no plans to go VIP, and my will to collect has been broken by the fact that I'm pretty sure there may be no way to keep up with the deliveries even if I went VIP.

Once I hit the 10K mark, I think I lost some interest. But the blog forum has been lively of late, so I'm still here (and still sending sets) for now.

kitt on Jun 13, 2007

Maybe wait until the "something really cool" that josh alluded to comes along, then decide if you're done?

bcarneiro on Jun 13, 2007

I'm still having fun!!!

:)

VHormazabal on Jun 13, 2007

I never lost my interest because I like IB (I dont care the points), and I like sharing icons :)

tamashii on Jun 13, 2007

I have not really lost interest, but the forum is sorta failing of late…

aaroncampbell on Jun 13, 2007

@seanhussey: I went VIP...and I'm glad I did, they make good stuff here...I'm just getting bored I think.

@kitt: yeah, he said "more on that next week" but it's been a week, and I haven't seen anything. Anyway, I'm not going away completely (I'm VIP for another 9 moths or so), I'm just not interested in doing anything here.

@bcarneiro: awesome! I hope you don't run out of things to do!

@VHormazabal: I like sharing icons too, but I can't. You have to have stamps to do that. I get asked for sets, but I can't send them. I can't even say "when I get back my stamps" because I have none coming back!

eury on Jun 13, 2007

Have anyone heard from Sly lately?

Luckybeitia on Jun 13, 2007

The same thing happened to me days ago. I only come to accept deliveries until I have 0 tokens. Even if I have 300+ stamps, I'm not like the first months, when I checked my profile every day and spent hours on the forum/trading...

iconmaster on Jun 13, 2007

This is good feedback. The (really and truly) zero-stamp situation is something we've been thinking about. I think we'll be able to do something about it.

bjendrick on Jun 13, 2007

Sounds interesting. Can't wait to see what's in store for the next month or two.

cheiie on Jun 13, 2007

I've noticed a lot of people seem to be more 'quiet' - I had been attributing it to summer slow down, but then again, it's not summer everywhere. The 0 stamps issue must be frustrating, though hearing your feedback makes me glad that I didn't rush for badges and points, at least I can drag out the fun a bit more.

aaroncampbell on Jun 13, 2007

YAY! You should add a 0 stamp badge, that gives you stamps :) Of course, I'd end up with rows and rows of them...so maybe that's not the best idea. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you are working on the situation. Are there other people with the "really and truly" zero stamp problem?

bcarneiro on Jun 13, 2007

aaroncampbell, maybe you just went too fast. You've reached every goal available before all the rest of us. I have no goals here, I just let things happen. Meanwhile, I just talk with other people that share the same interest. When we have nothing to talk about, we make fun about being a pirate. And when I'm out of stamps, I'm out of stamps.

Not sure if this is the case, hope you don't get offended...

FallenAngel on Jun 13, 2007

*cries* I have no tokens and no stamps. Some may be out in the wild, but I know not where. I'm tokenless for the rest of the month, and stampless unless I can get some more referrals. I admit it - I'm an addict and I need a fix!

*wanders off to gaze upon my collection of precious icons...*

gswd on Jun 13, 2007

I have slacked back a bit as well. Only looking in once or twice a day, mainly to see if a new set is being advertised, or if a new starter, blog, or cms set has been released.

There are the light hearted moments in the forum, but there also seem to be too many arguments that drag on and on. I try not to read those once I find out about them, or when they take that avenue, but sometimes it pops back onto the front page and you just have to wonder "what brought that back to life?".

The stamps thing is a problem, but so is finding people to trade with. You don't see the "I'm looking for " X "set." posts much anymore. And I think the unlimited sends on the sets had something to do with that, as well as the whispers.

The Chefs do excellent work, and I love using the icons in the few projects I work on. But with the "hostility" and "anger" that keeps popping up on the forums, I am being more reserved in what I read. I have gotten riled up too often for something that is "fun".

tommythewolfboy on Jun 13, 2007

@aroncampbell - maybe it's a sinister chef plan to get you referring even more new members, as that'll be the only way to earn new stamps if you're not picking up icon sets ... >;)
Or they should let me become a chef and I could help them release even more free deliveries ... mine could be called 'tin/copper/lead' deliveries and don't cost any tokens but still earn you stamps! ;)

aaroncampbell on Jun 13, 2007

@bcarneiro: I may have done it "too quickly" but it didn't feel that way. I had a decent number of referrals (31), but now most of them are bummed because I can't send them the sets they want. I keep referring them to other people, but I could be at 20+K easy if I had the stamps to fill the requests I get.

As for a master plan...that would be a thought, but a poorly laid plan. They had me hooked already, which already made me invite everyone I could for the points/stamps. Now, however, I can't seem to get more referrals (although I know others have FAR more... filosof, but I can't seem to).

gswd on Jun 13, 2007

You still have me beat in the referral arena. I am at 0. If only we had not been asked at one time "Why do you have stamps?"

MobiTec on Jun 13, 2007

Unfortunatly (i dont like to) but i also have to agree with aaron, the 'buffet is a great site and the Chefs really do put a huge ammount of work in but is is becoming more and more less appealing for me to visit, i spend alot of time when i'm not working with the 'buffet open in FF, but seem to find myself becoming less active as i used to.. maybe because i got alot of the availible stuff and very short on stamps

The comment of "dong it too fast" maybe a reallity..

At the 'buffet, we are like 1 big family, Chefs - Parents, and us lot - Children, and at first the chef's enticed us with Tokens, Stamps, Icons, Friends (Call them all Sweets) and some of us, were greedy children and ate all our sweets in 1 go.. now we are suffering for it.. so you might say thats our own fault..

but when you have demanding (i'll say that in the nicest possible way) children, parents have to find away to entertain there "little ones".. or they (we) become distructive little monsters... hahahaha

So chef's... Its over to you.. let the brain-storming commence.. :o)

My 2 quids worth (if its concidered)
How about making something entertaining for the "Community"??
- Games
- Quizes
- Competitions
- Icon Design
- Image/Website Design

Anything design related, as i'm certain there are alot of tallented people on here waiting to "show off"

MobiTec on Jun 13, 2007

Wow.. that post was long.. i dont usually blab that much *Chuckles*

seanhussey on Jun 13, 2007

Hey, good idea. Maybe a weekly Photoshop contest a la woot.com (or fark.com, I guess, but make it family friendly) where the prizes are stamps, tokens, icon sets, maybe a month of VIP?

Once the gas has run out of our vehicles (read: 0 stamps), there's not much to keep people here except for the community. I think you need to work on making that more enticing.

josh on Jun 13, 2007

Thanks everyone. We certainly appreciate the feedback. We're definitely looking at a handful of new ideas right now... some of which will be arriving soon. Thanks for sticking with us. Also, we ARE looking at adding more stamps to the getup.

mik on Jun 13, 2007

I think some leveling off of time spent here is a good thing, at least for me, but some things that could help keep it fun...

- timestamps and or online indicator, to facilitate interacting with someone live or else knowing not to wait for a response and just check back later
- encourage better use of appropriate categories so that 'blab' and 'swap' categories mean more. (make blab the default, and show the category with the post so ppl will notice more which it is & if they should change it)
- ways to earn stamps
- rewards (stamps?) based on participation
- rewards (small ones) based on random-ness
- being able to subscribe to a forum feed for a particular thread
- being able to mark particular threads you want to watch
- on profile pages, indicate recent activity on forum 'blogs' instead of just most recent 5 & original date

I too would like more games but I also like how grass-root-y that's been.

Oh yeah - yay! IB & chefs. It's your playground, thanks for letting me swing on your monkeybars.

mav on Jun 13, 2007

i just joined yesterday. i'm still rather confused by the whole website concept.

Forevagrey on Jun 13, 2007

you see, that is why you don't waste all ur stamps.

seanhussey on Jun 13, 2007

Are they wasted if they're accepted and you get the points? :)

anti on Jun 13, 2007

it's ok I need to get some work done. okthxbye

bcarneiro on Jun 13, 2007

Ok, this is the best comparison I can give you. It reminds me of those old 80's video games. We would spend a whole afternoon trying as hard as we could to finish the game and when it was over we would get upset because there was nothing else to do.

I believe in the buffet (like in any other "restaurant") you should sit down and enjoy your meal. This is not supposed to be (I think!) fast food.

The fact that some of you decided to go too fast just ruined it for you guys right now. We shouldn't expect the chefs to entertain us.

I believe the "game" is fun as is. There are some suggestions that seem fair and can actually improve the buffet, but I don't think we should start getting more stamps because some of us couldn't manage them.

@aaroncampbell: you could have 20k. Would you be happier because of that? Would that keep you more interested? If that's the case I think you are missing the whole point of the buffet. You can't send sets to your referrals? Well, a good problem to solve! There are more than 120 pirates and ninjas happy to send those sets for you. And they don't seem to have a stamp problem.

Hope I don't offend anybody!! :)

anti on Jun 13, 2007

Well Barb, I am certainly not offended :)

I just don't see things exactly your way.

The game seems different for each. Some might go after points or something else, but for me the thrill is scoring that delivery. If I have stamps I will hit refresh in the hopes of filling a need. If not, I will only check sporadically.

I am lucky to have all the sets and to have tokens left over at the end of the month. This is the big reason that I paid and now I have stamps whenever there is a new release. I am not gonna save them, that would be no fun.

aaroncampbell on Jun 14, 2007

I'm not going to get offended. I just think that unlike those 80's Nintendo/Sega games, this one isn't done. It's not hard-coded to some cartridge. If you get to the end, and it wasn't enough, it can be changed. I don't expect them to change it for me. I thought I might be alone in this, and the message was more like a "why my leaderboards won't be updated" kind of thing. However, I'm not the only one that feels like this, so maybe the game needs tweaks after all. It's their game, they can decide. I'm not going get offended either way.

Wile on Jun 14, 2007

effectively, having no more stamps (or not many of these) and all the sets is quite a bit frustrating. But that's the game !

Just think about some other things you should do with those icons you got ... and then post in show off category ;o)

lparziale on Jun 14, 2007

I too am in the "really and truly zero stamp club" and have all the sets, no stamps and not much chance of interaction. While some people like the socialization, which I enjoy, I am not here for that reason. I too like the competition and watching my points go up. And in the 80's, I was the Ms. Pacman champion. When I have stamps to spend, I come in and socialize more. When I don't have stamps, I just am not that inetersted. Say what you want but that is just how I am wired.

aaroncampbell on Jun 14, 2007

Yep, I'm not a "hang out on the internet and socialize" kind of person. I'll do that if there is something else to do as well (earn points, send sets, etc), but not by itself.

Wile on Jun 14, 2007

I know, I just tried to think positive ... quite hard those times ...

btw aaron, you still need alex. anonymous ;o)

Wile on Jun 14, 2007

hey, it's raining stamps ... I got some stamps back ...

JBVisions on Jun 14, 2007

Yes, cool huh. :-)

tommythewolfboy on Jun 14, 2007

here stampy-stamps ... here stampies ... come back to me (wherever you are) ...

JBVisions on Jun 14, 2007

They only came back if you were supposed to get them back. :-)

tommythewolfboy on Jun 14, 2007

Must be more careful spreading my love around! ;)

aaroncampbell on Jun 14, 2007

@Wile: Yeah, it wasn't out. Now I have it, got the 5 stamps, sent deliveries that I had promised my son... really and truly 0 again

420 Total deliveries sent

Tachi on Jun 14, 2007

This is precisely why I WOULDN'T go VIP, even if I wasn't dirt broke money wise. Ok, I go VIP, I can get all the icons there are, faster, and finally I have them all... Ok... now what? Once you have them all, you're pretty much in the same position (if not WORSE) than if you'd never gone VIP. You start logging on once a month to get the latest few sets, and then you quickly loose interest, right? If you'd never gone VIP, you'd have something to look forward to for a little while longer... namely, getting the sets at a slower pace.

But still... IB seems to be a great place to discuss icons... but not much else. If there was more to do here, that'd be nice but, then again, it is an icon site, not a social hangout. It might be fun to see more games (perhaps topic specific forums about other topics than icons), or things like that but... otherwise I can't see keeping much interest in it beyond what you can get here once a month.

Though, it would really, really perk things up, I think, if IB made a place for users to share free icons that they made. We'd still have to buy what IB sells if we want THOSE sets. (Maybe there could be restrictions on posting anything like what IB sells or something) but... then people might come here for that, and hang around longer than the 15 minutes or so it takes to blow one's tokens.

OR earning stamps if not tokens (or even special, exclusive icon sets) by playing gmaes of some kind? (Maybe earn special game tokens, which, if you get a lot of them, can be turned in for exclusive sets.)

I usually just check IB anymore to manage friend requets, see if there's anyone I can send a quick set to, and then to spend my tokens when I get them. The forums, which are pretty much solidly icon/web design oriented don't hold much interest for me personally.

justG on Jun 14, 2007

This is precisely why I WOULDN'T go VIP, even if I wasn't dirt broke money wise. Ok, I go VIP, I can get all the icons there are, faster, and finally I have them all... Ok... now what?

That's not why a lot of us went VIP. A lot of us went VIP:

- to support Firewheel Design
- for the badge
- to be one of the cool kids
- to get special VIP-specific stuff

The last three are said in jest. Really, a lot of us went VIP to thank the Chefs for giving us all these cool icons for free and to help them continue to do so.

Just another perspective for ya.

And on the topic of this thread, I'm not losing interest, but as tamashii said, community participation (meaning, basically, forum posting) has definitely tapered off a bit. Been rather busy of late, getting ready to move soon, and some of the conversations have been downers lately.

I can't say enough good stuff about the whisper feature, though; I've managed to make some actual connections that go beyond icon trading here and am having some fun whisper conversations with my new acquaintances. =)

FallenAngel on Jun 14, 2007

Yay! I got a shed load of stamps back! Hmmmm...coincidence that various people's stamps seem suddenly to have come back or a bug (or was that a feature? <hehe>

I agree with all justG's reasons for going VIP. Free icons/v low cost for VIP...you can't complain. If you're a serious designer and use icons regularly, given the cost of good quality icon sets, IB is fantastic value, and the fact that you get to have fun (and get addicted) at the same time's just an added bonus.

jennijen on Jun 14, 2007

no stamps? i can't give mine away!

jameshilton on Jun 14, 2007

No way its very addictive!

Wish i could earn more tokens some how though.

mhayes on Jun 14, 2007

I have all the sets plenty of tokens and no stamps - maybe a way to redeem extra tokens for stamps.

ChickAzul on Jun 14, 2007

that would be nice, I end the month with some tokens left over too

aaroncampbell on Jun 15, 2007

The new set releases are helping. I now have 3 stamps in my bank, and 2 pending...at least it's something.

ftapao on Jun 15, 2007

This is exactly what I was talking about last month when I said the stamps/token economy was out of whack. While the community is pretty cool, it's primarily based on sharing. Sniping is a sign of economic imbalance.

Trading stamps for tokens or something like that might help. I just don't have time to refresh constantly to see if anyone posted a request. Lately, most of my trades have come from my friends list, which I think I prefer.

iconmaster on Jun 15, 2007

The economy will always need tweaking, surely, but I personally don't see sniping as a sign of anything other than that we've made it very easy to send deliveries. Naturally people send out a lot of them, and sometimes these interfere with requests posted here or on personal boxes -- it's not always intentional.

By the way, we do want you folks to have more things to do here. Some things are already coming down the pike; other things are only being discussed. But sending deliveries will not always be the only activity available to you.

seanhussey on Jun 15, 2007

One thought I had was maybe, like the old Buffet, you could have a set small number of free deliveries. No stamps, tokens, or points, but you'd be able to send a set or two to friends that couldn't otherwise accept.

That probably doesn't fit into things now, but I remember trying to ration my 5 deliveries on the last version of IB so that I'd still have enough of value for those who had new sets.

Wile on Jun 15, 2007

I agree with seanhussey ... you had 5 deliveries per set, no less, no more ... but there was no 'value' for sets ... one set was was set, today, 1 diamond = 2 gold, ...

Maybe a way of submitting icons people made should be an idea ...

tommythewolfboy on Jun 15, 2007

we could introduce stamp/token gambling/roulette to make IB EVEN more addictive .. and life ruining ;) Double or quits anyone??!

aaroncampbell on Jun 17, 2007

Any updates?

MrDee on Jun 19, 2007

perhaps a way to purchase stock icons with tokens/points...
make them cost 20 tokens forcing free-loaders (like me) to make a down-payment and pay off over a couple of months.
this way VIP users would have something to spend their spare token on.

cheiie on Jun 19, 2007

MrDee, you're looking lovely in your new armor :D

sloan on Jun 20, 2007

thats great idea tommythewolfboy a virtual token slot machine, brilliant

aaroncampbell on Jul 09, 2007

I'm still running into the 0 stamps issue. I'm just checking in to see if there are any updates.

MrDee on Jul 09, 2007

ping... echo echo echo
nope, nothing to report

gswd on Jul 09, 2007

I guess the iPhone has delayed the launch of new "fun" features for the bored and "all sets/no stamps" bunch.

a2 on Jul 09, 2007

I like the quiz/competion idea. If you were rewarded with stamps &/or tokens for it that would be engaging.

I'm sure it does get boring at the top when you've got everything and a personal slow down isn't bad. I sometimes get sidetracked with work or personal stuff and don't make it to the site very often. Then when I return it's that much better because everything is so new. I find new sets are out, new people have joined, new topics discussed. I feel bad if I missed some deliveries or requests, but this is just a side line for me, not my job. After a hiatus things do seem fresher.

louiemctool on Jul 10, 2007

there is one good reason to go VIP: you save $25 on the cost of any Stock Icon set. So some of them become real cheap ($5)...

austingirl on Jul 11, 2007

Maybe a new clan...the All Sets/No Stamps Clan?

Wile on Jul 11, 2007

not a bad idea austingirl ...

Wile on Jul 11, 2007

not a bad idea austingirl ...

btw, louiemctool, which stock sets are this cheaper ?

austingirl on Jul 11, 2007

All Sets/No Stamps Clan

JBVisions on Jul 11, 2007

@Wile - The Starter icons

Wile on Jul 11, 2007

can I be part of this clan even if I still have stamps ? And what will you do when have another set and then stamps ? quit the clan and come again later ?

Wile on Jul 11, 2007

@jbvision : and they are not that bad ... quit a good thing ... maybe I'll take a deeper look at them ... when I have time for ...

austingirl on Jul 11, 2007

@Wile - I run out of stamps so fast it wouldn't be worth the time to change my profile. :o)

aaroncampbell on Jul 11, 2007

I joined "All Sets/No Stamps Clan" and I'm in the same boat as austingirl. I can spend my stamps faster than I can change my profile.

dyar on Jul 11, 2007

Get yourself an Apprentice. It's fun spending other peoples Stamps.

aaroncampbell on Jul 11, 2007

Lol, tried that. Ask tamashii, he ran out of stamps when I started referring people to him. I have about 10ish people that I referred, all of them are full on tokens, and waiting for me to get stamps. That means I need 100+ stamps, and that's just people that I KNOW are waiting.

KatieK on Jul 11, 2007

You might just consider sending your token-full friends to the forums. (Except for AHS requests, of course.) Many people do have stamps, and would love to earn some points by helping out your friends. With only 15 stamps per referral, you'll never get enough stamps to eat 100 tokens per month.

widged on Jul 11, 2007

I have 315 stamps... and having social time for a few days to celebrate the end of a big project ;)

aaroncampbell on Aug 17, 2007

Any updates on stamp-earning abilities (outside referrals) yet?

Elfen on Aug 17, 2007

Guess not...

gswd on Aug 17, 2007

And what about the ever present "big kewl thing" for VIPs?

Wile on Aug 17, 2007

this is something missing ... ability to earn stamps ... maybe something like duke dollars (know for whose who develop in Java and are members of Sun Java forum). The idea is to give some stamps to give. Ask a question on forums, and reward it. Let say you have 5 stamps to give. If you need help or a particular set, you can reward it for, let say 2 stamps. If someone fill you request, you give him the reward and he gets extra stamps ...

gswd on Aug 17, 2007

Or maybe for every 1000 points you have you earn a bonus stamp on each set received (ie 6 stamps at 1000, 7 stamps at 2000, etc) Of course that would give our 50k member 55 stamps for every set received, but then they obviously share more, so it should work out. I think.

debbye on Aug 17, 2007

@gswd - brilliant!

elnitido52 on Aug 17, 2007

Avast!

aaroncampbell on Aug 18, 2007

I think gswd's idea is pretty good, but a bit extreme. Maybe go by 10k, when you start getting an extra token, you get an extra stamp per set at the same time.

rajr19 on Aug 18, 2007

i say right in the middle - at 5k you get an extra stamp, every 5k :)

aaroncampbell on Aug 20, 2007

I still think 10k is fine...anything is better than nothing.

debbye on Aug 20, 2007

only one stamp per 5,000 points! one token per 5,000 points, but more stamps are needed!

anti on Aug 20, 2007

maybe an extra stamp with every delivery you accept.

aaroncampbell on Aug 20, 2007

debbye: the suggestion was for one additional stamp PER delivery that you accept.

gswd on Aug 20, 2007

Your stamp collecting will still be limited by the number of sets that you can accept each month. For those that have all the sets already, that will be limited by the number of sets released, and that you can afford. Right now, under my suggestion, I would be getting 3 bonus stamps, or 8 stamps when I accept a delivery. However, since I seem to lose 10-15 tokens each month, it is obviously not going to be a great benefit to me.

aaroncampbell on Aug 29, 2007

Still nothing?

SawanM on Aug 29, 2007

i have around 44 stamps but 2 token maybe more tokens for normal members?

aaroncampbell on Aug 29, 2007

More tokens for normal members would just make me run out of stamps faster ;)

SawanM on Aug 29, 2007

then add more tokens to normal members and add lots more stamps to you (vip)

aaroncampbell on Sep 07, 2007

Still nothing?
Did we ever see the "something really cool" that josh alluded to?

dyar on Sep 07, 2007

Yep, still nothing.

aaroncampbell on Sep 08, 2007

Any reasons given as to why?

robbyrice on Sep 08, 2007

It is possibe that it is the new thing going on over at FireWheel that Josh has been mentioning.

ChickAzul on Sep 08, 2007

don't think so, cause that new thing, is supposed to be NOT IconBuffet related, and rather an entirely new site/concept/thing

ChickAzul on Sep 08, 2007

ok I just reread the post, and it does say, may or may not be related... I still think it's not, but we will see when/if it launches

Psy2k on Sep 08, 2007

The new thing is not something really cool for VIPs only...

heinzelman on Sep 08, 2007

I'm getting weary of ANYTHING new, methinks it all a red herring.

kitt on Sep 09, 2007

weary or wary? as in tired or suspicious

sloan on Sep 09, 2007

no matter how hard one may try...I always come back to see what is going on at IB

aaroncampbell on Sep 10, 2007

I check back fairly regularly to see if they've worked it out, and to click accept on any deliveries in my box. However, it's no fun anymore.

elnitido52 on Sep 10, 2007

I have tokens, I have stamps, but I'm not motivated as before either. Why, 6+ weeks of server issues.

aaroncampbell on Sep 12, 2007

Since I'm not on very much anymore, I don't notice it that much. However, my leader board notices, and I get a surprising amount of messages (both on here, and E-Mails from my site) about it being "broke" when it's really server issues here.

Nell on Sep 12, 2007

I didn't mind much the server issues. If the site was slow, I tried in a while.

What I don't like is that nobody receives deliveries anymore. I have more than 400 stamps and no one has tokens to accept my deliveries. Also, the "I will hold your stamps if you don't do what I say" attitude.

seanhussey on Sep 12, 2007

Well, someone's taking deliveries, given that we have 2 people over 70k. Just find out who those people are. :)

aaroncampbell on Sep 12, 2007

seanhussey: Those people have LOTS of referrals. They probably still have stamps to burn.

However, I ran out of stamps, and can continually do so. People DO still accept deliveries. I for one accept every delivery I get.

gswd on Sep 12, 2007

With only 1 free (no token cost) out of every 4, you gotta get them from someplace. I think the whole "only gonna help the little guy" attitude is what's getting to me the most. I know that everyone is going to work the system the way that works for them, but that doesn't work for me. If you have recently asked me for a set, I will go to you when new ones are released.

As others have done, myself included, set a goal and publish the goal. A few of the people will help you out, so remember them once you have achieved and help them out as well.

hexadec1 on Sep 13, 2007

I have 182 stamps. There should be a way to "give" stamps to people who need them.

JBVisions on Sep 13, 2007

I go through stamps like there's no tomorrow. I'm currently completely out, don't even have any waiting to be accepted. There are always people on here with tokens, it's just a matter of finding them.

richmond on Sep 13, 2007

I have 192 stamps - silly really! I am getting a bit fried; gave up stamp and tea-card collecting about 32 years ago and wonder why I seem to be doing the automated equivalent all over again.

cheiie on Sep 13, 2007

@richmond - what are tea cards?

JBVisions on Sep 13, 2007

You used to get cards, similar to the old cigarette cards in certain brands of tea.

richmond on Sep 13, 2007

Tea cards were actually quite cool as, as well as pictures they had write-ups on the reverse. I had a complete set of 250 Natural History cards - sold them for 10 shillings!

aaroncampbell on Sep 25, 2007

Still nothing?

dyar on Sep 25, 2007

nope (:

elnitido52 on Sep 25, 2007

Nyah!

tweakedeye on Sep 25, 2007

one things that still bugs me even with the new server...for whatever reason I STILL CANNOT send anyone sets....yea, I know about Firefox...but, that is my primary browser.

So, like the Seinfeldism....I am the taker but not the giver.... LOL

aaroncampbell on Sep 25, 2007

Why can't you send with Firefox? I haven't been around much, due to no stamps...but the few stamps I get, I use to fill requests, and I use Firefox.

webmonkey on Sep 25, 2007

Firefox thing? Where have I been? I use Firefox and haven't had any problems...that were mine. Chefs, why are you running that Russian code on your server?? And you all live in Texas?! That's dangerous.

webmonkey on Sep 25, 2007

Forgot what I was originally going to post - Doh.
I have stamps - over 200 of them. I just don't have the time to play much. Seems I am one of those unlucky sorts that has to work for money and take care of my own children. <lol>
I wish I could give them away!!! HINT

bjendrick on Sep 25, 2007

Well, webmonkey, even if you make a tool like the IB Dashboard, you don't tend to get any more icon requests. :)

Hang in there, it'll happen.

aaroncampbell on Sep 26, 2007

Well, I'm never going to get ahead in stamps, so here is my trick. Introduce yourself to a couple hundred people that appear to be active. Tell them that you have all the sets, and that if they need anything, they should just ask. Notice that I linked "just ask" directly to the comment box of my profile. You can do that like this:
<a href="http://www.iconbuffet.com/people/yourUsername#t-thebox">just ask</a>
Filling in your username of course. For me, this brought enough requests to use every stamp I had and then some.

ChickAzul on Sep 26, 2007

@aaron: I think it also had to do with the fact that you were very active posting very useful blogs, so people identified you and found it easier to just ask you for sets knowing that you were around and had the sets needed, instead of waiting around to see who would eventually deliver (this plus what you said above of course).

soprano on Sep 26, 2007

I used aaron's technique, as well. That's how I get so many extra requests to post on my use up your stamps blog.

gswd on Sep 26, 2007

Ya know, they say that we just officially entered "Fall". I'll bet cool stuff is just around the corner. Of course I am referring to a drop in temperature, 'cause I don't think we will ever see the - what 3 months old now - cool thing 'hinted' at for the VIPs.

elnitido52 on Sep 26, 2007

Who said Fall?

elnitido52 on Sep 26, 2007

@aarrron: Old tricks still work...Whenever people needs help, if your around, you might get some out of there. Many tricks and variants get you there.

terremom on Sep 27, 2007

I'm still doing just fine. Is there something wrong with me? I use my stamps as quickly and often as I can, and then only get back just enough to have a few around for emergencies. No, I'm not VIP (can't afford it, yet) and I still don't have all the sets, but I'm socializing just a tad. Most of all I'm learning the ropes. I'm not online all day, or even everyday so I don't have the tech know-how many of you do. In short--I'm pleased with the system at this point. Sorry to be a simpleton folks, but that's how I feel...

MacManX on Sep 27, 2007

No, there's nothing wrong with you. I do the same thing these days. I spend my Tokens on my refill date, try to get rid of all of my stamps ASAP, reply to a few threads here and then, and then I disappear for about three weeks until my refill date nears.

I don't loose interest in IconBuffet because I'm not over-spending my interest here, and I don't mean that in any negative way towards anyone here. I just feel that there are plenty of things which deserve my attention more than IconBuffet. Feel free to spend your interest as you like, just be careful not over-spend it.

jwhitmire on Sep 27, 2007

I'll agree, there's nothing wrong with either of you. There is, however, something wrong with me and I'll tell you what it is. I had my account back in the old IB (I won't say "good 'ol days" because some things were better, but some were worse too) You could spend a couple of days and fill your whole collection. I did that, then I'd just come back every couple of months and trade to keep it up to date. All was good.

Along comes the new IB. I took a look and waited a while before I got involved in the new trading setup (maybe a long while, can't remember). When I did, I came in the door with a huge load of stamps that had collected during the transition and from the free sets I got from the chefs in the mean time. From reading the forums, you're left to feel like a slacker/loser if you have available stamps, but it's really hard to get rid of them unless you devote some serious time to forum sniping.

I think all this could be cleared up rather easily with one small change from the chefs.... If it would only allow you to send deliveries to people who had tokens, then the frustration I felt (feel) would diminish greatly. A couple of times, in an attempt to clear my name and rid myself of these albatross stamps I've just blasted them out on the airways. Of course, within a week I have 99.999% of them back, but for a few days I feel like a valuable member of the community.

As of next month, I'll add a new bit to it when I will have once again completed my collection so now all the people who insist on trade only are off limits for my stamps as well.

I love what the chefs have built and am happy to support them in their efforts. However, there is a lot of frustration inherit in the current system and I understand the feeling. Constant unfulfilled promises of the next big thing don't help that either. Just trying to add some perspective for those who don't get the frustration factor.

JBVisions on Sep 27, 2007

but it's really hard to get rid of them unless you devote some serious time to forum sniping.

You don't have to snipe, there are other ways but you do have to devote some time to working it out and then doing it.

anti on Sep 27, 2007

devote some serious time to forum sniping

That is like, the whole idea, right? :)

jwhitmire on Sep 27, 2007

That is like, the whole idea, right? :)

Yep, and I understand it, but it doesn't seem like the payoff (amount of stamps actually distributed) is worth the time and effort to keep track of it. If the tokens and stamps were better balanced, it wouldn't be so bad, but out of the month, I spend a total of maybe 2 hours with tokens, and I'm VIP. Before I upgraded it took me all of 10 seconds to fill my tokens. That's a pretty small window to hit if you're trying to get rid of stamps.

aaroncampbell on Sep 28, 2007

I feel like there are two kinds of good games. Those that you can play indefinitely, and those that you can play over and over. Iconbuffet is obviously not the latter, so it should try to be the former. However, it's not. At some point you get stuck and cannot progress any further.

JBVisions on Sep 28, 2007

True, when you run out of stamps then stuck you are, but if you have piles of stamps then the game is more than playable, you just have to come on here regularly to spend them.

Last month I tried an experiment. I kept a list of people who were complaining they were unable to find people to send sets to and a week before my tokens were due, I left each of them a request for a set.

7 days later my tokens arrived but less than half the sets requested had turned up so I took them from other people. If you want the points then you need to commit some time.

terremom on Sep 28, 2007

I was in the old IB, checked in once in a while (never made any friends 'cause I didn't know how), got involved in the new IB and wasn't clear how the point system worked (still foggy), and didn't spend enough time to even use my tokens, much less my stamps at first. Finally, asking for help got me friends and then off I went. Still not on here regularly. Twice in one day is super rare. Average is 1-3 times a week in the wee hours of the night EDT. I still do just fine. Guess that I'm not the competitive type. But I still love the IB and all its members. As a FiftySomething Pirate, I say GO CHEFS!!

JBVisions on Sep 28, 2007

That's a pretty small window to hit if you're trying to get rid of stamps.

I too tend to spend all my tokens within 5 minutes but not everyone does. There are plenty of people on here who make theirs last all month that you can deliver to. There are lots of new people asking for deliveries as well.

If you want the sends then you need to spend time getting to know people and find out when they are likely to be trading.

aaroncampbell on Oct 01, 2007

Also, if you do what I was saying, you start getting people to ASK for sets. Then you don't have to worry about the timing, because they handle it for you.

JBVisions on Oct 01, 2007

You still have to come on fairly regularly though as people won't wait forever for stuff to be sent.

aaroncampbell on Oct 03, 2007

I got my token refill today. Guess how many tokens I had left? 21! However, still stuck at a solid 0 stamps.

dyar on Oct 03, 2007

^ You're not the leader Cheiie lost 22 tokens. IB September Statistics. I only lost 18.

aaroncampbell on Oct 08, 2007

Ok, so we're all losing tokens, and running out of stamps. Have we heard anything new?

Kuifje on Oct 08, 2007

2 great new sets?

opello on Oct 08, 2007

I have oodles of stamps (well, not really oodles) and always seem to get them back after a week. Maybe my friends don't want sets from me -- or they don't sign on. Either way, I'd like to have the 0 stamp problem. :)

aaroncampbell on Oct 12, 2007

Still out of stamps. Opello, it's not all that great. If you have all the sets, and no stamps, there is NOTHING to do.
I am, however, looking forward to something new this month...hopefully it actually happens this time.

soprano on Oct 13, 2007

I have 5 stamps, and I'm overjoyed.

cheiie on Oct 13, 2007

Aaron, out of curiosity, with the chefs stating that 'friends' will be important and another comment on a separate thread by JustG being slightly disenchanted with the social aspect, do you think you will try to play the game, or be totally turned off by it?

debbye on Oct 13, 2007

i'm at a point where i am only missing gold & silver sets, so when i get my refresh, i don't get that many stamps. i have just hit 10K, so it's time to relax. & i have joined the club with those who lose tokens at the end of the month, only 1, so far, but i know that number will only go up!

i, too, am looking forward to the secrets being revealed!

Wile on Oct 13, 2007

I'll loose 10 tokens tomorrow ! fortunately, I have 24 stamps, but they will go out in a few hours ! After that, nothing to do until the next set, getting 5 stamps, spend them in the next hour, and go back to hibernation 'till next set ... and so on ...

Chiefs, seriously, please turn unspent tokens into stamps, even if only at a rate of one for one ... that should be better than nothing !

Psy2k on Oct 13, 2007

5 stamps for each token someone loose would be a nice solution :)

aaroncampbell on Oct 13, 2007

cheiie: I'll reserve judgement. I'm not huge on the social aspect (I don't have a myspace, face*, etc, etc), but I'll try whatever they do. I have a reasonable number of real life friends on here, so maybe that'll help.

debbye & Wile: welcome to the club. The biggest problem I see is that the only people this really effects are those that paid for VIP. They say they don't have enough paying VIPs, but at the same time...the game is somewhat ruined for the VIPs after a little while.

Psy2k: That would unbalance the system quickly. The current average price per set is a little over 2.5, so the token to stamp ratio is a little less than 1:2. However, it DOES seem like they could do SOMETHING.

Psy2k on Oct 13, 2007

The problem is that if more sets are released in order the users that have all the sets to spend all of their tokens, all other users will never be able to catch... So the best way is a kind of token-stamp exchange for the remaining tokens!

aaroncampbell on Oct 13, 2007

Agreed, but probably not 1:5. Also, the ability to trade tokens for stamps with other users would be great. Those who are trying to catch up could trade stamps for tokens, and those with extra tokens could trade the other way around. Still, to keep people from gaming the system too much, they need to decide on a ratio. Probably about 1 token to 2 stamps.

gswd on Oct 13, 2007

I still like the idea of "gifting" sets. Where the sender pays both postage and fee for the recipient. The recipient gets the 5 fresh stamps, and the sender gets to spend expiring tokens and gets points on the deal (when the set is accepted of course).

soprano on Oct 13, 2007

Yeah, gifting would be nice.

Why pay postage, though?

aaroncampbell on Oct 13, 2007

To keep making it hard on those of us with no stamps ;)

gswd on Oct 13, 2007

Why pay postage? Because we can't drive over to their house and hand deliver. Need to use UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, etc.

jameshilton on Dec 04, 2007

Its interesting how my status has changed, when i posted on this blog way back in June i wanted more Tokens. Now i'm throwing Tokens away every month and i need Stamps. I've not read all the posts here so excuse me if someone has already suggested this but to gain more stamps i think it would help if we earned more stamps based on the value of the set received. So a bronze would earn 5 stamps, a silver would be 15, gold would be 25 and Diamond would be 50.

aaroncampbell on Dec 04, 2007

Earn enough to send that set 5 times? Even if they reduced that to enough to set the set two or three times, I think we'd get more stamps in the end.

jmnovak on Dec 04, 2007

@jameshilton: this really goes to Dyar's bank/exchange proposal -- let the people who have stamps but not tokens trade with those who have tokens but not stamps. This retains the balance of play to a fair degree. Simply giving more stamps per set just gives the all-set folks more trading power, which unbalances things more. The beauty of the current design is that it provides a limit on the all-set folks, allowing trades to fall to others. (The cost, of course, is causing some people to start losing interest... which suggests a reason for the Chefs to design a more sophisticated game called PackRat.)

aaroncampbell on Dec 04, 2007

More sophisticated, unrelated game...still doesn't fix IB.

danielsemper on Jan 17, 2008

No new sets, no Pack Rat, no special stuff for VIPs, no stamps returning when they should unless you send an email , etc.

This site is no longer shiny for me.

helloiamjules on Jan 17, 2008

You know....
I think this site was an awesome idea. I think it still is, really. They found a cool way to give designers and really just anyone some of their own creations -- for free. People are always trying to figure out how they can make money and I think it's cool that you can sign up & get stuff for free OR for a very small amount get more stuff faster. IB is a great source for random icons that a lot of people would charge crazy prices for. They even made icon collecting fun. It's awesome that as designers they are willing to share some (or I should say a lot) of the good stuff for free. We designers can be pretty bad about "it's mine! I made it! I'm not sharing for free, no way..." and we're even like that when it comes to telling someone our ideas. It's not easy to keep user interest or even get interest started in the first place when you launch something online. I think they've done a great job -- they are working on something new and they didn't take their site down to do it. How much worse would it be to see the standard "coming soon" page people usually post when something is in the works? It's also great that they are actively asking for feedback instead of saying "well, it is what it is." IB is a fun game but if you're burned out, why not at least be happy for the great resource it is for inspiration? (I know I'm joining the original conversation late but I just wanted to say I think IB is great.) So....

Thank you

gswd on Jan 17, 2008

@helloiamjules - I am glad that you are able to get what you need from the site. When version 1.0 was around it was good, but the community that we have here was not the same. Now with version 2.0, we have more glitz and glamour, and the community has really come into it's own. And I gladly gave over my money for the VIP status to support the great artwork and technical effort that the Chefs have put together. However, in today's "e"-environment, G&G will only take you so far. Broken promises tarnishes the glitz. I have purchased some of the non-free icons here, long before there was a VIP so that you got a discount. Yes, some were on sale, but some were not. Since version 2.0 launched, it has been said that more "stock" (ie. non-free) icons were coming. None have materialized. We are talking almost a year now. that is a very long time to wait for something when free items are being released at a pace greater than in the version 1.0 days.

The PackRat promise has not even come into the annoying timeframe yet. And they have given us information on it's path to release, so at least we kow what is going on. With the stock sets, one has to wonder why they are not putting efforts into items that could produce some revenue. They have to pay for those nerf guns and iPhones somehow.

helloiamjules on Jan 17, 2008

...youch...

I'll just go back to my corner and play with my legos.

rowan6894 on Jan 17, 2008

As a newbie, it's interesting to read this thread and see how things have evolved. My biggest beef so far with the site is that you have no way to search through the tags that are associated with each set. If you're looking for something in particular, you need to open up each set and look. Seems like this wouldn't be a hard piece to add.

MrDee on Jan 17, 2008

when you click on a set you will see a list of tags.
click one.
then change the URL to a word you want to search for.

http://www.iconbuffet.com/tags/hat
http://www.iconbuffet.com/tags/dog