Ok, I’ve used this board for maybe 2 months. As a newcomer, I don’t have any long-term relationships with any of the members, so I think I can offer an objective perspective.

First, I’ve been into chips for a while, on and off for the last 8-10 years. It started with poker, Chris Moneymaker and all that. Then I went to Vegas for the first time and pretty much went through all the casinos on the strip and got $1 chips. Even entered my first poker tournament at Binion’s. Then chiptalk.net started, and that fed my addiction. I found out I wasn’t really into casino chips per se, but more home poker chip sets.

I don’t remember when, but along the way, years ago, I discovered thechipboard.com via internet searches. My first impression was that it’s an antiquated format from the early days of online BBS. Pretty much all the other forums have moved on to flatter structure forum types long ago. To view messages within a thread, I have to click through each of the following person’s response via separate links. I will have to say that I was put off by the format, very much so. I did not care to learn how to use it. I moved on.

It was only recently, when I started collecting specific chips outside of the realm of home poker chip sets, that I wanted to dig deep and connect with other long time chip collectors. I discovered that years later, thechipboard.com still remained the same. I had to bite down on my lip and learn how to use it. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as my initial impression. I’ve been trading/buying/selling chips on this board for 2 months with great success.

I will say that from my perspective, this is a very functional board, but it is not user-friendly for today’s generation, especially young people, who will probably give 5 seconds on this website and move on. I don’t mean to offend David – I do get benefit out of using this board, but this is my true opinion.

Here’s a short story about the other 2 poker chip related websites, which I think pertains to this situation. Bear with me, there’s a lesson at the end of this...

Chiptalk.net was started sometime in 2008/2009 by a guy who successfully organized a group buy for Paulson chips. At that time, Paulson had already stopped selling to the home market. However, with a 250,000 chip order (more or less), they struck a deal. That was the Pharaoh’s line of chips. Paulson made a new mold due to security concerns - 2 Hat & Canes with PAULSON CHIPS lettering. Over the next few years, many Paulson fantasy home chips were made – Classics, National Poker Series, Isthmus City, Grand Cardroom, Avalon, High Rollers, World Top Hat & Cane, etc. In the early days of CT, there were active group buys for ASMs, Paulson, BCC, TR King, Chipco chips, dealer buttons, poker cards, poker table toppers, you name it!

After 2010, I was out of chipping in general due to work and life. I even moved out of the country for a short while. After I started getting into chips again in early 2015, I learned that while I was gone, the home poker chip world had gone through a number of setbacks, including the fact that Chipco, BCC, TR King all went out of business. ASM had been sold several times. Paulson/GPI at the end of 2014 decided not to sell to the home market again. Chiptalk.net’s traffic declined. The site had been hacked once or twice, they transitioned servers which made people lose their old messages, and the owner had some personal issues and had neglected the maintenance of the site for a period of time.

I also discovered that since 2013, a new chip site had popped up - pokerchipforum.com (PCF). It was started by a guy who saw opportunity with the decline of chiptalk.net. When I compare the two objectively today, I can only saw that PCF is on the rise and chiptalk.net is on the decline. A lot of old CT users have transitioned to PCF. I myself think that PCF’s format is a lot better than CT and post there a lot more than CT.

So I think the lesson is, if you think something sucks, instead of complaining, do something about it. It’s an opportunity. Create a better forum for the old chipboard. And if you’re right and do a good job, people will follow. You may even make some money out of it.

Thanks for reading, now please enjoy dancing elmo.