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Help us write the Zistle Style Guide

The time has come for a style guide. We cannot wait any longer. While approving the flagged cards this evening, I noticed that there are some flagging wars over how to label a card. We need come to a consensus on a few things so that we don’t have people wasting their time flagging endlessly. As we continue to grow, it is important that we have guidelines to help our database to be as accurate as possible.

Since I anticipate this will be a little messy, I am going to be writing a series of  posts about issues that I am seeing over and over again. Please, Please, PLEASE help us by giving feedback in our comments so that we can come to some consensus over these issues. As we reach decisions, I will be adding them to the Zistle Style Guide which will be housed on the Zistle site.

Here is the first list of topics: determining what is a set and what is a subset, the number of a card, multiplayer cards, short prints, team checklists, and named cards (different from payer name), and unnumbered cards.

Please let me know in the comments if you have other suggestions for additional topics. I know there are others out there so just let me know. I am working on the set/subset post now and it should be ready soon. Thanks for participating and I am looking forward to seeing how this works.

  • Obviously, I think consistency is the most important thing. I think the best thing to do with subsets would be to add another field where you could enter the "AS" or "TC" designation. There does need to be a distinction between subset cards and inserts, though. I think that was one of the most difficult concepts for me to grasp when I first signed up, since the term "subset" should mean a set within a set instead of something that is external.
  • the tough part of "what is a rookie card"??? I have cards of players from 2003 when their 2008 cards have that ridiculous "Rookie Card" logo on the front. So which is their rookie? The 2008? or the cards from 5 years earlier?
    If you plan on putting RC in the name, you need to identify what an RC is.
    Good luck with that.

    I'm fine with SP in the name. It's verifiable, and good info for set/player collectors. Same with MGR and TC. Although not as necessary as SP.
  • Chris
    Card numbering - In my opinion, the number entered on the site should be an exact match of what is found on the back of the card. I think it's gotten a little ugly from the manufacturer's standpoint to have "numbers" like LG-BR. But that is the easiest way to be sure that you have a match.

    Unnumbered cards - Can they be recorded as unnumbered and then perhaps have a description field to help identify the card? The example that comes to mind for me is from 2003 Fleer Tradition where they did the checklists with 2 9-card picture puzzles of Barry Bonds and Derek Jeter, except they didn't number the cards, so unless you had all of the checklists, it was hard to tell which ones you were missing.

    Multiplayer Cards - I guess I would like to see the name of the card get entered in the field that exists today ( AL Leaders - Home Runs, Classic Combo, etc. ) and have a secondary field to enter the names of players who appear on the card. I think it's important to still provide a way for player collector's to find cards that a player appears on outside of base cards. I think this would apply to team checklists as well, especially the case mentioned by Dan in the last post.

    Short Prints, Rookie Cards - I've always viewed these as attributes, not really part of the name. I like the approach you have now where you check a box for the rookies. I also think this should be kept to a limited number of items so it is fairly standard and doesn't evolve into a hundred checkboxes. If you do it this way, I think it would be easier to filter/search by attribute rather than picking it out of the name.
  • dan
    As much as most of us don't like Beckett (uggh, I just got a pain in my side!), they do have the right idea about labeling rookie cards in the name, short prints, etc. "RC" after the name indicates "rookie card," "SP" indicates short print, SR indicates Sport Royalty, MGR for manager, TC for team card, etc. I'm sure this could be a long list, but it works to further identify a card that is not part of a subset.

    For example, as we all know there are Upper Deck team cards from the past few years that have a single player on the front and the team checklist on the back. Is this still a player card? Should a player collector collect that card? If it is labeled as "Joe Outfielder TC" then it fulfills it's obligation as both a player card and team checklist card.
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