I've been working for several weeks now on ways to refine the Valuation Board process, as it's clear that the system is currently not working.  I think while some folks have stuck with it fairly well, most have found the culling of eBay auctions and boring data-entry to be too cumbersome.  To help alleviate this:

All VB members have been removed from the Board.  Clean slate.

Any Acaeum member may volunteer for board membership; together with dbartman, we'll select the new membership.  Even if you were a past VB member and resigned / quit / passed out / for whatever reason, you're welcome to apply again.  Clean slate.  Our memory of your past performance on the Board, if any, has been wiped clean.

A "Valuation Board Assistant" automated bot has been installed.  Similar to Auction Hunter, this bot scours eBay for completed auctions that match its parameters, and places these completed auctions into various threads.  This should help immensely with boring eBay searches.

I've re-done the group Excel spreadsheets.  They are easier to understand, have less clutter, and require about 50% less data entry for each auction.  For those of you who used the previous worksheets, these new ones will still look and feel very similar.

The new worksheets require almost zero maintenance by the VB moderator.  All that's needed is to collect the worksheets from the members at intervals (quarterly, whatever), and forward them to me.  My master spreadsheet then imports all the values with a click of the button.

As for membership application, please take a look first at the site FAQ if you haven't already.  The information there on how membership will be selected still applies, with the notable difference being that any and all forum members are now welcome to apply.  Send me a PM or e-mail if interested.  I will not individually reply to any application; in about a week, I'll post a list of those members selected.  Anyone who applies but is not selected will be kept on an internal waiting list, should additional Board slots open up in the future.

I'm hopeful that this new system, and new tools, will jump-start the Board and make it what it was intended to be: an accurate tracker of the D&D marketplace.

Foul

Hello,

We're looking for some additional Acaeum members that are interested volunteering on the valuation board.  If you are interested in being involved in a fantastic super-secret ACAEUM group , please PM either FoulFoot or me.  We'll review the candidates and select two or three new members.  Even if you are a past VB member and resigned, disappeared for a while, or got booted for slacking on the job, you're welcome to apply again.  We do give second chances once in a while...

See the prior commentary from Foul below for additional details.  The current valuation process is quite effortless.  It just takes a few minutes per week, even per month, in some cases.  If you have any questions, please PM FoulFoot or me, or post your questions here for any of our current valuation board members to reply to.

dbartman

But if we join, will we get "the REAL power?"






Heh.  Sorry.  Couldn't help myself.

Carry on.

Thanks for the offer!  At the moment, the system no longer uses Excel, but rather computes everything in PHP.  But I've often used Excel for various projects in the past, and having someone who can program in VBA around might turn out to be helpful!

Foul