Differences in Nu Insight WFF FAQ Page
Thu 6 Jan 2011 23:49:01 PST

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Now: Wee Forest Folk Web Page FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
 

 
 
Wee Forest Folk Web Page FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
 
Brought to you by Nu Insight

 

 This Web page is intended to help collectors of Wee Forest Folk navigate the
 Internet and the World Wide Web more effectively. It is NOT about Wee Forest
 Folk per se.
 
Topics

 
 

 
 
Do I really need to be on the Internet?

 Yes! Definitely yes! A world of information about WFF is available to you
 on the Internet, but without a connection to the 'Net, you are isolated from
 late-breaking information about new releases, new colors, retirements,
 store specials, and events. 
 This is especially true now that the
 Wee Forest Folk Factory
 has its own Web page.
 News appears on the 'Net days, sometimes weeks, 
 before it shows up in a printed form like newsletters.
 You will find it very cumbersome to contact other collectors across the
 country who share your interest in WFF without email, bulletin boards,
 or chat groups.
 Furthermore, you will not have current information
 about pieces on the secondary market, nor will you have current pricing
 information about retired pieces.
 Sure, you can always call your local WFF dealer for the information (assuming your dealer has any knowledge of secondary prices), but
 you can get the same information sooner on the Internet (sometimes sooner
 than your dealer!), and you can get it 24 hours a day.
 

 But, you say, "I don't have a computer, and they're expensive!" True, but
 computers are getting cheaper all the time. So cheap, in fact, that I 
 hesitate to mention a price here because it will quickly become outdated.
 Suffice to say you can get an adequate computer these days for a few hundred
 dollars, and you can get a good system for about a thousand dollars.
 You used to be able to get a decent computer for free if you were willing to subscribe
 to certain Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for a certain number of months.
 If you can still do that (offers like that may now be non-existent), you'll have to pay the ISP a monthly fee, usually
 around $25/month. You can expect to have to put up with advertising, too,
 in return for the free computer. Sometimes it goes the other way: You get
 a discount on the price of the computer if you agree to some length of 
 subscription to an ISP.
 Check the newspaper ads of your local computer stores.
 

 Consumer 
 Reports regularly runs a series of articles on inexpensive computers 
 and network access.
 As you might expect, you have to be careful to not overpay if
 you get a package deal on computer and Internet access.
 

 On the other hand, if you already have a computer, you can even get a connection to the
 Internet for free, but these opportunities are dwindling fast and may be
 completely gone by now.
 Juno
 and Netzero were two of the last
 companies that offered local phone numbers you could dial to connect
 your computer to the Internet for free.
 Of course, it wasn't really free: You got bombarded with ads.
 They now charge $10/month, but several other providers charge the same or
 less; check around for the best deal for you.
 

 If you're away from home and don't want to carry a computer, or if you still
 don't want to buy a computer for home, it's possible to find public places where
 you can access the Internet. For example, more and more public libraries have
 computers where you can access the Internet. Internet access kiosks 
 in airport terminals allow you to access the Internet, sometimes
 for a fee, and occasionally even for free.
 

 If you're away from home and you ARE carrying a computer, wired access is
 often available in hotels, and wireless access is available in many hot spots,
 including Borders and Starbucks.
 

 Web pages to check for lists of cybercafes are
 CyberCaptive and the
 NetCafeGuide.
 This is about as close as you can get to having 'Net access without having to
 buy a computer or subscribe to an ISP.
 

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Why does it take so long for a Web page to appear on my screen?

 Unfortunately, Web designers often load their Web pages with the latest
 gee-whiz goodies, forgetting that many users still dial-up for access.
 Complain directly to them, then do the following:
 

 First, make sure you have sufficient resources:
 a reasonably fast modem (28.8k or better; 56k is commonplace) and a
 reasonably fast computer (say, 166 MHz or better; current models are getting close to 20 times that speed) with enough RAM (say, 64M or more; Windows will require a LOT more).
 If that's not the case, you probably need an upgrade. If it's not your computer,
 it may be the Web page or the Web server you are trying to contact that is
 slowing you down.
 

 I used to use an older Macintosh (68040 processor, 25MHz, 72Mb of RAM), and
 was able to download most WFF Web pages just fine. BUT there were times when
 I'd wait and wait and wait for a page to appear.
 Usually, that can mean one of four things:
 

 

 If you're trying to access a Web page during prime time, the server may
 very well be overloaded and you may have to try again later. If it's off-hours
 and the server is STILL slow, you may have contacted an under-powered
 server.
 

 One way to reduce load time needed is to turn off
 automatic loading of images. If the Web page has a lot of images, this
 can speed up the download immensely.
 The downside is that not all Web page designers are courteous enough to
 associate an ALT tag with the image. The ALT tag is a little bit of text
 that tells you what an image is about if you don't download the image. With 
 no ALT tags, you may end up staring at a page full of empty boxes and no
 clue as to what the page is about. (I hate when that happens!)
 

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Why would I want to turn off images?

 Have you ever waited and waited and waited for a Web page to download, then
 after having given up, you hit the Stop button, only to have the page finally
 show up, mostly intact except
 for some boxes where images are supposed to be? That's why: You've were waiting
 all that time for images to appear!
 

 A lot of the Web design software makes extensive use of tables for precise
 placement of text and images, and they also make it very easy, very tempting,
 to sprinkle a lot of images around a Web page. Both extensive use of images
 and extensive use of tables will slow the loading and display of a Web page.
 And some Web designers still think it's cool to use images all over their
 Web pages INSTEAD of text. They don't realize that it takes a lot longer
 to download a page with a lot of images.
 

 Worse yet, some designers use animated images. Boy, is THAT distracting!
 You might be able to turn off animations in your browser.
 If I can't/don't want
 to bother doing that (why can't I turn animations off permanently?),
 I try to scroll any animation out of my window. If I can't do that, I drag
 out the Post-Its!
 

 Worst of all, most advertising shows up as animated images. That alone is
 a good enough reason to turn off the auto-loading of images!
 

 Even if you turn off the auto-loading of images, you're bound to see a LOT
 of bad (even abusive) Web pages out there. For example, I keep wishing for
 a browser that will allow me to turn off audio (Just wait until you find the WFF
 page with the chirping birds. Please spare me!); until then, I just turn my speakers off completely until I really need them.
 
Other bad designs:
 

 If you come across a poorly-designed Web page, send email to the shop owners
 and tell them to STOP IT! Thank you.
 

 By the way, if you're turned off the auto-loading of images and you're still
 curious about what the images are, you can either load all the images by
 hitting the Images button (not recommended), or click on the broken box
 representing the image you want to see. If you do the latter, only the image
 you've clicked will appear. Just hope the one you chose wasn't the
 advertisement.
 

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Why does it take so long for my computer to do anything? It wasn't always like this!

 Hmmm...assuming your computer hardware hasn't changed lately
 (you haven't dropped your laptop, have you?),
 it's possible you have adware, spyware, or malware running on you computer.
 

 There are books and books written about securing your personal computer, and 
 there is no way I could begin to address the subject adequately here, but 
 here are some of the highlights:
 

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Why can't I see the latest News page on the WFF Factory site?

 Wait, let me guess: You're on AOL, right? You see, AOL doesn't tell you that
 one of their "features" is that they cache popular Web pages. What does that 
 mean? It means that when their Web server notices a lot of requests for the 
 same Web page (e.g., the WFF News page), it saves a copy of that page. Then 
 the next time a request for that same page comes in, the AOL server sends
 the COPY, not the requested page. While that saves the AOL server some work,
 it leaves the AOL user with an outdated Web page, and there's nothing the user
 can do about it (except complain to AOL) until the AOL server gets around to
 getting a fresh copy for its cache. Of course, by that time non-AOL users have 
 taken pity on the AOL users and have emailed them the news.
 

 The Nu Insight WFF Portal now keeps a cached copy of the new page, and
 as long as it doesn't see regular use by AOL users (i.e., it's only used
 after a new page appears), it should provide AOL users with the news
 they are seeking.
 

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How can I turn off those annoying popup windows?

 Try turning off Java and JavaScript on your browser. This may not be easy to
 do because it can be hard to find where this can be done. In Netscape I found 
 it by pulling down on View, then selecting Preferences, then
 selecting Advanced and unchecking the Java and JavaScript boxes.
 Gee, that was obvious (NOT!).
 

 In Internet Explorer
 pull down on Tools, then select Internet Options..., then
 select Security, then select Internet and click on Custom Level.... You'll get a long list of options, and the ones to set to Disable or Prompt (depending on whether you want fewer or more interruptions) will mention "ActiveX controls" or "Java" or "scripting".
 Believe it or not, that was even LESS obvious than for Netscape! (Took me WAY too long to find those settings!)
 

 In Firefox Preferences, select Content and uncheck the JavaScript and Java boxes.
 

 Keep in mind, however,
 that by turning them off you may lose some of the nifty features in some of
 your favorite Web pages. (I've noticed that I can no longer use the latest Yahoo! mail program with Java/JavaScript turned off. Not a good trend...)
 You'll have to decide if the trade-off is worthwhile.
 

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How can I talk to other WFF collectors on the Internet?

 Other than using email directly to other collectors you know,
 there is a chat group on AOL.
 The chats run 6 to 8 pm
 Pacific Time Wednesdays and Sundays. Unfortunately, you're pretty much shut
 out if you don't subscribe to AOL. To get to the chat, from the top menu bar,
 
    
 
  1. Pull down on People and select People Connection.
 
  2. Click on Find a Chat.
 
  3. Click on Enter a Private Chat.
 
  4. Type in wee forest folk and click on GO CHAT.
 

 If you'd like to log the chat to a file, pull down on My Files on the
 top menu bar and follow the directions. You'll have to select a file name and
 directory, so try to do this before you enter the chat. (You'll be too busy
 to set anything once you enter the chat.)
 

 If this is your first time in the chat, don't be surprised if you get asked
 a lot of personal questions, like how long you've been collecting, where
 you live, where you shop for WFF, how many WFF you have, etc. If being
 questioned like that bothers you, just make something up.
 As the cartoon says, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog!"
 

 There is also an active message board, but it's not easy to find.
 From the top menu bar, 
 
    
 
  1. Pull down on Channels.
 
  2. Select House & Home (AOL 5.0 and beyond)
 or Interests (before AOL 5.0)
 
  3. Click on Crafts & Hobbies (AOL 5.0 and beyond)
 or Hobbies (before AOL 5.0)
 
  4. Double-click on Antiques & Collectibles folder
 
  5. Double-click on China, Pottery, Glass and more folder
 
  6. Double-click on China and Porcelain message board
 
  7. Double-click on Wee Forest Folk message board
 

 
Congratulations. You made it. Make it one of your Favorites so you don't
 have to go through all that again.
 Once you're there, watch out for all the Happy Birthday, Anniversary, etc., messages.
 

 (Thanks to my anonymous friend for the AOL information!)
 

 For non-AOL users,
 the WFFCC Message Board is
 now the best place to post questions and find
 answers on WFF-related topics.
 

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Where can I find shops that sell WFF?

 The Wee Forest Folk factory Web site
 provides shop information organized by states at the bottom of some of its
 pags, but some of the information may be out of date and some shops may not
 be listed. It's also not easy to search for a particular shop or set of shops.
 

 Unfortunately, phone books don't help much. You can look in the yellow page
 under Gifts or Gift Shops, but even then the shop ads usually don't mention
 Wee Forest Folk.
 

 You can also do a Web search on "Wee Forest Folk". Try 
 Google
 or AskJeeves.
 

 Nu Insight's WFF Shops 
 page is a collection of shop information submitted by collectors across the
 country. It's organized by state and has a Search capability. I rely on
 reports from collectors to keep this shop information current, so please
 send me updates if you have any. You'll be helping the entire collecting
 community.
 

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Where can I view pictures of WFF?

 You can search the Web for "Wee Forest Folk". You can also link to WFF dealers
 listed in the 
 Nu Insight WFF shops page. You'll
 find that most of the Web pages offer little in the way of images of WFF. Most
 just barely mention Wee Forest Folk. A few others will display images straight
 out of the Wee Forest Folk catalog. The best places to find images are
 
 

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Where can I buy or sell secondary market WFF?

 Of course, I highly recommend the 
 Nu Insight For Sale
 Web page.
 

 Sellers pay no commission, no fees; it's all free. You have the freedom
 to list as many WFF as you like for as long as you like. You can modify your
 prices or descriptions whenever you like. The first of each month you are
 emailed a summary of the items you have listed for sale.
 

 Buyers can browse the items for sale by number or by name. There's even an
 index ordered by name showing the number of pieces of that name for sale, the
 date the latest one was offered, and the price range. A click on the hyperlink
 takes you right to the page with all the details. On that page the pieces
 are all organized by item number and ordered by price from lowest to highest.
 

 If you sell your pieces to a dealer, you can expect to receive less than if
 you sold the pieces yourself. After all, dealers have to make a profit, right?
 If you sell your pieces through a dealer, you will probably pay a commission
 of anywhere from 10% to 30%. This will either eat into your net on the sale
 or bump the net price up, which may make your pieces less attractive to buyers.
 

 The WFFCC For Sale board is
 the most popular place to find WFF for sale. You may post Want Ads there, too!
 

 You can also find bargains on auction sites like
 eBay. You can use
 AuctionWatch,
 a meta-search engine for auctions, to find all WFF auctions. But you'll 
 quickly discover most WFF auctions are on eBay.
 

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What is eBay?

 eBay,
 the main auction site for WFF, is a great place for bargains.
 Of course, before you decide to bid at any
 auction, you better know the value of the pieces you're bidding on. The
 Wee Forest Folk Collectors Club Master List
 or the
 Nu Insight Pricing Service
 can help here.
 

 eBay auctions tend to fall into two categories:
 
    
 
  1. Rarities
 
  2. Bargains
 

 For the occasional WFF rarity, bids can go into the hundreds, sometimes
 thousands, of dollars.
 Most of the other auctions should be bargains. I say 'should' because 
 eBay bidders have been known to get so carried away with an auction that
 they will pay more for a current item at auction than they would have paid
 for the same piece at retail. And we're not just talking a buck or two;
 we're talking tens of dollars more. Plus shipping!
 

 Before you bid, make sure the item isn't already available for less someplace
 else. Check the originating store if the item is a store special; it may
 still be available. It may even be a current piece, so check with your local
 dealer. Check the 
 Nu Insight For Sale page
 and the 
 WFFCC For Sale board 
 to make sure it isn't currently offered for less someplace.
 Some WFF shops list pieces for sale on their Web sites; you can find the URL to those Web sites on the 
 Nu Insight Shops page.
 

 Also keep in mind that the big ticket WFF in the current line are sometimes
 available through dealers at half their normal retail price through various
 incentive programs. So be wary of bidding any of the big ticket current WFF
 beyond 1/2 retail.
 

 Only after you've determined you cannot find the same item somewhere else
 for less should you consider bidding on eBay. And then, the only way to
 win (or, at least not lose) is by sniping the auction.
 

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What is sniping?

 Sniping is a method of bidding on eBay in which the bidder places a bid during
 the last minute of an auction. Since eBay auctions end at a specified time,
 bidding during the last few seconds of an auction is a way of ensuring no
 other bidder will have time to place a higher bid.
 

 In general, sniping requires two windows on the auction: One that displays
 the auction status, and one that requires only a click to make the final
 bid submission. The status window is reloaded frequently during the last
 few minutes of an auction to synchronize the bidder's clock to eBay's clock,
 enabling the bidder to place a bid during the final seconds of the auction.
 
(Timing tip: eBay synchronizes their clock to the 
 atomic clock, so by
 opening a third window to that clock you can time your bid to within 5
 seconds of auction's end. That way, it's practically impossible for another
 bidder to respond to your bid.)
 

 Sniping a single auction is exciting enough; it becomes even more exciting
 if you want to bid on several auctions separated by only a few minutes.
 

 Eccles Enterprises has developed a software package for PCs called
 Cricket Jr.
 that you can use to make sniping easier. It's available for a nominal charge.
 I personally have not used it, but if you bid on a lot of eBay auctions,
 some kind of sniping tool is necessary if you don't want to waste a lot of
 time. The Eccles site also has a lot of good information about sniping in
 general. (There used to be a great reference on the Web called the eBay
 Underground FAQ, but it's gone.)
 

 I might also add, as a warning, that a programmer with knowledge of Unix and
 Web client programming can refine the art of sniping to such a degree as to
 be able to consistently, and with minimal personal interaction beyond setup,
 place a bid within 1 or 2 seconds of the end of an auction. I can think of
 no defense against this kind of sniping except to set your maximum to overbid.
 

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Where can I find pricing information about retired WFF?

 Wee Forest Folk Collectors Club
 Master List
 is a great on-line reference, listing retirement dates, estimated values,
 color and
 style variations. Most of the listings have images, too. A hardcopy version is available. The WFFCC also publishes a newsletter, FOLKTALES for its members. Contact 
 Lorraine Buerkel or
 Nancy Buerkel-Rothfuss
 for membership/subscription details. (Be sure to replace "AT" and "DOT"
 in those addresses with "@" and ".")
 

 Leslie Wilhelm
 used to publish the hardcopy Wee Forest Folk Reference Guide
 every year or so for $25. It's a great reference containing
 background information, retirement
 dates, estimated values, color and style variations, AND it is very portable.
 Unfortunately, it is also out of print :-( The last issue was dated 1998.
 

 Barbara Peek also used to sell a very portable guide called The Mouse
 Collector with lots of color pictures and an ever-expanding list of
 features. It filled in the space vacated by the WFF Reference Guide.
 Unfortunately, as of January 2004 it's no longer available either.
 

 Nu Insight provides a
 free pricing service
 detailing minimum and maximum asking prices for pieces going back as far as
 1989. Each data set is accompanied by a distribution graph to enable the
 user to get a better feel for the asking prices on WFF.
 

 More precise pricing is available from the Nu Insight for-fee pricing service,
 available by subscription only. Contact
 wff_collector@yahoo.com
 for subscription details.
 Subscription costs $100 a year. (However, if you're
 clever, you can figure out a way to get a year's subscription for $10.)
 

 Good pricing information is essential for any one of the following reasons:
 

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Where can I find reasonable insurance for my WFF?

 I have no specific recommendations, but here's a list of references you might try (I'll add to the list as I become aware of more recommendations):
 
 Of course, you can always do a search for "collectibles insurance" on Google.
 

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Where can I find more information about WFF?

 
 Want to know when a shop's Web page has changed so you can check it out
 right away? Nu Insight's 
 WFF portal
 tracks the Web pages of the most active WFF sites and reports any
 changes every hour. Links to other WFF Web sites are included,
 and the page refreshes itself every hour. Just open the page first thing
 in the morning and leave it up all day!
 

 If you have other WFF-related Web pages you think should be included on the 
 WFF portal, send your recommendations to
 wff_collector@yahoo.com.
 

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Uh-oh. Know a good place to repair a broken mouse?

 Here are some from the WFFCC Information board:
 
 

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Where can I find more information about Web pages?

 This is just too cool a Web site to be left unnoticed. In fact, it was 1998's
 Cool Site of the Year:
 http://www.howstuffworks.com/
 There's even a section on 
 The Internet
 that explains
 
 It also explains how car engines work, how cell phones work, how CDs work.
 Check it out!
 

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 If you have suggestions for other information about the Web and Wee Forest
 Folk that you'd like to see on this page, please let me know!
 I'll see what I can do to accommodate your request!
 

 Thank you for stopping by!
 

 Geoff Lee
 wff_collector@yahoo.com.
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