Revision as of 22:57, 28 December 2008

What is ExpressoBeans?

Expresso Beans is a free, not-for-profit art collector's community resource built and maintained by volunteers. EB provides a wealth of information about graphic art including edition information (dimensions, medium, technique, etc.), eBay auction tracking, sales histories and much more. Free membership includes personal collection tracking, buying, selling and trading art, the exclusive EB matchmaker, forums, email notifications and more!

Why "ExpressoBeans"? Do you like coffee?

"I LOVE COFFEE! I have a latte every morning followed by coffee at work. I use ILLY coffee which most coffee lovers have had but never realized it at the coffee shops. But that has little to do with the name. I am a software engineer and I started a company to work with Sun Microsystems Java platform. At the time Enterprise Beans and Java Beans were big buzwords, so I thought of the name express beans (fast beans) which i quickly changed to ExpressoBeans. Also it is simular to "Java." Some have asked me why not EspressoBeans, well my previous explaination holds, but note that Expresso is a legal spelling for Espresso, see dictionary.com." - Thomas Davis, ExpressoBeans founder

Free? What's the catch?

There is no catch whatsoever! EB Membership is, and will always be, free of charge.

I have a piece of art that isn't listed in the EB Art Guide. Can I add it to EB?

Yes, Members are encouraged to submit art not already listed on EB! Please refer to the EB User Guide for more information.

I just had a print framed - can I add a picture of it to the piece's EB Art Guide entry?

Yes, Members are encouraged to submit pictures of their art to existing entries! Please refer to the EB User Guide for more information.

I submitted art to the EB Art Guide. How long will it take to get it approved?

The time is generally no more than a few days. A volunteer will need to 1) verify the piece isn't already in the EB database 2) make sure all the data is entered correctly and 3) rotate, crop and resize the image if it isn't done by the submitter. Pieces that take excessive time to review because of incorrect or incomplete information, or pieces submitted with images that require rotating, cropping, or resizing will be often passed over in the review queue in favor of "cleaner" submittals, so please help the volunteers and speed approval time with careful data entry - thanks!

What are EB Points? What are they used for ... how do you obtain more?

EB has a points system for measuring contributions. There are many ways to get points but the easiest is to add art to our database, which earns 4 points per submission. Adding an eBay auction through the Item interface earns 2 points. Most other actions earn 1 point, such as adding images.

Periodically the people with the most points are awarded a free EB series print. After each award cycle, the "active" points are reset so that everyone has an equal chance every time. The number of winners depends on the number of prints we have and the costs, so it will change from print to print.

What is the difference between the "Outbox" and the "Sentbox" in the EB Private Messaging system?

A Private Message stays in the Outbox until the recipient opens it, after which it automatically moves to the Sentbox.

How does EB Feedback work? How do I leave / request feedback?

To request feedback from another EB Member, navigate to your "My Collection" page. On the left hand side of the screen locate and click on the link to "View Feedback." The feedback page will display. On this page there is a "Request Feedback" input area. In the "Member" field enter the EB Member name of the Member with whom you conducted business. In the "About" field you may place a short description of your transaction as a reminder to the EB Member. Click on the "Request Feedback" button. This will send a request to the Member, and display your pending request in a listing below the "Request Feedback" input area. The rest is up to the person with whom you conducted the transaction.

What do the Forum Thread icons mean?

To the left of the threads in the forums you may note the following icons:

• The star indicates a thread in which you have posted.
• The flame indicates a "hot topic" thread.
• The exclamation point indicates a stickied thread.
• The lock indicates a locked thread - this thread is read-only.
• A red border surrounding any icon indicates a thread or topic that contains new posts since your last visit.

What's with the different colors for usernames in the Forums?

User names display in colors to indicate the following

• Red indicates a "Site Admin," someone who has access to pretty much every area and tool on the site.
• Green indicates a "Global Moderator," someone who has access to more tools than the majority of the EB Volunteer Team but less access than Site Admins.
• Purple indicates a member of the EB Volunteer Team.