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PlayingCardHub Release Notes

Release Notes - May 2, 2025

Here's a list of new features launched this week

  • Thanks to our new supporters: M. Edwards - if you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Retailers: As part of the idea that the site is a 'hub' for playing cards - I've added a "Retailers" link under "Browse" which lists out a handful of quality retailers. Reach out to me if you feel one should be added. 
  • Delete Tags: There's now the ability to 'delete' tags. You'll find this under "Account Settings -> Collection & Wishlist Settings" - you'll see a listing of your tags. Deleting a tag does not remove decks from your collection - just the the tag only.
  • Status Page: We now have a status page so you can track the site's uptime. (Click Site Status in the footer) or visit it directly
  • Deck Data Update: "All the decks are back!" - Last week I told you that I had removed about 8,000 decks that were not in a collection/wishlist/tradelist - it seems the community did not agree. Ultimately the community felt and I now agree that even if decks aren't in a collection/wishlist/tradelist - they should still be represented on the site as a 'hub' and a 'central' repository for deck data. So I've reloaded those 8k(ish) decks I removed bringing us back to almost 28,000 decks
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 

What's on the list for next week?

  • Ability to flag card image uploads as NSFW
  • Approving Deck Edits is not properly tracking reputation

Release Notes - Apr 25, 2025

Here's a list of new features launched this week

  • Thanks to our new supporters: T.Knox and F. Mugur - if you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • PCH/Zio Collaboration for Card Scans & 3D Tucks: Loyal user Daniel Li has his own site for showing casing his collection at zio.cards and was kind enough to share some data with us - including additional full card images and 3D TUCK SCANS!! (Yea - it's really cool) - Here's an example, check out 1001 Nights Aurora Signature Edition - scroll down to the 'see this deck on other sites' section - click Zio.cards and then click "Tuck" in the top right - you can thank me later...actually thank Daniel he did all the hard work there!
  • Data Quality Update: I've updated our data quality page to not worry about missing barcodes at this time. You can also click on a header to filter to decks ONLY missing that item (for example: clicking on Company will show you only decks missing a Company)
  • Deck Data Update: "Where did all the decks go?" - You may have noticed that I dropped from about 26k to about 18,800 decks on the site. Yes this was on purpose. I now have jobs that run that will remove any decks that have existed on the site for 90 days and have not been added to at least 1 collection or wishlist or tradelist - ie: "dead decks" - this will actually help us keep the duplicate count lower as well ensuring that decks on the site are active decks. In the beginning it was important to attract people with a large number of decks, but now that we're at 300+ users and growing it's a bit less important. 
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 

What's on the list for next week?

  • Ability to delete tags
  • Few other collection views
  • Updates to your submission page

Release Notes - Apr 18, 2025

Here's the new features and bug fixes launched on the site this week:

  • Search Button on Company/Artists: Added the ability to search for a Company/Artist on their respective pages
  • Data Quality Section: Added a Data Quality section (must be logged in) to view decks that are missing data - you'll see that most decks are represented here as most decks don't have a barcode. I also added this link to the footer so you can find it later. I've got some more user feedback here around showing decks that are 'only missing X' - which I'll work on next week.
  • Deck Duplicate Indicator: Added a message to the info modal denoting when a deck has been flagged as a duplicate. Working on showing an icon / indicator on the deck thumbnail itself next week

Changes and Updates - 4/11/2025 - Apr 11, 2025

Here's a list of new features launched this week

  • Support us on Patreon: If you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Who Turned Out the Lights??: I did -  we now have Dark Mode support on the site - click the moon/sun icon in the top right of the navigation bar to toggle between dark and light mode on the site - your eyes will thank you no matter which one you choose
  • Add From P52: When creating a new deck - you can choose to import a single deck from Portfolio52 or to create a deck manually
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 
  • Bug Fixes: Sorting on the Company listing page would redirect you to artists. Tradelist - changed the number of decks that show in paginated results (decreased by 1) so the UI flows right

Release Notes - 4/4 - Apr 4, 2025

Here's a list of new features launched this week

  • Support us on Patreon: If you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Deck Modal - Next/Prev: Long time requested - the ability to move back and forth while the deck modal/deck info window is displaying after clicking on a deck in search results. Bonus tip - when the window is open you can use the left/right arrow keys to move between decks!
  • Edit an uploaded card image: When you accidentally upload the wrong card image - you can now click an edit button to fix it. Additionally the 'edit' button is open to the community - so if you see an image that's wrong you can fix it - even if you weren't the original uploader
  • Joker's uploading 2x: When adding a Joker - it would add it twice - now I've segmented this to Joker 1 and Joker 2 to keep this from happening
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 
  • Click on Wishlist Number: Great suggestion from TulsaPairofHearts - when viewing a deck you can click on 'wishlist' to see who wants the deck and if you have it / are willing to trade it - you can connect with that Member
  • Social Media Accounts in User Profile: You can add your social accounts to the site to link to them. Head over to account settings - you can enter them, and then they will display on your profile page.

What's on the list for next week?

  • Single Deck From P52: Expanding on the idea that you can import decks from other sites into our system - I'll do an "add a single deck from Portfolio52" - if there's other sites you think I should do this for - respond to this email and let me know
  • Few other small bug fixes and enhancements: It will be a bit of a 'cleanup' week before I start the next 'major thing' I have planned

Release Notes - 3/21/24 - The Post DC Edition - Mar 28, 2025

Here's a list of new features launched this week

  • Thanks to our new supporter: Paul C. - if you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Collection Group by Page Refactors: Last week I launched the ability to view your collection grouped by tag - Brands, Release Year, and Artists all had a performance problem that was fixed by making them work similar to grouped by collection - so now not only can you view these pages better - but you also get shareable pages like this for your collection - this took alot longer than I thought it would - but I think at the end of the day it's a better experience.
  • OG/Social Images: I've created OG Images for all decks in the system. These are images you see when sharing to social media - check out this example:
  • Mobile Nav Trade List: It was pointed out to me that there was no link to Trade List on mobile - what a silly mistake on my part - that's been updated
  • Collection Remembers "Per Page": When changing the 'per page' number on your collection - the site will now remember that number for you - this is helpful for users who were always changing it to a bigger number to see their larger collection
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 
  • Ads: We now offer banner ad sales - But before you get worried, just understand that I am extremely picky with who I allow to advertise (I've already turned down 2 companies) - because I want to make sure that ads on the site are only for things relevant/beneficial to this community and never will I sell any personal data to advertisers

What's on the list for next week?

  • Deck Info Modal: This is coming - I promise! - Just a been a busy week and this one will be a bit involved.
  • Ability to edit photos that you've uploaded: Also still on the list!

New Feature Friday (The DC Edition) - Mar 21, 2025

Here's a list of new features launched this week

  • Thanks to our new supporters: Mike R, Daniel, Room One Cards and Stan C. - if you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Collection Group by Tag View: From your collection page in the "View Collection Grouped By..." option - you'll see there's a new option to group your collection by tag
  • Kickstarter, Cardscans Links in Export: Last week I added additional links for Kickstarter and Cardscans - this week I made sure that they were included in the JSON and CSV exports of your collection.
  • Weekly Review: Every Wednesday there's an automated post that get's generated called the "Wednesday Weekly Review" which tells you the new users, decks added, decks up for trade, etc.. for the previous week. You'll find it up "Browse -> Articles" - I plan to bring more article content in the future - this is just a start.
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 
  • Ads: We now offer banner ad sales - But before you get worried, just understand that I am extremely picky with who I allow to advertise (I've already turned down 2 companies) - because I want to make sure that ads on the site are only for things relevant/beneficial to this community and never will I sell any personal data to advertisers
  • Member Directory: In the member directory - when viewing the list of members you'll see a "X decks available for trade" for any user that has decks on their tradelist - this makes an easy way for you to browse the member directory and look for folks to trade with

What's on the list for next week?

  • Deck Info Modal: Being able to move back and forth between decks without closing the modal has been a requested item for awhile - it will take a bit for me to do on my side because of how I set that up originally but I'm going to look into it to see if it's worth doing
  • Ability to edit photos that you've uploaded: Another requested item that will cut down on the support emails - the ability to remove a card image that you've incorrectly uploaded

New Feature Friday (The Almost St. Patricks Day Edition...) - Mar 14, 2025

Here's a list of new features launched this week

  • Thanks to our new supporters: R. Sinclair and Vlad - if you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Trade Lists: You can now put decks into a 'trade list' that other members of the site can browse. When viewing someone's trade list you can send them a message to connect the two of you and (hopefully) start a fair and equitable trade. Make sure to read our legal disclaimer about trades on our Terms of Service page and privacy updates regarding trades in our Privacy Policy
  • CardScans Links: In the "See This Decks on Other Sites" section - I've added the option to link to CardScans (which has over 100k individual card images for decks...). I've also run a script to detect any CardScan URLs in the system and automatically add that link - here's a good example:  https://playingcardhub.com/decks/01jgryhsfm6mmryq4kd3qp4n3e-ghost-gaff - Help us out by adding more CardScan links to decks!
  • Kickstarter Links: Similar to CardScans - there's now a way to link a deck to their Kickstarter page if relevant (use the 'See This Deck on Other Sites' section) - Here's a good example:  https://playingcardhub.com/decks/01jgs297fhajnj3tdv2ywmq7xv-graveyard-premium-edition
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 

Bugs that we fixed this week

  • Deck Duplicates - Big thanks to Paul for pointing this out - when you or someone else marked decks as a duplicate they could be removed from your collection without you knowing - I've updated the duplicate flagging to require you to specify what deck it is a duplicate of - and when then duplicate is removed it updates / adds the remaining deck to your collection. I also added messaging on the deck detail page showing that a deck is a duplicate and it will soon be removed

What's on the list for next week?

  • There's a bug with collection custom ordering that I need to work on to make sure it orders rights
  • Trade list - I'm toying with the idea of allowing users to rate each other after trades
  • What else? Something on your mind you think the site needs? Reply to this email and let me know...

Release Notes - 03/07 - The "Let's Get Social" Edition - Mar 7, 2025

It's the first new Feature Friday of March! Here's what we launched this week on the site

  • Thanks to our new supporters: R. Sinclair and Vlad - if you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Ability to Follow Other Users: You can now 'follow' other users by going to their profile and clicking the 'follow' button. You'll also see tabs to view who that user follows and who follows that user - just another way for you to explore other members of the site 
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 
  • Member Directory: Well if you're going to follow other members, it probably makes sense to have a way to find other members to follow - check out the member directory: https://playingcardhub.com/members
  • Quick Deck Info: You'll notice a small blue "i" icon on the top left corner of deck thumbnails - click that and get a quick overview of that deck - helpful for finding decks to add to your collection without clicking directly into them
  • Activity Feed: What's a follow feature without an activity feed? - From your profile screen there's a new link called 'feed' which shows you activity from people you follow 

What's on the list for next week?

  • Starting work on a "Trade List" feature
  • Researching the ability to add decks via barcode

New Feature Friday (It took longer than expected edition...) - Feb 28, 2025

It's New Feature Friday! - Here's what we released:

  • Thanks to our new supporters: J. Wellby and M. Outroad - if you'd like to support the development of PlayingCardHub you can do so for as little as $1 on our Patreon page 
  • Collection Filtering updates: This was the most time consuming update we did this week - taking a few days to get done (which explains why our list is small...) Collections now have a fully featured left side bar that allow you to filter the decks in your collection. The 'groupings' of collections by artist, brand & release year have moved to the little dropdown menu that says "View Collection Grouped By"
  • Reminder about our X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. 
  • Avatars and bios: You can now add a headshot/profile image and a short bio about yourself (Go to Account Settings to manage this) - and it shows on your profile page - check mine out: https://playingcardhub.com/pchadmin/profile
  • New Search Server: At launch our search index (aka the thing that translates your searches to decks in our database) and our application all ran on the same server - which is "okay" architecture for a launch and to get it out the door - but as we've been adding more decks, more fields to the index, etc.. we'd run into some issues where the search index would crash and we would have to restart it. Not good right? - We moved our search index to it's own server independent of the application (this is good architecture!) and we haven't had any issues since.

Here's some bugs/issues we fixed

  • Hide a redundant "Ace" field in the historical section - thanks Kevan (aka CongressGuy) for pointing it out
  • Moved reviews on the deck detail screen to flow better with the content

What's on the list for next week?

  • User follows
  • Potentially some additional 'visual indicators' for a deck being gilded, signed, mini, etc...
  • I don't think i'll be able to fully build it next week - but I'm going to start thinking through Trade Lists and how those would work as that's been a hotly requested feature

New Feature Friday! (We just turned 1 month old edition) - Feb 21, 2025

Happy 1-Month to Us!: - We turn a month old today! - Yes technically we're 31 days old (we launched on Jan 21) and in that month we've seen almost 200 users signup and just over 600 decks added to our index. I'm excited to be on this journey and I'm looking forward to the next 31 days!

Here's what we added/updated this week:

  • New Patreon Supporters: please welcome S. Mistrata at the Clubs Level and H. Cortez at the Spades Level. You can support us on Patreon as well - for as little as $1 a month
  • X-Decks Partnership: We've partnered with X-Decks to offer PlayingCardHub users 5% off of their purchases using code: playingcardhub5. We're working with them to bring you some more exclusive deals - but for now - enjoy 5% off (PS: If you're a card vendor - we're open to partnering with you as well!)
  • DeckCollect URLs Sync: I've had my Data Analyst - Ali - working hard this week (sorry Ali) - but he manually went through a public dump of the DeckCollect database and added 1,440 DeckCollect.com URLs to our system - you'll see these on deck detail pages. My goal here is to be a 'hub' of playing card deck data so you'll be able to tie decks together across multiple sites - regardless of where you manage your collection. 
    • See a deck that needs a DeckCollect link / has a wrong link? - click "Add/Update Link Data" on the deck detail page
    • I've also sent the owner of DeckCollect a data feed that they can use to sync our URLs to their system as well - hopefully they are open to that exchange of data and will do that!
  • Deck Data Fields: A request since day 1 has been to add 'Historical' fields for folks who like to collect older (mostly Congress, but not always) decks - I've added that section in decks - so bring all your historical deck collecting friends! I also added in a Barcode field as well so we can track that data as needed
  • View Collections Containing a Deck: When you see "21 collections" when viewing a deck - you can now click on "21" and see all the collections containing this deck - its' a great way to see other users collections who may have similar interests/tastes as you and may allow you to discover new decks you'd like to add to your collection or wishlist
  • Collection Updates: We need multiple bullets to talk about collections this week
    • "In Your Collection" Indicator: When browsing decks on PCH while logged in - you'll now see a green checkmark in the upper right corner of the deck thumbnail if the deck is in your collection. Just a quick visual way to check that. (This is very useful when looking at company/artist pages to see if you have all of the decks from a particular brand or artist)
    • Tag Your Collection: Another heavily requested feature. On a deck detail page - when a deck is in your collection - in the same widget where you can manage quantities you'll now see a 'tags' area where you can tag decks with whatever you want. Once a tag is added - when viewing your collection - you'll be able to show only decks with that tag
    • Search Inside Your Collection: Another great user suggested feature - on your collection page - there's now a search field that will only search decks that are in your collection - just a quick way for you to check if you have a deck or not
    • Show Unique and Total Collection Count: Just below the search field I mentioned above - you'll see a Unique Count (which is the count of unique decks in your collection) and then a Total Count (which is all decks in your collection)
    • Change the 'Date Acquired': By default when you add a deck to your collection we use the current date as 'date added to collection' - and that probably works okay for new purchases - but if you're rebuilding your collection on PCH - you may want more control over that date - so on the same widget that you manage quantities and tags - you can now change the 'Date Acquired' to be more accurate to your own collection

Here's a list of the bugs we fixed/address this week:

  • Search Index crashed 2x this week: Some we had some fun with our search index going down this week. Don't worry though - just this morning (Friday) I moved our search index to a new stand alone server and it seems to be BLAZING fast and more stable. Hey - this is a good problem to have! It means folks are actively using the search and site!

Here's what we currently have planned for next week:

  • Collections UI Revamp - With all the features we've added to collections - it's getting a bit 'clunky' - I've got my design team working on new designs that I'm going to be implementing this week to make it a bit cleaner and a more robust collection experience for you all. 
  • Following Other Users: Depending on how long the collections UI revamp takes - I'm going to try to get in the ability to follow other users and have a bit of a social feed to see what users have added, etc...

Release Notes - 2/14 - Valentine's Edition - Feb 14, 2025

Love is in the air here at PlayingCardHub - love for new decks and new users! - We're averaging about 7 new users a day - keep telling all your friends and let's grow this community! This week felt like a slow week to me for some reason - I wanted to get out more features than I did, but that pesky day job kept getting in the way - enjoy these updates!

  • New Patreon Supporter: Everyone thank R. Doucette for supporting us at the Hearts level! You can also support us via Patreon
  • Collection Sorting: There's now a way to view your collection grouped by company, artist or release year - interesting way to lay things out. I've also added 
  • Additional Deck Sites: Since I have 'hub' in the name - I should serve as a hub for playing card data right? Of course I should - you'll notice on deck detail pages there's a way to view the deck on Portfolio52 and DeckCollect. I have my Data Analyst working on importing all the DeckCollect info - so look for that in the next few days - but in the meantime you can suggest edits / add links yourself. (These links are also included in JSON and CSV exports) What other sites should I include here? Respond to this email and let me know...
  • Deck Photo Galleries: You can now add/view gallery images to a deck, show us your favorite flourish!
  • Deck Card Images: Each deck now supports up to 60 individual card images: 4 suites 2 thru Ace, 2 jokers and 6 additional card images
  • Suggest New Front/Back Deck Image: Suggest and upload new images for the front/back of a deck - help us ensure we have the best images out there!
  • New Deck Data Fields: We've added some new data fields for decks, make sure to update the decks in your collection so our data stays accurate. I've done my best to script this out to backfill existing data - but that's only a start - you can suggest edits to this using the "Suggest Edits" button on a Deck Detail page.
    • Jumbo size option added to Size Field
    • Card Front & Card Back Checkboxes for:
      • Foiled
      • Metallic
      • Gilded
      • Full Bleed
      • Border
  • Homepage "Recently Added Decks" section: This sort of existed already - if you clicked Browse -> Decks, it sorted all decks by date created (added to PCH) - but it was obvious - so now on the homepage there's a recently added deck section that shows the last 16 or so decks added to the system