MOTL is currently not being updated, at least to my knowledge. Leshrac, aka Eddie Holman, the owner, is not responding to emails and has not been on in a while. The admins, Inca911 and whoever else, are also not responding and have not been on.

Of the other moderators, I think BoltBait, Nderdog, Junichi, and Jazaray have been on most recently. Everyone else is effectively retired as far as I know. The problem is that the site has become somewhat of a ghost town, and most of us have grown up and lost at least some interest in Magic.

I am the only active moderator, at least right now. If you need to get ahold of me, or of a moderator in general, PM or email me. You can try to get ahold of the others, but I don't think it's likely to succeed.

[Edit]: Junichi may be around as well.

Also, in case you're curious, as a moderator I can smack, ban, open, close, and delete. I cannot unban, update the price guide, add new moderators, or access MOTL's source code.

If you see rules violations, please post them in the post for rules violations and I will deal with them. If it's urgent, you can email or PM me.

I have removed the rule about posting "PM sent." I don't think anyone is seriously abusing that, and if people start getting stupid, I will deal with them.

We have had a few random spammers lately, generally from Egypt or Morocco. If you see someone posting "Thanks for this post" or something similar, please let me know. I will ban them on sight.

The trade matcher and price guides and what-not have not been updated. I am not able to do that and I don't know what the plans are.

MOTL is not for sale as far as I know and efforts to purchase it, while valiant, are most likely futile.

I will keep an eye on the Bad Trader Alerts forum and handle things as best I can, but really, all we've ever been able to do is ban people and list them as Confirmed Bad Traders. It's not like I can force someone to give you back your cards/cash.

I don't know what the future holds for MOTL. Back up your trade lists and your references.

MOTL has been a great place, and I have enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for a fun 13 years. Hopefully there will be more.

https://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/DBIndex.aspx?SectionName=attorneys/BIOS/10858.htm

Unless MOTL changes its business model and is backed by one or multiple reputable dealer/retailer, I don't see how MOTL can revive to its glory days.

The only thing that has any sort of value is the name "MOTL" itself, and it's losing value fast as the site wither.

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Originally posted by junichi:
Even with proper updates, irreversible damage has already been done to the reputation of MOTL. The business model is also extremely outdated, and the demand for online barter trade is simply not as high as 10-15 years ago.

Unless MOTL changes its business model and is backed by one or multiple reputable dealer/retailer, I don't see how MOTL can revive to its glory days.

The only thing that has any sort of value is the name "MOTL" itself, and it's losing value fast as the site wither.

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Originally posted by junichi:
Even with proper updates, irreversible damage has already been done to the reputation of MOTL. The business model is also extremely outdated, and the demand for online barter trade is simply not as high as 10-15 years ago.

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The success of other trade sites with terrible basis' is definitive proof of the ridiculousness of this statement.
Online trading is much more in demand today than it was 15 years ago. MOTL's model was and still is much better than anything else out there.

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Originally posted by junichi:
Unless MOTL changes its business model and is backed by one or multiple reputable dealer/retailer, I don't see how MOTL can revive to its glory days.

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MOTL's model is fine. The site just needs to be updated and have involved management. It proved that for years. The dropoff corresponds with a lack of updates to the site's search capabilities and again poor BTA rulings. With updates, more guides to successful trading and ripper avoidance techniques as well as moderator oversight, MOTL could be even better than it was during it's heyday. It will never be perfect (since humans will never be perfect) but if the ownership would relenquish it (sell it) to someone or some people who had that as the goal and not self enrichment, it would become reality. MOTL worked so well BECAUSE it was not predominantly profit driven. It was and still is essentially free, at least to it's users.

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Originally posted by junichi:
The only thing that has any sort of value is the name "MOTL" itself, and it's losing value fast as the site wither.

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The power and the draw of MOTL when I first joined was the price guide. It was the definitive value measurement tool when I first started trading/selling here. When that was "broken" and subsequently not fixed, it was the beginning of the end. I wish I could sit here and say, "fix that and all your problems will go away", but this is simply not true. As others have stated and/or alluded to, irreparable damage has been done to the site/community.

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Originally posted by stab107:

The power and the draw of MOTL when I first joined was the price guide. It was the definitive value measurement tool when I first started trading/selling here.

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Agreed. I used it exclusively since I had started here up until it broke. It was an awesome tool.

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Originally posted by paragondave:
The success of other trade sites with terrible basis' is definitive proof of the ridiculousness of this statement.
Online trading is much more in demand today than it was 15 years ago. MOTL's model was and still is much better than anything else out there.

MOTL's model is fine. The site just needs to be updated and have involved management. It proved that for years. The dropoff corresponds with a lack of updates to the site's search capabilities and again poor BTA rulings. With updates, more guides to successful trading and ripper avoidance techniques as well as moderator oversight, MOTL could be even better than it was during it's heyday. It will never be perfect (since humans will never be perfect) but if the ownership would relenquish it (sell it) to someone or some people who had that as the goal and not self enrichment, it would become reality. MOTL worked so well BECAUSE it was not predominantly profit driven. It was and still is essentially free, at least to it's users.

This, unfortunately, I agree with.

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I agree with everything here you said. I started trading internationally on MTGNews but after 2 rips in my first 3 trades I fled here, and it has been a safe haven ever since.

I too believe MOTL can be better than it once was, but like paragondave stated, it needs a lot of effort from people that are willing to put it in. I know there are members willing/able to help out with parts of it, I just hope that the site gets the chance it deserves.

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Originally posted by Tha Gunslinga:
I almost never used it, honestly. Ebay and ApathyHouse were better.

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Same here.
And thanks for the update Slinga, appreciate your time to inform us.

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I'm a geek, you're a geek. Let's trade.

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Originally posted by AEther Storm:
And thanks for the update Slinga, appreciate your time to inform us.

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Originally posted by Tha Gunslinga:
My pleasure. Wish I could help more.

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Ya, I'll add my thanks too. We know you're as frustrated as the rest of us if not more and appreciate you spending the time to post here. I just you hear back from the people in power at some point.

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Originally posted by paragondave:
The success of other trade sites with terrible basis' is definitive proof of the ridiculousness of this statement.

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I am sorry my view of the situation is ridiculous to you. I would go into details of why relying on online barter trade as a focal point is a dead end, but hey, what do I know!? Right!?

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Originally posted by junichi:
I am sorry my view of the situation is ridiculous to you. I would go into details of why relying on online barter trade as a focal point is a dead end, but hey, what do I know!? Right!?

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yet for some reason, you continue to moderate a site dedicated to this dead end concept...

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Originally posted by paragondave:
yet for some reason, you continue to moderate a site dedicated to this dead end concept...

please, enlighten us all.

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Because I am staying till the end!? Isn't this what most of us are doing right now?

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Originally posted by mm1983:
I think most of us would simply like to see an updated search engine for cards. It was the one thing that enabled more trades to be done. As it stands now the damage has been done but a decent search engine alone might actually bring back people who have left MOTL for other places and attract more new traders that would continue to use MOTL. One flaw with the old search engine was it was only card specific and never set specific. Having both would be a huge improvement for this site but understood if set specific search can't be done. Sets and special releases get released faster than they did 10 years ago so as a result makes it extremely hard to keep up with an up to date search engine.

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There's only four sets a year, which has been the same since Crapsnap, which was ages ago (still remember playing against that stupid dragon. Because red is supposed to get permanent "doesn't untap" amirite?)

It would be great to have all sorts of new things here. Not least a BTA with more teeth to it. "Value trading", the price of mail going way up in the last ten years and all the stealing really hit online trading even without the site falling apart. Ten years ago nobody demanded a waiver or insisted on $20 shipping for a $5 card. Online stores now are less terrible than in the past, and it's so much easier and often not any more expensive to buy from shops. Possibly because the default is Starcity prices instead of Scrye.

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Originally posted by mm1983:
There are still 4 sets a year yes but they are releasing too many special release products throughout a year too. Between duel decks, from the vault, planechase, commander, other reprints of cards in new sets, etc is enough to screw up any search engine if you are looking for set specific cards.

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Indeed.

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Originally posted by Volcanon:
It would be great to have all sorts of new things here. Not least a BTA with more teeth to it. "Value trading", the price of mail going way up in the last ten years and all the stealing really hit online trading even without the site falling apart. Ten years ago nobody demanded a waiver or insisted on $20 shipping for a $5 card. Online stores now are less terrible than in the past, and it's so much easier and often not any more expensive to buy from shops. Possibly because the default is Starcity prices instead of Scrye.

Heck even the ad banner doesn't go to a valid URL anymore.

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This, more of this and a side order of this.

I've been a member of this site for quite a long time. Sold out around 2002 (I had a pm for a trade/sale of 40 fbb duals I had listed for $1000 lol)
When I came back about a year or so back, it had a much different feel to it. Volcanon hit it on the head for me. It was one of the things that about drove me from listing any haves on here. That and shipping wasn't nowhere near as bad as it is now to other countries.
The shell this site has (and had) works. It's the lack of give a care from the ones that created it that is driving the dagger deeper. Without any possible corrective measures, it dies I believe