TBCP Frequently Asked Questions

Why was the look of The Beer Cap Page changed?

For several reasons. Firstly, to demonstrate that The Beer Cap Page is a living project. Secondly, to make the page more interesting for casual visitors to TBCP. And finally, well, change is good for the soul...

Was this site abandonned?

Yes, unfortunately, The Beer Cap Page was left "on its' own" for awhile, as the webmaster took a nine-month sabbatical (April - December 1997). A decision was made to revive the site, resulting in the new (and hopefully improved) TBCP.

What happened to the advertising?

The Beer Cap Page was a member of the Link Exchange for over a year. During that time, a TBCP banner was displayed on member sites for each two times a TBCP web page was visited. It was found that the advertising was not creating the desired result -- to attract new crowncap collectors. It is hoped that another organization will offer a similar service, dedicated to hobbies, breweriana or collectibles, sometime in the future.

How many other web sites compete with The Beer Cap Page?

There are several cap collecting sites out on the World Wide Web, aside from this one. You are strongly encouraged to visit all of them, as they all provide a different perspective on the hobby. Typical of smaller interest groups, we encourage each other in order to develop a strong presence out on the Internet. Please refer to the Links section for a listing of related resources.

What is in store in TBCPs future?

Once The Beer Cap Page has been fully ported over to the new format (with a few basic additions, such as this FAQ), a few major milestones have been planned for 1998: a historical perspective on bottle closures; a detailed and illustrated series registry; a decently-populated picture gallery; an up-to-date listing of events worldwide catering to crowncap collectors; a detailed guide to collecting and exchanging crowncaps, including naming and description standards; and a searchable database of crowncaps, broken down by countries or product lines. Most of these objectives will have to be made in cooperation with other organizations, and the TBCP will be fostering interest in these and other topics of interest to crowncap collectors.

Cap, crown, bottletop, crowncap, closure -- what is the proper term?

William Painter invented the modern-day bottle closure about a century ago. To the layman, they are called bottle caps, while devout hobbyists assert that these collectables are called crowns. Whichever term you wish to use will probably depend on who you are speaking to.

What are the main classifications of bottle caps?

Collectors use a variety of terms to describe their collecting interests. Aside from the straight-forward designations of beer, soda, water & other, there are others such as: unused (factory shapes, never capped on a bottle); used; and undamaged (not folded on the top of the crown). They can be grouped into eras, from cone-top can closures to twist-top caps. And like postage stamps, a crowncap can be classified as definitive (identifying a product) or commemmorative (celebrating a person, place, thing or event), and can be part of a collectors' series.

I sent a request to The Beer Cap Page, -- why didn't I get a reply?

The e-mail received at The Beer Cap Page is monitored regularly, and replies to messages are sent on a priority basis. If you are contacting TBCP for the first time and you do not get a reply from us after a reasonable time, it may be because your e-mail address is invalid. That is, your e-mail domain (the part that appears after the @ symbol) is not universally recognized. If you feel that this may be the problem (this is a common problem), please contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP). If they are unable to help you, you may wish to consider opening a free account with one of the Internet E-mail service providers like Hotmail or Yahoo, and using it for your correspondence with fellow collectors. And if all else fails, please put a message in our guestbook, and we'll do our best to contact you!
It may also be that your ISP filters out messages coming from certain domains, in hopes of reducing the amount of spam. In this case, try to send a message with another ISP and see if that works...

I sent a message to someone in Collectors' Corner -- why didn't I get a reply?

Some people only check their e-mail as infrequently as once every few weeks, while others constantly monitor their in-boxes. We strongly suggest you wait at least a week before sending a follow-up to an initial message. If you get no reply after a few attempts, we can always check to see if that person still has an active e-mail account. There may also be a problem with your e-mail account as well.

Which applications (browser, groupware, etc.) should I use?

Please refer to the About This Site page for all technical information about TBCP.

Why am I having problems printing TBCP pages?

We recognize that the black background and white text used on TBCP can cause problems to some people trying to print out these pages. Most difficulties can be resolved by checking out the various settings and options in your browser, and by refering to the on-line help.