Not that it will do any good, and not like it's anything I'm good at, but here goes.
A bit of history / advice.
Some time ago, we had a member who always referred to himself as "we" - and as far as I know didn't have an ebay business as an explanation. He was also kinda nuts, at one point commenting on a post that was archived (which appears as being from "archive" ) with a threat to sue. It was his own old post! He also knew a lot about cards, and had a really good collection.
In a business setting I sort of like "we" it's a team thing. Sounds like you might be sort of someone I wouldn't mind working for in some ways.
But here you're pretty much yourself, or should be.
The advice? Move away from "we" and more to "I" the whole "we" thing has a bit too much baggage around here.
I mentioned before that most of the regular posters have strong personalities and opinions. I do too, and like the mix here. Those strong opinions do lead to a few "heated discussions", and it can feel like a really harsh place at first.
One of my introductions was mentioning that I had some T206 blankbacks, and the response was a bit rough. A whole lot of "yeah right, suuuuure you do" Right up to when I put up the scans. Since then I've seen a number of people come here with very sketchy stuff or claims of really great stuff and exactly nothing to back that up. Usually it seems to be some sort of promoting stuff that's not exactly legit. So I get where that initial harshness comes from.
The bit of advice here? - Relax, build a track record of being knowledgeable and reasonable (sort of, reasonable by our loose standards I guess, but none of those are written anywhere) And things will get a LOT better.
That brings up what I can only describe as "street cred" I'll have to go with that as I'm not a great writer. I had also mentioned that I knew some members by name but probably hadn't me them. Guys I "knew" from ads in hobby magazines back in the day. When I joined taking info from them as fact was pretty easy. If someone's been in the hobby since the early 80's or earlier and been a dealer they must know some stuff. I learned along the way that other people here know a lot about some stuff. I get the new agey thinking that everyone should have a valid opinion, but to me some opinions are better than others. Sorting that out is a great way of learning things. (I've learned a bit about the law as it applies to hobbies from reading the occasional arguments between lawyers)
The advice? - What do you REALLY know a lot about? Start posting about that stuff. We'll all get some enjoyment from that! (trust me , sharing stuff you know is a lot more fun than it seems it would be)
Ben is actually pretty cool. He
knows some stuff. And sometimes does experiments to settle or learn about technical issues. Yes, he can come across as a bit difficult, but almost everyone does now and then.
I am rather puzzled with a couple things - "hiding out" in South Dakota? .....You do know that people live and work there right? It's not all fossils, Indians and pipeline right of ways. Amazingly, people even live in North Dakota too, or did back in the 70's when I visited
. And as far as I know there haven't been any laws saying you can only collect if you live in certain states and go to shows.
30% plus fake names? I'd have a pretty hard time believing that. Occasionally a new member who is up to some sort of shenanigans isn't who they say they are and that gets sorted pretty quickly. Maybe that 30% is in the bunch of people who don't post much or at all? And if it is, where did you find the time to find them, let alone check them all out?
Steve B
Collecting more or less seriously since Sept 1977, a bit from late 73 till then, and a tiny bit since 1969. And still currently only one show every couple years and while I've been in the same room as many members I can't say we've met. Something I hope to fix if I can make it to the Shriners show this year.