Posted By:
Seth B.Well, not really. To respond to a number of points, and to ignore even more...
Again, I have no problem with making money. Heck, I'll sell cards at higher prices than I bought them. I like money, I really do. My issue is not with making money or with any sort of request to change the BST. Or with Jim, really. Jim and I had a talk about some T209s on the phone recently, and he didn't come out of the receiver and bite my ear off or anything. Settle down here, fellas.
But cards, as I see it, aren't simple capital, and this isn't just capitalism. I don't smell my stocks and bonds. This is a place for people who love cards, and some who would like those cards even if they couldn't sell them for mucho dinero tomorrow. I like that side of things. Doesn't make them worth any less, I like the money side of things, too. But the appreciation part is something unique to this board. It's what makes posting your pickup fun, all the ooh's and ah's.
Now, that difference noted, I have an odd affinity for my cards. When I sell them here, I would like them to go to someone else who has that odd affinity, namely, a collector. I'm idealist, I know. But if I sell them, and they wind up getting turned around and resold immediately, well, then that's too bad. It's not morally wrong or sin, but in my ideal world, it's not the top preference. The thing about this board is that I have a higher percentage chance of selling cards to someone who will treasure my treasures.
I know, Max Weber might point out that I only sell them b/c I don't want them anymore, and that's true. But let's just play ideal world for a bit longer: cards in my collection were put in there b/c they appealed to me enough to be bought at some point. I enjoyed them as long as I want, now I want other cards. That's the way collectors work, that's collecting, not capitalism.
On that more positive note, I have had pleasant experiences on the board where someone has sold me a card at a lower price because I'm working on the set. That's cool, and I'd gladly do that back to someone. So, all I guess I'm saying is, that's the opportunity you see in this forum that you don't see somewhere else, and that's the side of the B/S/T I love, and I hope continues.
EDIT TO SAY: By the way, that's Max Weber, as in Spirit of Capitalism, not as in a bad typo of a board member's name.