Let’s assume that trimming is arbitrary and doesn’t matter. Let’s assume a cut line and a perforated line are the same thing. It doesn’t make any difference.
Whether or not one agrees with a grading standard, and I would think the vast majority disagree on some point or other, the problem, as any reasonable person would be able to discern, is that the grader routinely ignores their own standards or are too incompetent to notice the obvious that violates their own standards. It is not PSA’s policy to number grade perforated cards trimmed below the perforations.
The condition evaluation scale is, obviously, arbitrary. Whether and how much trimming a card, creasing it, or pushing a pin through it should detract is arbitrary. That it is arbitrary does not mean the grader, who is allegedly an expert, should simply ignore their own standards they have set whenever they don’t notice the obvious or just don’t feel like it.
The distractions, mental gymnastics, and obvious bullshit the PSA shills have to come up with these days is crazy. As usual, there are as many or more people defending the corruption or incompetence than there are those who question it. The hobby will remain a cesspool of crooks and their enablers as people are obviously vested in defending almost any fraud and/or incompetence. To question it would risk devaluing the precious slabs, and when push comes to shove it’s all about profit over honesty, logic, common sense, or integrity.
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