[raulus]

I agree with the snake oil salesman definition. Some Johnny-come-lately (sorry, Johnny) breezes into town with a slick pitch and something of dubious quality to sell for an obscenely high price, then leaves as quickly as he came once his pitch has grown old and the buyers catch on to his schtick.

Ryan - I wouldn't sweat it. Anyone who thinks you are a pumper needs to go home and rethink his life.

At the same time, I find myself often agreeing with Greg when it comes to some of the more ludicrous approaches to aggressively managing finances as a means of buying more cardboard, although I may not be quite so aggressive about saying it. Don't hate me for it!

I suspect that part of the problem may just be the aggressive use of sarcasm and snark. It's my primary medium personally, and Greg uses it liberally. Yet it doesn't always translate well in written form, particularly in an online context. Personally, I'm generally inclined to give Greg the benefit of the doubt and assume noble intentions, while his welcome has probably worn thin with others. I've snapped once or twice myself and typed up a rant on this forum, so it's certainly only natural for all of us to get our dander up over some perceived slight.

I think another part of the problem is that every group, especially those that primarily exist online, develops its own code. And that code leads to a lot of virtue signaling, the need to delineate various degrees of virtue, and labeling those who are insufficiently virtuous so that they can be the objects of appropriate levels of scorn and ridicule by the rest of the group as a means of enforcing that code. The whole investor/collector dynamic comes into play with our group, among other labels. My experience is that whole process at best is quaint, and at worst gets really tiresome in a hurry. Particularly because very few of us have motives that are as pure as the driven snow.

So the bottom line for me is to let it go. It's just not worth getting that excited about.

These aren't the pumpers you're looking for!