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Posted By: Keith O'Leary

I've always trusted people before distrusting them. Sure, you can be wrong about first impressions and most scam artists will come off sounding like long lost high school buddies, but first and foremost it seems to me this hobby should be about trust, sharing and enjoyment, and not distrust, trepidation, bad feelings and negativity. It should be way to gain and share knowledge, it should be a way to make new friends that share a common interest, it should feel good being part of a fellowship. Hobbies should be just that, fun.

In my 30 odd years of collecting, I've had only 4 or 5 bad experiences with collecting acquaintances. Some are still prominent in the hobby, but my trust, my dealings, and my respect for them ended when I realized I was left "holding the empty bag" in a mutual transaction. They may want to forget about it because they want to, but it won't be by me because I don't.

edited to fix aqcquantances