Posted By:
warshawlawI have multiple objections to a hobby organization. In no particular order they are:
1. Creating an effective sanction is going to be impossible unless people voluntarily submit to an internal dispute resolution mechanism, which many collectors, the shadier characters, and the current big players have no desire or incentive to do. I know I do not want to be part of any such scheme in my hobby life; bad enough I have to submit to the procedural nightmare that is the Bar. I'd hazard a guess that the big auction companies and slabbing companies are not going to sign on to a program that exposes them to potentially limitless liability. Without that right to sanction, however, no voluntary organization has any real teeth to it and therefore cannot have any impact. The most a group could do is to try and notify its members of a perceived bad egg, which is what we already do, and refuse to deal with it, which we already do with N54 and similar boards, and do not need any organization to do.
2. I and many of the long time collectors here know more about what we collect than anyone in charge of a collector organization could possibly know. I agree with Frank, Chad, Ted, etc., that the only way to "clean up" the hobby is to teach collectors to rely on knowledge and information about the cards rather than on someone else telling you what you are collecting. As we have discussed over and over, it is impossible to really determine whether a card has been altered except if it has been inartfully altered or in very unusual situations (like the 34 Lajoie that REA outed). Short of having a hack job or before and after images, if the card has slipped into a slab, everyone has their opinions, but no one knows for certain. What concerns me is that an elected or appointed "biddy committee" would inject itself into controversies in the name of the organization, placing anyone who signs up for such an organized effort at the mercy of the least responsible representative acting on behalf of the organization.
3. Assuming you could structure an organization with real teeth to it, you would have a huge political problem that I do not believe will ever be overcome. You are proposing to create a profoundly political organization that will inevitably be dominated by people with agendas to push and the time and money to push them. Again, being blunt and laying all my cards on the table, I view this effort as largely driven by certain collectors' panic over the grading companies (specifically PSA) slabbing very expensive prewar altered cards as near mint or better cards. As someone who does not collect them, I do not share the collecting agendas and views of those who are heavily involved in that aspect of the hobby. None of my doggies are in that fight. Potentially putting people whose views I do not agree with into a position to dictate to me what I can and cannot do as a card collector is a non-starter for me. I think many others share my view (although many are too wary of being flamed by the partisan interests on this board to say so).