Posted By:
mr. moses(edited to add oooops-this shouldn't be a seperate post and relates to the "pre-1930's" thread below.)
Dwarfed only by the personal attack threads and those hijacked by people in an attempt to weave in personal agendas or political ideologies at every opportunity (real or imagined); this thread is pretty ugly in my opinion. To be fair the original question wasn't so bad - but the direction it took is.
Is this really what a forum like this comes down to? Why do some people feel the need to judge either the buyer or seller for the prices they ask or the amount they are willing to spend on a card? Or whether they do or don't use grading services? Open marketplace. It's no crime that someone may perceive the value of something as more or less than the next guy. The fun of collecting is that YOU get to set the parameters that define YOUR collection. Grade, condition, year, player, cost, etc.. The seller who is bringing the things you want to market gets to make their own decisions as well.
Why single out 707 sportscards, Kit Young in a recent thread, or any dealer for that matter? Did you have a specific problem with the way you've been treated? Don't like the price or the grades? Don't buy their cards and move on to someone else. If the person's business plan is weak or they are not responsive enough to their customers with regard to grading, pricing (or anything else for that matter); most likely they will not be in business long. Move on. I doubt most here need or want a sheriff.
Were you cheated somehow or stolen from and feel the need or the duty to bring a legitimate problem to the community here? I think that would be OK if you have tried to resolve it with the person off the board without satisfaction - but it's not MY forum. This is not YOUR forum. It is OUR forum. Nobody here wants to be a victim of fraud. Present the facts in a clear and concise way without embellishment or emotional diatribe and then LISTEN. This is an astute group that collectively has experienced more problems than any one individual ever will on both sides of the table.
Ostensibly I believe this place can be great. Like the Sims commercial used to advertise "an educated consumer is our best customer". The hobby appears to be growing exponentially with regard to focus and prices. It is marked by an influx of new collectors THIRSTY for information that protects them and heightens their ability to make good decisions. I think people are excited about their "things". They want to TALK about CARDS, and about BASEBALL, and find people that feel the same way who also want to talk about it. While to some degree the computer has lead to a de facto isolationism and in practical terms a loss of "shows" where people could look each other in the eye or share a bad cup of coffee or worse a show hot dog, it has allowed people from all parts of the world and all backgrounds to share when it is convenient for them. While some of the human contact is missing that helps facilitate shared excitement and intellectual exploration, collectors can still become a family.
There are many good people that are able to get beyond the bickering because they truly want to be here. I'm sure other's have left because of it. That's the nature of the beast. People come and go for many different reasons. I just think it's a shame that people would have to leave because the original INTENT of the board has been undermined. Please get it together.....