I received a phone call from x&%$#@! in Arizona

[Exhibitman]

Granted, the woman in question is a greedy idiot, and granted that a fool and his money are soon parted, but simply dismissing the situation as not part of the hobby misses an essential point: the problem with all of these dodgy items getting to the mainstream audience is that the bad press and bad word of mouth that results gets around and it drives away potential collectors from ever becoming part of the hobby. If it is going to thrive the hobby needs new collectors, not an ever-growing stream of disenchanted people who've been burned by a bad item or scared away because they heard about someone burned by a bad item.

[drc]

I agree. Turning off new collectors isn't a good thing.

I also know that you often can't stop people who are going to invest/spend $30,000 in an area they know nothing about. Some people can only learn from their own mistakes and would have dismissed your sage advice if you had given it beforehand.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Granted, the woman in question is a greedy idiot, and granted that a fool and his money are soon parted, but simply dismissing the situation as not part of the hobby misses an essential point: the problem with all of these dodgy items getting to the mainstream audience is that the bad press and bad word of mouth that results gets around and it drives away potential collectors from ever becoming part of the hobby. If it is going to thrive the hobby needs new collectors, not an ever-growing stream of disenchanted people who've been burned by a bad item or scared away because they heard about someone burned by a bad item.

+1 absolutely correct.
And the greedy idiot might tell her friends and bad word of mouth spreads.

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Granted, the woman in question is a greedy idiot, and granted that a fool and his money are soon parted, but simply dismissing the situation as not part of the hobby misses an essential point: the problem with all of these dodgy items getting to the mainstream audience is that the bad press and bad word of mouth that results gets around and it drives away potential collectors from ever becoming part of the hobby. If it is going to thrive the hobby needs new collectors, not an ever-growing stream of disenchanted people who've been burned by a bad item or scared away because they heard about someone burned by a bad item.

I'm not sure I agree Adam. We all (at least most of us) collect because we love the stuff, and we are collectors. (You know what I mean--I am, my wife's not.) And we've all been burned. (More than once.) Collectors are born; they're not made. Anyone who gives up because they were burned once would have left soon enough for various other reasons.