The concept of hobby demeanor is an interesting one, and I think it is important to sort of put it in context (which is a good rule of them for pretty much everything in life, imo)
A lot of people leave the hobby at some point, but I don't think it correlates to lack of interest in the sport or sports they follow. I checked out of the hobby in the late 90s, but my baseball fandom actually probably peaked in 2009-2011 when the Phillies were at their apex. At that point, I was watching every single baseball game, I was reading baseball books, spending hours a day on baseball-reference, etc and I didn't own a single baseball card.
I got back into the hobby a few years ago, and it honestly took me a year or so to really understand what the hobby now was. When I checked out, there was no ebay or COMC or Starstock or anything else. I only bought cards from my LCS, I only had a Beckett/Tuff Stuff price guide. I didn't know anything about the current environment. So it took time to learn how things were done. I had to understand the etiquette and standard practices of buying/selling cards, what was expected, etc. I basically learned that by trial and error. In the last year, I've watched lots of youtube videos covering basics and things like that, and I wish I'd seen those videos back in 2015 when I got back into things.
One thing that I do think is a net negative is people trying to tell younger/newer folks what the "right way" to collect is. I've seen lots of animosity directed toward people who flip cards, but those people are contributing supply to the market, and that is needed to have a healthy collecting environment. As with everything, attitude and how you handle yourself is important, but I think an old school vs new school debate/battle just isn't really productive or helpful.
As you can see just from sampling the posts on this board, there are so many different ways to collect cards, and there is no right or wrong way. There are still set builders, player collectors, type collectors, and every kind of hybrid in between. Even the guys just turning and burning, buying cards and looking to sell without a focus on actually collecting certain things, they bring something to the hobby. Everyone is entitled to collect what they want and to acquire it however it makes sense for them, as long as they are respectful, I have zero issue with it at all.
Just my $0.02
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10-07-2021, 09:35 AM
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