Every slabbed card has a story, don't it?

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

As to what you did say, straw man, it has a different more specific meaning with respect to collectibles and you have been in this hobby long enough to know it. Everyone here understands the concept of altering cards, whether or not we disagree on what is acceptable and what is not.

My contention would be that the way the term is often used in this hobby, particularly by PSA, is completely arbitrary. They consider a card that was stored in a screwdown to be "altered" despite that being the hobby standard for protecting cards for decades. Meanwhile, if you stick a thumbtack through a card to hang it on your wall, that's somehow acceptable and not an "alteration"? The list goes on.

At the end of the day though, what is it that people actually care about when it comes to their cards? They want to know if there are any flaws on it and what those flaws are. The whole concept of "Authentic Altered" is an arbitrarily applied construct. Perhaps best exemplified by your statement below where you wrote:

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The Williams on the left is not altered, the one on the right is. Is the alteration acceptable? One could I suppose debate that. But you've jumped the shark if your claim is that the one on the left is altered. Or you're just doing the contrarian thing again.

I can't wrap my head around your viewpoint here. Honestly, I can't comprehend how anyone could come to the conclusion that the Williams on the left is not altered but the one on the right is. Yet, it's your honest opinion. I see this as a rather arbitrary application of what it means for a card to be altered. Different strokes and all.