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Posted By: warshawlaw

Dear Friends:

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be going silent on the board for the foreseeable future. This decision is a hard one but is something that has been building for some time with me.

As much as I appreciate Leon’s Herculean effort to keep things on the board on a neutral keel, a number of the people here have become too shrill, strident, money-obsessed, self-righteous, confrontational and humorless for my tastes. It seems that discussions increasingly degenerate into hijacked threads of childish, vicious, off-topic personal attacks initiated by people with their own axes to grind or their own obvious personality disorders that really should be worked out in a therapeutic environment rather than on a baseball card chat board. It is tedious to read and unpleasant to be involved in directly.

I am not advocating censorship or asking people to leave (except in the most serious situations). Not only would that be impossible to do, my opinion has always been that everyone should be able to throw it out there as they wish provided that they are big boys and girls and take criticism if someone else disagrees with their OPINIONS. The flip side of that view is the freedom not to speak when the audience includes a few vendetta-driven borderline personalities whose standard response to everything is the ad hominem attack.

I’ve chosen to write to you directly and from the heart rather than continue in the escalating nastiness because I do not want to further fan the flames of idiocy that are threatening to engulf this board. I will tell you that I am not the only long-time board member who feels this way and that some of the formerly heavy posters of yesteryear are increasingly inactive for similar reasons.

I have the utmost respect for the vast majority of you and feel that when it rises above the behavior of certain participants, this board is a fantastic resource. I know I will continue to lurk here and appreciate the flow of solid information from the knowledgeable experts among us. Please always feel free to contact me in regard to boxing and Exhibit card questions, or to generally shoot the breeze. You can always reach me via email or through the vintage links listing to my web site.

Regards,


Adam