Quote Originally Posted by EndzoneSportts
I can attest to Chris' point about the "big collectors" avoiding the site for the same reason that is pointed out. In recent discussions with a couple of hobby "pros", the opinions that I heard expressed were along the same lines... "I don't have the time or inclination to get into petty debates with some 20-year old kid who can afford to sit online all day because he has no job and lives with his parents." or "The constant constant bashings (of others' reputation) by [user name deleted] and [user name deleted] don't seem to make this a very user-friendly site in which evryone in the hobby would want to participate."

Some seem to feel that their actions are some form of greater justice somehow serving the hobby, when in fact, hiding behind the semi-annonimity of the computer terminal they can subtly lash out an anyhting any everything that dosn't suit their way of thinking.

Until we can reign in this sort of mentality and truly provide an interactive means of communicating in a professional and respectul manner, it is quite likely that we will continue to alieninate a signifincat segment of the hobby's participants.

Respectfully,
Thank you for such an insightful post. I am by no means a "big time collector" or a hobby pro, but your comments do a good job at describing my feelings about this site. I regularly check in to read the posts, but am hesitant to get involved. Way too much bashing and negativity going on. I believe this site has tremendous potential, but could be improved greatly if more people acted more responsibly and skipped some of the petty bickering. That's not to say that the thieves selling fake stuff should not be held accountable. Sure, let's get those people out of the hobby and make things more enjoyable for the honest collectors. Kudos to the folks on this site and the fine work they do in that regard. I just hope some of the Op-Ed commentary is kept in check a bit more as we go into the future.

Kevin