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Posted By: Brian McQueen

To weigh in on the fighting for a second.....This is not something that I'd hope to encourage or cater to on the forum. Allowing people their own space to be derogatory and hateful towards one another in general not only encourages this behavior but rewards it as well. I don't expect each of you to get along with everyone else 100 percent of the time. I know there are many here who have issues with other members and have those they consider to be "less than friends". I would ask for the sake of our forum that even though you may not all like each other, that you at least respect your peers and those you correspond with on this board. Keep in mind you all have a common bond which brought you here in the first place and that is a passion for this hobby. Everyone wants a forum where they can feel free to express their opinions, offer up knowledge of their own and learn at the same time. Getting to know others with similar interests and developing new friendships are also strong interests among many of us here. For myself, I unfortunately don't know some of you very well and I would like to work on changing that. The vicious debates that I've seen between longtime contributors as well as the inane babble from this latest group of trolls has begun to inhibit all of these things in my opinion.

The sad part in all this is that we have so many who just "lurk"...afraid to actually post for fear of ridicule. Always interested in what others have to say but would never consider offering up any responses on their own for fear of becoming the target of the next overzealous tirade. Other long-standing contributors to this board and the industry itself no longer feel "at ease" or welcome here either. I've already heard from many of you at this point on how you support our newer Vintage Cards Forum as there wasn't any bickering involved on that side. When an issue gets to the point where it affects attendence or participation in either of these forums, I believe it becomes time to address it. While I would love for there to be an "ignore button" that comes with your account setup, I don't feel the technology will allow us to do that. However, know that Leon and I are working to "clean up" the board and we're going to start reacting to and deleting offensive messages faster. My first full day as a moderator was actually just yesterday and I've already suspended two people/trolls if that tells you anything.

This forum is possibly the best online resource for gaining information and knowledge on vintage cards and the like. I'm more than interested in keeping it that way and potentially helping it grow. I consider it a priviledge to work amongst so many great individuals and to be able to contribute to the direction, development and evolution of a resource of this magnitude. I'm very pleased in the way this community came together for Ben and I know that we will continue to do the same for the betterment of our forum. I apologize for the rant....thanks for listening everyone