Relentless Negativity

[Exhibitman]

A screed/rant:

I am tired of the relentless negativity on this particular forum. This is the only section of the N54 site where I consistently go away feeling like abandoning my collecting. I am by no means a pollyannaish collector who advocates hiding one's head in the sand. There are definitely problems, big ones, in the autograph field, and exposing them is useful, but the consistent, almost gleeful, running down of the hobby that I see here is annoying to say the least. It seems that the forum has morphed into a [primarily] negative gripe space where the only things some posters want to talk about are frauds, fakes and scammers. I am not saying one must be a cheerleader for the hobby to post here, but I do believe that anyone whose feelings about the hobby are so strongly and consistently negative ought to quit and be done with it rather than constantly flogging the many dead horse topics that are repeated on this forum ad nausem.

That's all; resume whining.

[earlywynnfan]

Don't forget the constant pissing match between a few key members. As soon as one guy posts, I count the seconds until another jumps in with some comment meant only to instigate. Thanks to these children, several important threads have recently been hopelessly derailed.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[bender07]

It's funny you mention this as I've had similar feelings lately. Most refreshed threads are negative in nature. I sorted the threads by views and the top 5 are all about counterfeits and the like. Maybe that can be translated to these are the type of discussions people like on this board? Don't know but I find it boring and don't participate.

I like the 'show off' threads of people's collections or discussions around their collecting focus. I also enjoy reading stories of years past. Not enough of those in my opinion.

[Julian Wells]

Even though I collect autographs, I don't even bother participating in any discussions under the autograph forum because of the reasons listed previously...and there are several topics I would love to participate and learn about.

I'm sure several collector's feel this way, and that's a real shame! This should be a forum to learn, enjoy and showcase prized collections freely without insults and demeaning behaviour.

Maybe the guilty parties can create their own forum so that they can sling their biased opinions and insults at each other...and then everyone else can get back to enjoying this forum in peace!

[barrysloate]

The autograph people were already booted out of the memorabilia section for just that reason. Since they have their own forum I suppose they can do whatever they want. But no question there is a ton of arguing going on over here. They claim they love the autograph hobby, but you would never know it reading their posts.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

The autograph people were already booted out of the memorabilia section for just that reason. Since they have their own forum I suppose they can do whatever they want. But no question there is a ton of arguing going on over here. They claim they love the autograph hobby, but you would never know it reading their posts.

Do I hear a motion to create a sub-sub autograph forum?

In all seriousness, this forum was actually created because many of the memorabilia guys were getting inundated with the negative autograph threads. I don't know what the solution is but there does seem to be more angst and unhappiness in this forum than elsewhere on the board. This is also the forum where I read the least threads, partly due to my interests and partly due to my general dislike of negativity. And as Adam said, I am in no way saying bad things shouldn't be pointed out but it seems they should be tempered with equal amounts (or more) of "happy" threads. Just my take......as I continue the overall board mantra of "I don't tell people what to say or not to say." Happy collecting!!

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

The autograph people were already booted out of the memorabilia section for just that reason. Since they have their own forum I suppose they can do whatever they want. But no question there is a ton of arguing going on over here. They claim they love the autograph hobby, but you would never know it reading their posts.

I think it worked - the regular memorabilia forum has come back to life and is now much more interesting to visit.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by bender07

It's funny you mention this as I've had similar feelings lately. Most refreshed threads are negative in nature. I sorted the threads by views and the top 5 are all about counterfeits and the like. Maybe that can be translated to these are the type of discussions people like on this board? Don't know but I find it boring and don't participate.

I like the 'show off' threads of people's collections or discussions around their collecting focus. I also enjoy reading stories of years past. Not enough of those in my opinion.

I agree with Mark whole heartedly on this one!

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

Don't forget the constant pissing match between a few key members. As soon as one guy posts, I count the seconds until another jumps in with some comment meant only to instigate. Thanks to these children, several important threads have recently been hopelessly derailed.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

+1. It is funny that in the real world these folks might be considered to be "smart or successful" people, yet when posting on Net54 they seem like petty malcontents.

Jeff

[MooseDog]

Good post and a point that needed to be made.

Many people lack civility these days. There is no discussion. My opinion or position is the right one, I don't have to listen to you or care what you have to say about it. Just look at politics. It's difficult to state an opinion on any matter without someone who has an opposite viewpoint to call the other an idiot, moron, or worse for thinking that way.

Reality TV tries to make everything in life a competition. Who would have ever thought that there would be trash talking on a TV cooking show?

Personally I tune out the negativity but yeah, it does seem to overwhelm around here at times. On the other hand, some of the information learned in some of those posts are things useful for the autograph collector to know.

Agree with the OP. Loved the Bill Zekus thread. Stinson's travelogs are fun reads thanks to his skill at writing about them. Pictures of cool collections or items are great to see. Exemplars of real rare signatures are educational.

I'm a dude from the "old days", and I don't mean the 1990s

If I can garner the courage maybe I'll try to write a few posts about how things were in back in the 1970s and 1980s. Talk about collectors who were real mentors to me like the late Dick Dobbins and Will Davis, others like Stan Marks, Steve Brunner and Hall of Famer Nick Peters (writers wing), fine gentlemen all.

Or trading in bulk with other guys. Send 100 3x5's get 100 (often more) 3x5's back.

Getting Mike Wheat's latest list and thinking $3.00 is way to much to pay for anyone's autograph, even Roger Maris.

The amazing generosity of Dr John Davis Jr.

Hanging out at the local hotels and the Oakland Coliseum when access to players was easy.

Jim Stinson's writing puts mine to shame but maybe someone will get something out of it.

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

A screed/rant:

I am tired of the relentless negativity on this particular forum. This is the only section of the N54 site where I consistently go away feeling like abandoning my collecting. I am by no means a pollyannaish collector who advocates hiding one's head in the sand. There are definitely problems, big ones, in the autograph field, and exposing them is useful, but the consistent, almost gleeful, running down of the hobby that I see here is annoying to say the least. It seems that the forum has morphed into a [primarily] negative gripe space where the only things some posters want to talk about are frauds, fakes and scammers. I am not saying one must be a cheerleader for the hobby to post here, but I do believe that anyone whose feelings about the hobby are so strongly and consistently negative ought to quit and be done with it rather than constantly flogging the many dead horse topics that are repeated on this forum ad nausem.

That's all; resume whining.

I did abandon the collecting because of it....the real hobby is following all the stupid B.S. here, there & everywhere. I still feel the need to share most of what I learned (not much) and I don't even know why I bother sometimes. I guess i just like to watch as the hobby circles the drain.