Bidding against friends

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Posted By: peter chao

Guys,

We're adults now, so we can pick and choose. There are times to be alpha males and there are times when we can be hobbyists. I hate to think that I am forced to be agressive at all times to fulfill some unrealistic ideal...

Peter

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Posted By: peter chao

We've decided to make you happy, from now on when we know that we are bidding against you, we are going to bid as high as possible. If necessary we will mortgage the house in order to make you happy.

Then when we realize your not bidding on this particular auction we're going to give each other a break.

Are you happy now.

Peter

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

What in heaven's name do billion dollar hedge funds have to do with baseball cards?

"Meek guys don't build world class collections?"

Is that really what this hobby is all about? Because if it is, I'll bring my collection to the office and you can come haul it away. This is a HOBBY, and while there are dollars attached to it, I'll save my competitive nature for the real world, thankyouverymuch. This is baseball cards, and I'd rather have a world class collection of friends than a world class collection of cardboard, ten times out of ten.

-Al

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Peter, I for one can never be happy until you acknowledge the existence of 'you're.'

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Posted By: mr. moses

some people are quite taken with themselves.
America's toughest talk ****.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Guys- pay no mind to any of this. It's being done to elicit attention.

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Posted By: mr. moses

?

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Posted By: barrysloate

Does "?" relate to my last post?

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Posted By: mr. moses

just unsure of what you mean. I can be a bit slow....... I remember having problems with jokes from the New Yorker and riding the special bus. For whom is this just an excercise in attention getting and to what end?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I'm sure Barry can speak for himself, but I think he's saying that Bruce is playing the arrogance card once again in another bid for attention.

I'm not sure why he does it, but he must know that he alienates a lot of people on this group and that could in the end affect who is willing to help Bruce fill out America's Toughest Wantlist.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Dan is correct.

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Posted By: mr. moses

find me in agreement..... Maybe America's (why not the world's?) toughest want lister cares about the 99% of us with normal money and desires as much as for himself. I think not based on his post to the thread. You CAN have fine taste and not denigrate or characterize those "lesser" people you might compete against. Many forums and posts often seem self-serving. I even question myself as to why I'm actually posting anything that doesn't specifically address a question asked or isn't asking one myself. I posted a picture of my room on some thread and am now wondering why I did so. I thought it might be to get some other sharing, just to show one way of collecting, or maybe to make a connection with someone as crazy and mixed-up as myself. Perhaps it was just an egocentricity thing. Damn that social impact of the late 1960's/1970's get-in-touch-with-my-emotions-and-feelings-of-others thing. I no longer know what my true feelings and motivations are for anything..... I realize I am not in your class sir and so my friends and I will go about our business knowing we will never have your fine "stuff". We will however still have dignity, class, and friendship long after our money runs out.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Henry- for the record you have a much larger, much more interesting, and much higher quality collection, so no need to apologize for anything.

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Posted By: leon

Henry (hi Henry) is new to the board and doesn't know of Bruces posts. Henry I suggest you do a few searches on the board to see where Bruces head is at.....

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Posted By: Cat

Mr. Moses:

Just so you don't feel out on a limb, I'll post my collection too. I don't normally take my collection out of "private" mode, but will just so you don't feel alone. BE WARNED: should you elect to click on the link below, you will find yourself viewing an abundance on 2s, 3s, and 4s. You have been warned!!!

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/Cosbro/Collection/

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Cat, your Speaker Drum is a disgrace to your otherwise very nice collection. I will offer you an upgrade on the front of that Speaker (perhaps a 5) in order to raise your collection's average grade.

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Posted By: Cat

Jeff, that is so very nice of you to offer. Unfortunately, as one of the charter members of the armpit collectors club (the other "ACC"), I feel a sense of obligation to stick within my collecting class. If I start adding more "high quality" cards to my collection, Leon's going to kick me out of the ACC. But, thanks anyway. It's always nice to know someone's willing to do me a solid.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Great collection Cat. You've got some really rare stuff.

Unfortunately, the hedge fund managers won't touch it. As the new "masters of the universe" it just won't make it for them. Sorry.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Cat, so that you don't feel uncomfortable I am willing to offer you a Speaker 2 instead.

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Posted By: scott

Bruce you will die a very lonely man and no one will attend your funeral.

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Oy gevult.

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Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

Scott,

I already promised Bruce I would be there just to make sure it was not a hoax.

Greg

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Posted By: barrysloate

Peter- I'm going to have to check the spelling of "oy gevult" but you might have nailed it!

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

You've got some "noive" (as they say in Brooklyn) questioning my Yiddish lol.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

"Name's Smalls. Leonard Smalls. My friends call me Lenny... only I ain't got no friends."
(Randall Tex Cobb in Raising Arizona).

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

David -- that is one of my alltime favorite movies.

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Mine too. One of the funniest films I've ever seen.

-Al

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Posted By: BcDaniels

scott wrote~
"Bruce you will die a very lonely man and no one will attend your funeral."


in fact, "us" or "we" died would be a good tombstone engraving~

BcD

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Posted By: barrysloate

"Raising Arizona" one of my all time favorites too. Very early appearances for John Goodman and Frances McDormand.

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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

Getting to your main point, which you posted in direct response to a posed question, I agree that most collectors of rare material have highly defined needs and that friendship should not come into play if two friends are both going after a jugular item on their wantlists. If such an item were to come up, I would not expect any friend of mine to for no consideration ask me to withdraw, nor would I ever make such a request on any friend. If, on the other hand, an item up for auction is only tangentially on my wantlist but I know is an important item on a friend's wantlist, then in that instance there have been occassions I have for the sake of friendship withdrawn from bidding, just as when the reverse has been the case some of my friends did not bid against me.

And for all those who blast Bruce's point that collecting is a competition, well, I have news for you, it is. That doesn't mean that collecting isn't also about making and nurturing friendships; that too it is, and the two are not inconsistent with each other. But really, what do you think at its barest bones auctions really are? They are people competing for the same item.

Edited for grammar

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Well geez Corey, if he'd have said it the same way you said it then nobody would have a problem with Bruce. Instead he brings up billion dollar hedge funds and world class collections. His posts almost always reek of condescension, and that one certainly fit the bill. Any criticism Bruce gets is cetainly deserved.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

What Dan said.

We all compete with one another for the cards we collect; there's no need to be obnoxious about it, though.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Corey- We've already had this conversation. I think we all agree that high level collecting is very competitive.

The criticism of Bruce was based solely on his presentation, and the feeling he conveys that he is a little better than and has far more discriminating tastes than everyone else. He loves to throw around billionaires and hedge fund managing, and we all know he is not in that class and is just a wannabe. He knows darn well when he posts that he will get attacked, and he clearly savors all the negative attention.

I'm not sure why you are defending an indefensible position.

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Posted By: Josh Adams

Bruce Dorskind is irrelevant.

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Posted By: Jay

I personally enjoy Bruce's posts and find his messages, more often than not, to be accurate. His method of presentation is different, but amusing. You go girl!

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Posted By: Bottom of the Ninth

This is the only place that Bruce can pretend to be something he is not. And there is no reason we have to tolerate it either.

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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

I find some of the attacks on Bruce to be very distasteful. I understand how people can find Bruce's manner to be condescending, and I have no problem with people expressing their disgust. However, I still feel there are lines that should not be crossed, and that people do not have carte blanche to say just anything, regardless whatever line they feel Bruce crosses. Leon correctly has no tolerance for attacks on a person's family. However, to me comments such as attending a person's funeral to make sure it is not a hoax, and tombstone engravings, are likewise disgusting and belittle this board. This whole thing about people attacking Bruce for using "we" or "us" instead of "I" or "me" is also a bit hypocritical. Practically every major auction house in this hobby consists of one main person who makes every decision of note. Most of them in their posts and correspondence use "us" or "we". Yet nobody seems to take issue with that. Bruce I know has a person who works for him; so why is that case different? Also, and perhaps this is what irks me the most, some of the diatribes against Bruce (and others) come from people who I believe to have committed worse transgressions than the people they are railing against. Perhaps such people should take heed of the expression that "if you live in a glass house you should not throw stones".

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Posted By: peter chao

Corey,

Your points are well-taken, we are posting on a public forum and diversity should be encouraged not discouraged. Bruce is about as far out in the diverse range as you can get so he should be encouraged to post his views. We need to maintain civility so that people are encouraged to post their views.

I think that we would all like some civil responses to our posts. But I got to admit when you guys get irreverent at times...it is pretty funny. But let's try to keep it under control.

Peter

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Posted By: barrysloate

Corey- that I agree with. Every one of us has an obligation to comport him or her self with dignity on the board. The fact that Bruce says something offensive doesn't give others the right to respond in such a nasty tone. We all need to clean up our acts.

Regarding the "we" and the "whilst" stuff: On the surface it is minor and nothing more than pretentious. But I have another issue with it. When Bruce first started posting, and consequently got attacked for his manner of addressing the board, I had a long talk with him and suggested he make a minor concession and use "I" and "while" instead. I felt it was such an easy and obvious change to make and it would go a long way in quieting things down. He adamantly refused and continues that silliness to this day. He has no interest in being one of the guys and prefers to look down at the Net54 riffraff. He is stubborn just to prove that he doesn't have to listen to anyone, even someone who at the time was his friend. That part of it bothers me tremendously.

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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

I do not take issue with your view that on certain issues Bruce's views represent the extreme side of the spectrum, and that people who are offended by them have every right to civilly express their views and disgust. However, it also bears noting that Bruce's views on purely baseball hobby issues I find to usually be very accurate and insightful, and they add much to the discussions on this board.

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Posted By: Jason L

who you callin' "riffraff?!?!?!"

There is one thing that everyone should remember when thinking about the concept of exclusivity: extreme efforts to set oneself apart will in the end serve to place oneself in a position of loneliness and irrelevance

be careful what you wish for, indeed!

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Posted By: barrysloate

Bruce is a veteran hobbyist who knows a tremendous amount about this hobby. However, he has not learned how, or has chosen not to, share those views in a manner acceptable by his fellow collectors. Why he posts the way he does continues to baffle me.

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Posted By: Jason L

I'm sure it's just a joke...

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Posted By: leon

I agree with what just about everyone said. I am easy though. I agree that Bruce (hi Bruce)has a lot of hobby knowledge he can, and at times, does share. With that being said if I keep sticking my hand on a hotplate it will keep getting burnt. If he keeps conversing in a condescending way, and speaking in 3rd person, he will continue to get burnt.... I have personally told him how not to get burnt, as has Barry. If he wants to continue getting burnt it's purely up to him. I am in the camp that thinks he enjoys it too..Who am I to come between him and his joy? ..regards

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Posted By: barrysloate

Grammar lesson: "we" is not the third person. It is first person plural. Third person is "they". End of lesson

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Posted By: leon

That's (note correct use of apostrophe) what I meant .