Thoughts on posts by new collectors.
RogerB
Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hobby message boards usually are supported by people who have been collecting coins for several years and have gradually learned the jargon and basics of coin manufacture. Many have focused on a particular design or maybe production errors or die varieties.
Occasionally, a new collector with no prior experience begins posting and they present unexpected claims of newly discovered varieties. This can be uncomfortable to more experienced collectors, but for the new person, their observations are real even if the conclusions are incorrect.
Rather than scoff at some of the "discoveries" maybe we all should recall our first exposure to something new, and be a bit more helpful. The new collector is expressing enthusiasm - something we all (including me) should encourage, along with helping them improve their knowledge.
Just a thought.
Comments
Definitely some food for thought. I did not see the threads, but based on your post perhaps the board should be more helpful/welcoming.
Also, I have a new icon for you - much more fitting than the creepy pumpkin
I fully and enthusiastically agree with you, Roger.
This is a place to LEARN. It can get frustrating when some who post here keep making the same mistakes over and over.
It took me literally years to at least understand some of the workings of coin collecting. I'm still learning today.
Yes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. (at least not all of them).
Pete
I think a lot folks (not all) on "most boards" consider new posters as inexperienced (in whatever). This board included. Even though the new poster "may" actually be a subject matter expert, they still need to prove themselves to be accepted by the "community". Just because they don't have a bazillion posts doesn't mean they don't know what they are taking about. OTOH, they really may be a newbe to the field.
But, I'd agree, that we should encourage, share knowledge and perspectives/opinions as positively as we can with everyone in our hobby. I think that's why "most" of us are here.
If you're talking about the new collector showing garbage and claiming to have found a holy grail, you've been had.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
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Although I agree with Roger and recall back to my firsts posts here asking for opinions on what turned out to be a fake virginia halfpenny, the place can be crude. But agree with mike1 that the poster that sparked this thought is clearly trolling big time.
I am new here myself, and can guess who is being discussed here. He has been treated fairly and given rope. He hanged himself. I appreciate the expertise here and feel fortunate to have access to it. Keeps me from making stupid mistakes. Thanks guys.
Roger makes an excellent point... While it is obvious when a forum poster is new, they may or may not be new to coins... either way, we should be welcoming and willing to assist. Denigrating comments could well drive a new collector away from the hobby. This forum is the most informative, general resource on the net (barring specific coin oriented sites), and we should encourage membership. We have the hobby's top professionals posting here, and questions of both basic and complex nature are answered and explained. Sure, as in any large group, we get the occasional troll or grouch.. but usually they do not last long. For the sake of the hobby - and our shared interest in all areas relating to coins - we should endeavor to welcome and encourage new members. Cheers, RickO
Why ask for advice you don't intend to heed. However, there is the entertainment value to consider.
I try to answer these questions without jargon, and I try to let these people down easily when they are on a tangent. There have been a few who persisted in posting pictures of pocket change with claims of great rarity. After a while it's best to ignore those posts because some of them seem like trolling.
As a long term collector, sometimes I have trouble figuring out some me the acronyms people post here. I tend to avoid them.
i wouldn't call what the new collector is showing garbage just common coins that they think are errors or whatever which is their opinion and i respect that but when told many times what they are and they refuse to listen makes one shake their head
those who are laughed at always have the last laugh
Roger is 100% correct in theory, but I have to respectfully disagree in regard to the specific example that we all suspect prompted the comment. I have come to think that we are being trolled by that poster. He shows no signs of a willingness to learn and he keeps posting more and more outrageous threads.
Trolling to me is a terrible offense, as it wastes the time, energy, and generosity of good and honest people.
A few people over time do seem to make the transition from possible troll to class clown, so they have a certain entertainment value.
To the new collectors who think they can find errors on well-circulated coins......
........ in almost every case (not all of course) even if you did find a true error coin, the condition of these (well-circulated coins) would decrease the premium of any error to Zero. These coins are usually a mess and no one would pay a premium for them.
I guess others here present it better than I did with my post.
Not complaining at all, I just think the direct approach is better.
too often the new member(s) tends to take offense when they are shown and explained to be wrong.
There was no reference to any specific poster or sub-group of members. Every contact is an opportunity to engage, inform, and assist. Some will fail, but many will succeed even if we, ourselves, are not aware of it. Removal of walls and barriers encourages success and growth.
RE: "Also, I have a new icon for you - much more fitting than the creepy pumpkin."
Yea, well, the icon was whatever was assigned and I haven't bothered to change it. (I thought it was a christmas tree ornament....) But thanks for the suggestion and 1922 HR image.
I agree, RWB. Two other factors we should
always keep in mind: these boards are
archived, and they're searchable. In
the future other newcomers with
questions will eventually come along,
and before they post they might
keyword-search looking for information.
If they find good answers posted to trolls'
questions, they'll learn something, which
is a good outcome.
Here at Whitman Publishing we get
letters, emails, phone calls, and coin-show
questions all the time, from collectors
at every level of skill, knowledge, and
experience.
I maintain a library of what you might
call "form letters" --- not to breezily dismiss
someone with a brush-off answer, but
simply to save myself from the intensive
labor of explaining a given concept over
and over, and each time starting from
scratch.
For any one of us on this board with expertise
in a given field(s), I would recommend the
same approach. Develop a good way of
concisely and in clear language explaining
the top five or ten questions you hear all the
time, and keep those answers handy.
(Hey, that sounds like "writing a book"!)
When someone posts a newbie question,
you'll have the framework of your answer
ready to go, and then can decide whether
the poster is
a troll (which might warrant
only the bare-bones answer, more for the
sake of that theoretical newcomer in the
future), or
an honest newcomer with real
curiosity and a thirst for knowledge (in
which case you can add more to your
answer, encourage, mentor, etc.).
That approach isn't "feeding the troll," but
rather tossing your knowledge into a rushing
river --- knowing that some day a struggling
swimmer might grab onto it to stay afloat.
Per Dentuck's comment, I still get questions sent to me care of the CCAC from collectors and non-collectors.
As a side note, the new poster who we may or may not be referring to (take your pick), currently has a negative points total:
Points -4
Now THAT is something I've never seen before....
Dentuck,
Your 'library of form letters' sounds like it cold become a collectible to numislit buffs.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
It takes courage to be and stay humble......
I greatly appreciate access to members experience and the expertise; let alone receiving valuable advise in this forum.
Thank you.
Roger is correct in his post in my view. The small group of regulars here rarely are forbearing of a new or inexperienced collector and the new collector does not participate here very long as a result. If one is not a specialist in a narrow area of numismatics or among the elite the common man collector is not going to fit in with the small group of regular posters here for the most part.
I mildly disagree. I've seen new folks, especially (but not limited to) YN's come here, ask questions and be strongly (and hopefully, metaphorically) embraced by even the crankiest of the resident curmudgeons.
A certain amount of ribbing is common; some here do seem to occasionally go over the top, but overall I think that a lot of good feedback is given to new folks.
Now some come here and are either trolling or alts messing around, intentionally stirring things up. Others come here and basically just don't want to listen - they either already know everything, or at least think they do and desire to share their ignorance. It's not always easy to differentiate the know-it-alls from the trolls.
Since the majority here are pretty anonymous - we really only know about the dealers and some high profile collectors who participate - the level of abuse is pretty high. Nothing compared to some of the IT/ CS forums I've been on, but we all could scale it back a notch...
Check out my current listings: https://ebay.com/sch/khunt/m.html?_ipg=200&_sop=12&_rdc=1
Actually, many here did reach out to offer help with regard to the recent postings but you are right there is a learning curve and patience is certainly a virtue of which your reminder is apropos.
The Mint Bureau had (and has) a library of responses to common questions. Back in the "old days" a clerk would select the correct response, hand write and address a letter, and mail it to the correspondent. Thus, many form letters differed slightly in wording and format. When mimeograph machine became available, we seem ore of them in Mint HQ use.