One of the things in my life that I am most passionate about is raising my son to be a healthy, productive adult. Nothing is more important in my life than my boy. The remainder of my family - my mother, my father, my aunts and uncles all come in close second, but my son is my pride and joy - hands down.
I do for my son what I deem necessary to see that he understands what he needs to know in order to be that productive adult. If that means being very direct with him and telling him what to do, then I do just that. I don't sugar coat my responses, I don't tell him he has a choice when he doesn't. Now he might not always like my answers, but he respects them because I am very consistent and I am not afraid to tell him what to do. He knows that I tell him something and I mean it.
How does this relate here? Well, the second most important part of my life is numismatics. Making sure I take care of those who ask me for advice is very important to me. Although my answers are usually brief and to the point, I do care about every answer I give, and make sure it is the right answer. I don't sugar coat those answers, and I will not say what I do not mean. It's because I DO care that I answer like I do. If I didn't care, I would let everyone here believe their misinformation and would not try to correct them.
So in a nutshell, I care about all of you. I care to protect your hobby and mine. I care to give you the correct information you come here seeking. If I don't have THE right answer, I don't post. I simply don't have time for "hi, howya doin" stuff. I care enough to make the time to respond when I can, and I care enough to make every response mean something.
If I tell you you're wrong, it's not an opinion...it's something I learned through three decades and millions of coins. It's fact. I don't tell people they are wrong just to get them (or anyone) stirred up.
If I tell you that a better photo is needed to determine what you have, that's exactly what you'll have to do to get an educated statement (not a guess) from anyone. I have seen hundreds of thousands of photos, and have taken tens of thousands myself. I have replaced photos I took a number of times to ensure they are the best quality I can provide. I KNOW what it's like to not be able to get good photos with the equipment I have. I'm not knocking the photos or the photographer, I'm stating a simple fact.
If I see that you're being too impatient with the learning curve, or you're simply not listening to the advice of experienced people here, I'll state so. While this is a learning environment, there are a lot of people here who do know exactly what they are saying when they say it, and should not be blown off. When I do respond with a statement, I am one of those people...because I don't respond like I know something unless I definitely do.
So if you're offended by me telling everyone they have nothing, I cannot help it. Far more times than not, the posts here are novice collectors asking what they have, and far more than not they have nothing to get excited about.
If you're offended because some of my answers are two words, understand that I work 60+ hours a week and have projects at home that take easily another 40 hours of my time - that's 100 hours a week devoted to coins, and I still find 5-10 hours a week to review and respond to messages on five different coin boards. If you understand all that, maybe you won't be so offended by two-word responses.
Bottom line is this...I care about all of you. I care what you do and don't do. I care that you spend your time knowing what you are doing, regardless of what that is. I KNOW what it's like to not have help or have anyone to turn to when there are questions. I started YEARS before the internet, and had to send a letter and wait three weeks for a response. I also know what it's like to search through a bag of coins for a month and not find anything of any value. That makes the rare times that I do have a windfall special. You all need to learn this, and learn what it feels like. Stop making value out of every jar of coins - often it simply isn't there.
What it all boils down to is this - I thought long and hard yesterday about simply disappearing from here for good. I really felt like my knowledge and my willingness to share it went unappreciated. I am trying to help people understand that while collecting should be fun, there should also be purpose in it that extends beyond you. I collect to have something fun to do, but I also collect so that my son will have something of value to him, to me, and to anyone he might sell or pass it to later. I collect as a means of research, learning, and profit in my child's future. I have seen where so many others attempted the same feat, but didn't have the education to do it right. They collected junk and left nothing of value behind. That's the very most heart breaking thing to see, and I want to do everything I can to prevent that.
So when I get bent out of shape about die cracks and
Machine Doubling, remember that not only do I care about you, but the family you'll leave behind some day. I care to see them get just as much out of your collecting as you do, only in different form. I care to see that your loved ones won't be bewildered by an honest dealer telling them they have nothing of value and that they should take their closet full of coins to the bank. I do care.
Because I do care, I stay. That's why, nothing else. I will keep posting, and keep answering questions. It's not the 99% that won't listen, it's the 1% that will.
So...last night, instead of leaving and deleting the bookmark, I took a simple question out of a thread and spent the time to answer it completely. And it felt good. So that's all I have to say.
Posted 03/28/2008 4:20 pm
