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Authenticity is Everything
An own thread about my previous comment regarding ”the state” of this site…
Since I don’t think it’s fair to spam Robs authencity thread with this discussion, I started a new thread for this.
It might have been a slight exaggeration saying that this site has become pretty much only about cheap signed CD:s that musicians sell to up their sale records, but sometimes it honestly feels like that.
I’ve been a member of this great site for 10 years and I’ve learned A LOT, bought many nice graphs from other members, sold a few too, got authencity help and avoided fakes many times, helped a few members myself and even got a few friends here! But I honestly sometimes miss the ”old days” when this site were filled with members:
-helping each other regarding the authencity of graphs,
-writing blogs about everything autograph related,
-sharing photos of their autographs, -working together to expose forgers,
-discussing good guys and bad guys in the business,
-tallking about the good and bad with TPAs
and much, much more.
A few examples of what I mean. Earlier you could share a photo of your latest autograph and get lots of comments and people sharing their own examples. This often led to fun discussions about the artist or actor you liked and their autograph. Today you get nothing when uploading a photo, basically no one cares which I think is a bit sad. I loved sharing my own graphs but also to see other members fantastic graphs, often items I could only dream of owning myself but really appreciated seeing.
There also used to be a very active Star Wars ”community” here with lots of highly knowledgable members. I understand that many of these members have moved on to FB and for example SWAU, but this is just another example of things that have almost disappeared. And from talking to some of them I know that they felt that this new ”focus” on CD:s and books is one reason that they moved on, so it’s not just me.
Maybe it’s just me that have missed them, but there isn’t many autograph blogs today either. I loved to read these by knowledgeable and/or funny members that shared their stores about the autograph world.
I have also bought Slash signed CDs based on tips here, so I’m aware of the double standards! But as said, I honestly miss the sharing and discussions that used to be the main content of this great site.
Now it’s often multiple threads about the same $10 CD or book and first there are 45 (approx…) replies about how and where to order and then it is 37 replies about shipping followed up by 29 replies about recieved or not recieved items and sadly it often ends with 53 replies about if the item is genuine or not…
One morning when I logged in here it was approx 20-25 straight replies in the latest activity field about Dolly Partons ”signed” book. I understand the interest and as said I’m sometimes interested too, but at least according to me it pushes everything else aside and leads to that all other subjects ”drowns”.
I completly understand that many members will see me as an old fart that can’t accept changes and maybe you’re right. It’s early morning here and I basically haven’t slept beacuse of me having fever, so that may be why I’m grumpy. But I just wanted to elaborate what I meant earlier in another thread.
Take care!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on
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A few argumentative posts were deleted. Please keep your cool and keep it civil. We're all friends here. :-) Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by Cogo on
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Sorry Steve, I lost my cool when I felt that he for no reason personally attacked me in his first reply. If I was wrong, I apologize!
Thank you for trying to keep this place civil!
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Permalink Reply by Josh Board on
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A lot of valid points here. Let me add my two cents. Sometimes, a thread is 30 pages, and it's off no interest to me. The Dolly Parton thread was, because I had contemplated buying one of those books, but since I have 4 or 5 signed albums, I didn't. And boy am I glad I passed on that!!!
I always had a comnplaint when newbies come on, merely wanting us to authenticate their bogus items. But even that adds a bit of interest to me, and I can skip a thread I'm not interested in.
As someone that used to write blogs on this site, here's why I stopped. I was a columnist for this magazine when it was in news stands. And when I wrote blogs for this website, I might get 2 or 3 comments, and that was it. I'm sure a lot more people read them, but it's not very satisfying to write about me interviewing somebody famous, getting great autograph stories from them, or telling about a crazy autograph adventure I went thru, only to have two people comment. And I'm not saying they had to write "amazing story, Josh" but they could have shared an experience they had with that same actor or musician, or a similar one, and it would get the ball rolling on topics.
Also, if I'm not being paid to write, it's something that's really hard for me to get motivated to do. As somebody that's been a journalist my entire life, too many companies use us to write things for free, without paying. So, if I was compensated in SOME WAY, any way, I'd gladly contribute blogs. I have enough stories that would blow you guys away, that I could do a daily blog and not run out of interesting things to say (although that sounds kind of arrogant to say, I believe it to be true).
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I totally agree Josh. That’s why my blog writing has slowed down significantly as well. I don’t need a million pats on the back, but if you take the time to write something and post it somewhere it’s less than satisfying if there’s no feedback. And if that’s the case… Fine… It just means there’s no interest in the topics I’m writing on. So I’ll stop doing it.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Lee on
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I also think newer collectors are also not interested in yesteryears stars, celebrities, etc. The world is expanding in so many ways, and yet those rare vintage autographs of bygone stars are A. ridiculously expensive to obtain if they are obtainable at all, and B. just not relevant to younger collectors. For myself (and you can guess my age here) the Universal monsters actors are interesting to me bc I grew up with those black and white movies. However, I simply do not have the disposable income at hand to chase those autographs, let alone the dedication it takes to learn and collect them confidently without getting scammed. There is an additional cost to this hobby that is not monetary and many dont have the confidence or time to study so many - so you pick and choose - which is where personal taste factors in and relates to topics of interest posted here.
Bc it was such a popular topic, I will comment that I couldnt care less about the Dolly Parton saga - Im simply not interested in her autograph - so I skipped those threads entirely. EZ PZ. And while I recognize Led Zeppelin as an iconic band that is so important to many, I again, personally, am not interested in chasing their autographs and Im not so far removed from their active output. As a middle aged white guy that is an ex rock n roller, what does that say about Led's desirability/collectible value to those 30 and younger? By and large, LZ simply arent relevant bc they dont put out new records and the cost to obtain them is astronomical - and thats saying absolutely nothing in regards to folks who simply dont like LZ or rock n roll in general. The bottom line is that people like what they know and know what they like and it has everything to do with current culture.
Last but not least, the pop stars and others that you might not be interested in today (personally) are tomorrows elder stars too - and they too will eventually become irrelevant to newer, younger collectors. Some values will rise, others will fall as interest drops off.
The sands of time march on. To each his own.
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Permalink Reply by Eddy on
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I'd like to just briefly comment and branch off of Michael Lee .
Since vintage film is my interest, I miss the days when the usual suspects were active here in discussing vintage movie autographs (stars & directors). I think part of this loss is due to some of the reasons discussed above. There are also fewer of us left in general who have that interest and there are way fewer dealers who are specializing in and placing this kind of material on the market.
One of the things I really miss is the education I received from others as we looked together at signing habits of film figures over time, the use of proxies and stamps, vintage inks etc.. I'm thankful for those experiences....just a bit sad we're not currently engaging in them for the most part these days.
I've kicked around the idea of attempting the startup of another platform for those who share this now rather limited field of interest.
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And that Josh and Steve are exactly what I mean! The good quality stuff are pushed away by less quality (but lots of quantity) stuff.
Please call me snobbish if you like, but I prefer a blog about the often crazy side of autograph collecting from you Josh and/or a highly informative space blog or youtube video by you Steve over every $10 CD thread there is seven days a week!!!
And the same mindset as you have about your blogs I have about showing any new autographs. If nobody cares, why bother?
But that doesn’t matter one bit if the majority of the members prefer other stuff than I do. But I still thinks it makes this place poorer when more and more diversed contents disappears.
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But you dont get to decide what is "good quality stuff" based on your personal preferences, Cogo. Surely you see that? Im not picking a fight here. Some will agree with you, many will (and do) not. Its all personal taste and this is an open forum for all collectors of autographs - not particular subsets of collectors.
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And that’s why I wrote:
”But that doesn’t matter one bit if the majority of the members prefer other stuff than I do.”
to underline that this is my personal opinion, nothing else. Even if I honestly think that an autograph blog by the worlds leading space autograph expert purely objectively would qualify as ”good quality stuff”… :-)
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Personal taste again. No offense to space collectors or Steve, but space doesnt interest me one bit!
Ive said enough. Carry on!
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Even if you have no personal interest in a subject, you must be able to see the advantages (the quality) to this site in having the worlds best expert sharing his thoughts and trying to educate us so that we can avoid the many fake autographs in this particular field?
Sorry, but that is not a personal opinion or up to personal taste. That is just straight up facts!
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