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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 Michael Lee on
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Ok, Cogo. Whatever you say. You "win"
SMHL
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Permalink Reply by BC on
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I like your blogs quite a bit and always try to comment on them. I click on the Blog section just to see if you posted something.
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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on
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This is just my humble opinion. What drives frequent visits of collectors to a site is the opportunity to buy and sell. There will always be some who find this site to get authenticity opinions which is very important as well. But, experienced collectors go to where the action is. Right now, the action here is mainly centered on the latest signed materials be released by the musicians direct to consumers.
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Permalink Reply by Cogo on
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Fair point for sure Joe! There were without a doubt more activity here when all members could buy and sell.
But I understand and respect Steve and the others decision to make the buy/sell section a safer place, even though I never saw it as a problem earlier with fakes being sold. But I know not a fraction of what took place behind the scenes, so I fully support this decision. Unfortunally the new buy/sell section hasn’t worked either since there is basically no activity there.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on
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There's no activity because I haven't promoted them. We need moderators.
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This is an important discussion. The musician-direct signing forum is important because buying direct virtually eliminates the risk of buying fakes unless they're autopens, plus the prices are usually so affordable. I can't thank Rich enough for starting it years ago.
It's not their fault that it's taking over the activity feed. I can't exclude activity in individual forums or groups unless I make it a private group. It's all or nothing.
One possible solution is to make Musician-direct a private group and then manually list new signings on the home page. People who want the details will need to join the group if they aren't a member. The group can automatically notify group members of new posts, so they'll be up to date.
I'll try to figure out another suitable option.
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I personally like your suggestion Steve about making Musician-direct into a private group but still having a sort of heads-up on the main front page. That way everyone gets the first info, but only the interested ones get all the additional replies in the private group.
But I have pretty much no saying on this matter. If the majority of the members want the activity thread filled with this stuff then that’s the way it should be.
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Permalink Reply by Mike White on
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I do think it's worth pointing out that (at least from perspective), in the past few years, the number of musicians offering signed material on their websites has drastically increased. A signed edition now seems to be a matter of course. So, as those numbers increase, the numbers of people talking about them also increase.
I'd also say that, from the beginning, this community has always been somewhat music heavy.
You mentioned the "Star Wars" community. There was, yeah, but there was a much bigger one, with most (if not all) of the same people, as well as many more, over at Rebelscum. Personally, I opted to engage in the SW discussion there, and didn't venture into it much over here.
Same with space. There were far more space collectors over at CollectSpace, where Steve Zarelli was also a member, so, for the most part, I'd keep my space sig discussions over there, where the people & topics were more plentiful.
And I don't think I was particularly alone in either.
From my perspective, AML was always more music and (thanks to a small handful of members) baseball oriented.
I remember the Jerry Lee Lewis CD signing thread thread, for example, went on for pages, while my Bill Clinton/James Patterson thread got generally overlooked by most of the community. Weeks (or maybe months, I don't recall) after I posted the Clinton/Patterson thread, someone posted in one of the Facebook groups about their discovery of the same, so I linked them to my thread, and it was the first they saw it.
Only 2 people who weren't me commented in my Patterson/Clinton thread, and that goes back to 2018 & one of them wasn't until 2 years later.
So I think the slant has always been here, in some capacity. It might be more noticeable now, since, as was mentioned, signed CDs/lithos from the source are now more of a bona fide marketing strategy, but I think, to some extent, AML has always been "Music (and, thanks to a small handful of prolific posters, Sports)"> Everything else".
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