opinions on coin chat sites

I was wondering if there are members of CoinTalk that also visit or frequent other coin bulletinboard/chatroom web sites. If so, what is your opinion of the other sites? I was curious of your overall opinion of the other boards as well as your percieved differences in the members. In other words: Do other boards have more experienced or less experienced members? Which boards do you think are the most friendly? Which boards seem to get the most traffic (post frequency)? Which boards have the most interesting or informative posts? and which has the least interesting or least informatiive? If you could only belong to 1 board, which one would it be and why.

 

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I found CoinTalk through another forum I belonged to. I am pleased at the level of informed discussions and the general pleasantness found here. The other forum I frequented seemed to be having fewer discussions about coins and was devolving into an argumentative and hostile group of people hellbent on survival and SHTF scenarios. Far better people here from a wide range of experience and the opinions given seem honest and meant to inform.

 

I lurked on many boards for a few months when I got back into collecting in 08 and out of all of them cointalk seemed to be the friendliest and "more my cup of tea". It wasnt till earlier this year did I stop lurking and start posting on the CU forums. I think CU as a few "big boys" posting on it then here but its so large there really isnt a close knit atmosphere then here.

Coin Community I found to be my least favorite just cause the activity seemed slower.

 

For me, it's all about activity. Cointalk is the only forum I know I can get an answer to my question within minutes. It can take days or weeks on some of the other ones I visit. That obviously isn't a reflection on the users themselves, but the amount of them.

 

Very interesting comments thus far ... thanks for responding!
I was especially interested to read about the traffic.

 

I am on the NGC forum, but the World Coin section there is basically dead. It is a good location to ask US Coin questions or NGC specific questions, but the Ancient and World coin coverage is really missing. I'm also a member of Collectors Universe forum, but I mostly browse there and don't post.

I second what gbroke said above. The response on this site to questions is MUCH faster than the other sites. And, I like the "no politics and no religion" rule here.

 

I'm a member of 6 at present. Collectors Society (NGC) was my first, and I've been there nearly 7 years. Despite the slower pace, there are a lot of very knowledgeable people representing almost every facet of collecting. I like the format there more than any other, and Arch (Architect) does a great job of keeping everything up-to-date and flowing smoothly. It's also nice to know that you can complain about the company without fear of retribution, and the NGC staff really listens to our likes and dislikes and tries to improve, not only the forums, but the company on the whole. You'd be surprised at how many times the officers of the company have joined in our conversations.

If there was one site that I wish would have a lot more activity, it would be Coinsarefun. Stefanie, bless her heart, deserves better participation because she has put her heart and soul into that site.

Chris

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply any negativity about the NGC site. That was also my first site, and still what I would consider the primary place I participate (though I've been here at CT more lately because of the World boards). There are a few members on the NGC Collector's Society board whose replies and opinions I greatly respect (Roger Burdette, Mark Feld, Bill Jones, etc).

 

No offense taken. I agree that the World forum is dead. There just aren't enough collectors of world coins to keep it alive. Why do you think I post my foreign medals in the "Tangents" forum. LOL!

Chris

 

I read at the PCGS, CU site, but am not registered there. I also read at NGC Collector's Society, not registered to post there either.

 

I have been a regular on the CU forum for quite awhile as my main collection is now my PCGS registry sets of Half dollars and dollars. I lurk on the NGC forum but have never registered.

 

Cointalk is awesome ! The people on here are very helpful and informative .

 

I was one of the first members on CU (PCGS), member 123 but actually came over from the old board that ended about 10 years back. I still enjoy the fast pace there and the range of topics. It was more fun there before all the new rules and the loss of some really cool posters.

Joined NGC about 9 years back as member number 99. It's not as busy as some sites but the quality of the threads and post is great. I'm on a few other boards and like them as well. Each site is what you make of it and it's easy to find something cool to read.

This site is great but I ticked off Peter some time back and I'm not posting as much. Have learned to keep my mouth shut at times.

This link is a new board that I feel will really grow over time.
http://collectorsguidebook.com/smf1/index.php

 

CT in my humble opinion is the best. Yes I got an infraction for expressing my opinion but it didn't turn me off to this site.
I got what I deserved and ate a month of not being able to post. Peter and the other moderators are still Aokay in
my book.

 

I occasionally post on both the NGC and PCGS - CU forums but mainly lurk. The PCGS forum is full of a lot of egos who are essentially Koolaid drinkers. Some of them act as shills for each other - you disagree with one guy and one of his buds will come in and bash you. I like the people at the NGC forum better (they are more of a class act) but it has been polluted by some of those from the PCGS forum with their "we are better than you" mentality. You can easily get kicked off the PCGS forum even if defending yourself from personal attack. Be careful what you reveal about yourself to these people. I read the ebay coin forums but rarely post.

I read all the forums quickly to see if there are any threads of interest. Sometimes it may alert you to a coin deal.

 

What's CU? And I actually used to use CCF, but I don't really like the people there so I just switched to here.

 

CU can either mean, Collectors Univers, the PCGS Forum, or Collectors Unleashed, a forum recently started by Rigo.

I frequent Cointalk, which is by far my favorite like others said, it is the acivity.

 

I agree with this comment as well. Other forums I've browsed but the level of discussions are very slow and many have few folks posting anything recent.
This site is so much more informative and active.

 

I'm sorry but this post tells me you are seeing only a tiny portion of what is actually going on with PCGS and NGC.

Please show me an example of where a bud comes in to bash you on PCGS. I'll bet they came to bash pure BS that was posted and never should have been posted from the start. Wrong information will not float there without folks saying it's BS.

The NGC part is just wrong. Show me an example of this as well.

Why is it that folks have a problem with a member or two and feel the need to bash everyone there?

 

No way. What I like about Coin Talk is that it is a large and active, mostly friendly and knowledgeable community. But of course it is basically an American site (see the "US" vs "World" division). I don't want to advertise other sites here, but I am also active in a forum/site which rather has a global approach ... and of course there are coin boards in languages other than English as well. So I will continue to hang around in various places, hehe.

Christian