The pros and cons of online forums

Pro: A wealth of cached information and knowledge, available within a few clicks.

Con: Posting a picture of a coin will lead at least 1 forum member to declare it to be counterfeit, without providing reasoning for coming to such a conclusion.

 

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Pro: The ability to share and gain knowledge and learn about coin collecting related topics that one might not know about otherwise. Thalia Elizabeth and I have friends that we still keep in touch with even though I'm not nearly as active here as I once was.

Con: A lot of posts to get through! Miss a couple of days here and you could miss a lot. It would be significantly easier if each page were not just 25 threads long. I would much prefer being able to scroll through 100 or more threads on one page. But I would rather see more activity than less, as long as it is meaningful to a reasonable percentage of the active users. (You'll never please everyone.)

I second the thoughts about trolls and anonymity, but I don't worry about it so much on this board than other ones that I am on. It is a general attribute of the internet that there are certain people who feel they can hide behind a screen name and say things that they would not dare to say to your face.

 

Pro: access to knowledgeable people all over the world. Just like roller skates saved many Amish communities by allowing them to network like never before, bulletin boards allow us to hear from/meet/talk with people we never would have heard about otherwise.

Con: Insta-"experts" Anyone from out-of-town is automatically an "expert." This title is not always well deserved.

 

and someone else will say it's cleaned

 

What he said

WHAT HE SAID

Without access to a site like this I would have no idea what a lot of the stuff I have is.

With access to a site like this I now know lots of what I have is just Stuff.

so....pro/con WHAT HE SAID.
:hatch:

 

Well I agree with many of the points that have been made on this thread, I will share a couple that I haven't seen pointed out.

The pro is that of community. Now, this might seem like what many people have said about how we are bringing all of these different collectors together, but I see it on more of a personal level. Many of the technological aspects could be duplicated by a website, such as the vast amount of information, or from a discussion stand point the email listserv. However, with these you rarely get the sense of community that comes from a forum. There are many people on here that I consider friends and trust even though I don't know them in person. In addition, for those on the General Discussion portion of the board, how often do we see a people wishing each other a happy birthday, lamenting over their latest bought of bad weather, or coming for comfort after some misfortune? The reason we see these posts is because of the great sense of community we have here. This can even take form in the real world. Recently, a member was running a contest. When he failed to log on for the end of the contest many of the posters there became worried to the point of having a local law enforcement office do a check on the member to make sure he was ok. While this is something you might expect in a local coin club, it is not something you would see anywhere else on the internet.

For the con, I am going to go out on a limb and say technology. The fact is that, while many people have accepted the internet and use it in their lives, many have also not been able to access the internet. My mom can barely use her email, my uncle doesn't have internet, and my grandmother doesn't have a computer. If these people were coin collectors, think of all the information that would be lost to the community. I was honestly surprised when I took a look at the Coin Talk age poll that was posted on here. You would expect that the majority of people here would be young people raised on the internet. Instead, it appears to reflect the general age dispersion of the whole collecting community. Yet, many of you probably know people like the members of my family who also collect coins who will never get on to the internet and come to forums such as this. However, unlike the other issues with this technology that people have brought up and simply said that it will always be, the con presented here will not always be. First, people can always learn if they are willing. It took my mom awhile to learn how to email people, but she kept trying and got it down. Similarly we can always help others to better understand this technology and join the community. Second, as we all grow older, a greater and greater population of computer literate people will begin to dominate the hobby to the point that the vast majority will understand the technology and will be able to join forums such as this one. I feel that we are lucky to have people like Rick Snow who posts YouTube videos of coins and events as well as others who have embraced the technology right now, but also feel that as time progresses this group will become even greater and bring the online coin community to greater heights.

 

Pro's= its fun
con's= a women screaming in my ear," get off the computer".

 

OK gang!!! Contest is over. I have heard back from all my judges and I now will have to compile the results. I will post the winners here soon. Thanks so much for everyone's contribution. The information was terrific and very useful to all newbs and old timers alike.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the results. Good luck to everyone who participated, I know I saw some darn good replies from a lot of people!

 

Pro,s- Access to a whole alot of information

Con- Dont see much of a drawback

 

Since the contest is over, I think that almost all of the postings were great. Just that we can all participate ( or not) in such a discussion is the pro. Many do not realize that 20 years ago, auctions took month or more to finish up. I was there when Teletrade started, catalog every couple of weeks, used a touch tone phone to place bids, hoping the robot would let you get in a last second snipe ( yes even then). Mail bids with few photos and not really a true auction, no references other than the books and magazines. Today one has the possibility to become an expert in almost any numismatic field they wish by reading and researching, and no one knows if you are 14 or 104.

Con: The future isn't here yet, with research robot programs searching out all references and auction photos when you highlight an eBay entry, adding pros and cons on pricing, grade, authentcity, etc. 3-D images of coins, spectroscopic reports on toning and surfaces, oh my, the things we will see and do !

Jim

 

OK, here are the results......I mentioned that you didn't have to write a book to have a good post, but it appears that those members who wrote the most, were the most thorough and had the most votes amongst the judges.

First, I must thank the follow members who volunteered themselves to be judges for this contest....
1. T$
2. Stainless
3. Krispy
4. RickyB
5. Me

So here is how I decided the winners....each judge, including myself ranked their choices from 1-5. Then based on how each member was ranked determined how many points they got. So if a member was #1, they got 5 points, if a member was number 2, they got 4 points and so on.

So here are the winners.

Here are the winners......
1. Sketcherpbr
2. Insomniac
3. Wiggam007
4. Lincoln Cent
5. Mbgluck and CamaroDMD TIED!!!

Here is how this is going to work....The number one winner will pick their prize. Then I will contact the next winner and they will pick whats left and so on and so on. So here are the prizes.....
Prizes are in no particular order and the values are estimated based on grade and condition.
1. 1909 VDB Brown XF & 1883 IHC - Value $16
2. 1964D Roosevelt Dime Pair with different style mint marks - Value $10
3. 1934 Denmark 25ore and 1937D Buffalo nickel - $2.50
4. 1945D UNC, 1943 Replated steel cent, 2009S Proof - $7
5. 2009S proof SAC - $20
6. A real badly toned British Columbia Silver Dollar - $12

Congrats to everyone!!! I can't wait to here from sketcherpbr first.

 

Wow, thanks for the contest! Congrats to all contestants, I think we all learned something educational from this one

 

Next up is Insomniac. Sketcherpbr has chosen the Lincoln cent and the IHC. So you are next up. Which prize do you want. Then pm me you address and I will mail it soon.

 

I think I will take the 1964-D dime pair. Thanks for putting together a very interesting contest!

PM on its way.

 

Glad I could help Joe!
Congrats to the winners!

 

Wow, that was fun. Congrats to the winners!!!

 

congrats to all the winners, great contest. thanks!!

 

Congrats

Congrats to the crew & Winners.