1908-D Barber Dime: Did I do well?

That should be mandatory reading for every new member.

We numismatists can be a secretive lot. I, for one, quite understand a level of reticence requiring one to alter one's gender or age declaration online. Not all reasons to employ such deception are criminal. People are murdered for their coins with regularity, and in the Age of the Internet it's becoming difficult indeed to keep dangerous personal information private.

 

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And compound the fact that 1 in 25 on the Internet are sociopaths

 

Dare I wonder how many of those "sociopaths" post comments here at Coin Talk??? Ha, ha, ha!!!

 

There are 37,405 members registered. Given those odds, about 1500 sociopaths have registered. Now, most of the registered people only posted once or twice and then moved on. Only about a few hundred, maybe a thousand, post regularly. So that brings our number down to maybe 40? Now, if you figure that a person's sociopathic tendencies will be highlighted in an anonymous forum like this, and that the moderators are pretty good at giving disruptive people the boot, figure that probably 10-20 remain. They've been able to control it well enough to slip by. Sociopaths, by definition, refuse to follow the rules. Rule-breaking isn't tolerated well here.

Psychopaths, however, will probably very easily slip through. There's probably a larger number of psychopaths on these boards than anyone would care to admit.

 

The forum does a pretty good job. Remember Cazkaboom? How 'ya doing Caz. I remember when someone wanted to send him something everyone went through several levels of spasms to protect him. The only thing I wonder about in members is their age and where they are from (country at least)...of course I am nosey.

 

That statistic comes from the book "The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout. Sociopaths are unable to empathize. They are the types of people that if you don't provide tracking, they will claim never receive the coin just to get it for free. Most people would feel guilty doing that but the sociopath would not.

 

Yes, the sociopath will break the rules because he doesn't understand them. In a community of this sort, they don't last long.

The psychopath understands the rules, he just doesn't believe in them. The psychopath will manipulate the rules to his advantage, while seeming to stay inside them (to most people). The psychopath is often charming and intelligent. In my opinion, the psychopath is far more dangerous in an online forum.

 

I am sorry to say I don't know Cazkaboom. This story you relay sounds interesting, though. I am also curious/nosey about things. Well, curiosity is how we learn, you know.

 

Nice find

 

Most members probably do not know how few mods there actually are on the forum. I give the maximum credit to the members, who watch for problems and send a report. They realize they are not tattling, but helping to keep the forum safe as per the rules. Without these members, we would not be in the good shape we are. Thanks all!. Jim