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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;IdesOfMarch01, post: 2380655, member: 39084&quot;]This is an interesting thread and while there are reasonable arguments on both sides, I personally find myself mostly in agreement with Doug and TIF.&nbsp; Let me attempt to explain my view a little further.</p><p><br /></p><p>Suppose Collector #1 notes a particular coin or set of coins in an upcoming auction and starts a thread or posts about his/her interest in those coins.&nbsp; Further assume that this collector is known to be both aggressive and financially comfortable, or maybe he/she announces that &quot;I&#039;m going to win these coins no matter how much I have to spend.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>So now Collector #2, who also likes some of the coins, starts thinking &quot;I&#039;m not going to be able to outbid Collector #1 under any circumstances.&quot;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>There are at least three possible scenarios on auction day: </p><p><br /></p><p>(1) Collector #2 doesn&#039;t even bother to bid, giving Collector #1 one less competitor, and #1 ends up paying less than he/she might have under normal circumstances. This also affects the seller, who is entitled to get whatever price the market will offer at the current time.</p><p><br /></p><p>(2) Collector #2 decides to spite Collector #1, and bids the coin(s) up to much more than general market availability would dictate that the coins were worth, thus costing #1 more than he/she would have paid.</p><p><br /></p><p>(3) Collector #2 follows procedure #2 above, and then is surprised when #1 suddenly stops bidding, resulting in Collector #2 being stuck with a (wanted) coin but at a much higher price than his/her budget can afford.</p><p><br /></p><p>This scenario is not as unlikely as one might think.&nbsp; Now, the free market economists and curmudgeons here will be thinking &quot;Well, Collector #1 or Collector #2 got exactly what they deserved.&quot;&nbsp; But is that really the case?&nbsp; The marketplace didn&#039;t really act efficiently in this scenario -- it was skewed by possibly unreliable information that might not have been known to other collectors participating in the auction.&nbsp; Inefficient markets produce anomalous and unreliable results, and my personal preference is for all parties to a transaction to have all pertinent information that is generally and publicly available.&nbsp; I don&#039;t like manipulated transactions, and I see a high possibility of &quot;gaming&quot; the system through pre-announced intentions, whether or not these intentions are accurate and honest.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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