Saturday, December 20, 2008

Misery May Love Company, But Stupidity Knows No Bounds

So far, I have been accused of working at a Dunking Donuts (delicious), being King of the Dorks (awesome), and losing credit to my arguments because of my Rotundous face (nice word choice!). That is fine, because its obvious that these people really have no idea what to say about this whole thing except to make jokes like a fifth grader. Personally, I get a pretty good belly laugh out of it, and if you have seen my belly - WHOA.

See, the people who defend Beckett dont really seem to realize what this fight is about, either because it dates back to before they were back in this hobby or because they just dont want to take the time to go back and read about it. Thats fine - your decision.

However, for Beckett to take the stances they have on the things they have done breeds nothing but hatred in my book, and that changes this fight all together. It used to be about that they were getting loaded boxes, but Ross is correct, that is just as much the manufactuer's fault for giving them as it is Beckett's for opening them. Now its more about the arrogance and stupidity that they conduct themselves with. Its still about their unethical, conflict of interest, and stupid way of running their magazine, but now its also about the way they treat other people who have become important within the hobby.

Yes, Beckett's price guide may only be a guide, but to say that the guide is necessary for a collector to get all they need out of the hobby is shit! Collectors dont need a guide, especially one they have to pay for, because JB from the Topps blog is correct, its more about getting what you want and giving others what they want. However, if it comes down to it, and you still need a guide, go to eBay, its free, and you can see EXACTLY how much its worth. You also dont need to read advertising spiked articles talking about DLP's latest Beckett hand job, and you certainly dont need to read ever positive reviews despite shittier and shitter products. Beckett does what they do because they are paid to. They take money from the companies and in return, they give great press to whatever the agenda is. Think the guide is objective? No. Be serious here, they have no responsibility to you, its only to the ad buys.

Its pretty obvious to me that Beckett is a Cancer in this world, and even if we were to cure it, there would still be many little cells left, ready to metastisize. You know what my goal is in all this, all this fighting, all this swearing? To get you to think for yourselves. Thats pretty much my goal, because when you do that, they lose. Their goal is to get you to buy more shit, grade more cards, spend money with their partners. It sucks that many turn to them for news. What is the point? Are we supposed to believe that the news we are getting is better than news we can find here or on other blogs? They would like you to think so. Otherwise, instead of Chris Olds and company crying to their ad buys that they arent getting the same attention online, they would have links and spotlights.

This is where the arrogance plays in, you see, because Beckett employees are the self proclaimed gods of this hobby, and if you question that, FUCK YOU. They want all the attention, they want all the hits, they want every person to believe that this hobby wouldnt survive without them. As Hackler wants you to believe, only a few people care about what is going on behind the scenes. Only a few people care that they are telling us to bend over and spread our cheeks every time they break a box. Every single other person thinks Beckett's poops smell like fucking cotton candy, right?

Its pure arrogance, and you can tell me that Beckett has your best interests at heart, but ill tell you, just about every single blog on the planet has posted AT LEAST one anti-Beckett post, and they have for a reason. Hell, Dave from Fielders Choice even created a graphic for everyone to put on their blogs and message board sigs.

Beckett, you may continue to create zombies and brainwash people, but I will be there at every turn with my flaming sword forged from the F-bombs of articles past, ready to cut your fucking head off. I will not stand for the arrogance, unethical behavior, or stupidity because this hobby already has a shitload of it without you. Misery may love company, but this isnt misery, its a call to arms, and I have a fucking army at my side.

12 comments:

  1. From my forum experience I'd say about 80% of the people I've to trade with last 3 months are still going by BV only.

    It's scary how many collectors who still go by BV even in an era where Internet probably stand for the majority of trades / sales of single cards.

    I find it almost impossible to get trades done when people go like "Hey I will sell to you for 40% BV, so this card will be $16 since it book $40" I reply something like "I don't go by BV, but I'll gladly pay market prices, your card sells for $4 on ebay"

    It's such a culture conflict and they get furious with me for telling them what THEIR card is worth. They must really be brain washed, a card is only worth as much as others are willing to pay. Ebay is the worlds biggest market place for cards, no need to say more...

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  2. I tweaked the Logo. http://voiceofthecollector.blogspot.com/

    The sheepeople who continue to use BV are just ducking reality and afraid to admit that their prescious collection, is worth about 1/6th of what they think it is. Fuck them. Like most herded animals, these Book Value Bovines will eventually follow them (Beckett the almighty hobby shepherd, sic) right of the cliff they are headed towards.

    Your army continues to grow, and you General have my loyalty. Major Guido reporting for duty, SIR!

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  3. I love some of the stupid ass comments on your youtube vids about this Gellman.

    Shit like, "Well we can't possibly have any effect so why bother fighting". Can you imagine if the Founding Fathers had that same attitude. "Well what can we do. We just gotta keep paying these horrible taxes".

    If you don't fight for anything, you're guaranteed nothing. Keep up the good fight Gellman and maybe, one day, things will change for the better in spite of these people.

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  4. I still say

    #1 like you said Gellman its all about people thinking for themselves. If more people did this a lot of things would be better in life.

    #2 i still say the card companies are just as much to blame. they are enablers in all of this. They provide beckett with the product and by doing so they support beckett more than any collector does.

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  5. There are two ways to take down a company (ala Prison Break):
    1. Take the fight to the streets and spread the word to everyone so that everyone is well-informed. I think the information and the truth is limited to only the bloggers in our small community, but probably not to the hobby as a whole. That is why little card shops still go by book value.

    2. Create another company that will overtake the existing one. Competition breeds adaptation and improvement. If someone creates another company that is purely online and acts as a place for card checklists in addition to real-time monitoring of eBay prices for cards, then this may be more useful for people. It acts as a forum and at the same time, people will have even less use for book value if everything is online. (Yes, I know you can use eBay, but some people just aren't smart enough to do that, they need to be guided)

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  6. Amen, Brother Gellman! Speak it loud for all to hear.

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  7. Flaming sword? Army at your side? You love yourself so much it makes me sick. Stop playing WOW and hit the gym.

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  8. I went to a card show today and I was amazed by how many dealers pulled out their issue of Beckett when I asked how much they wanted for a card. Then they'd act like they were doing me a favor by offering me "half of book value". On more than one occasion, I told them that I knew I could get the card cheaper than that, and then they agreed to my price to keep me from walking away. I think that dealers probably rip off a lot of people who don't know any better by quoting them the book value...

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  9. Yes! I feel like one of the Scottish soldiers right after William Wallace gave a speech to go kill the English.

    ALBA GU BRA!

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  10. I just wanted to post a comment to say that I agree with you for the most part that Beckett fucking sucks. I am a collector from 20+ years back and I've got in and out of dealing in sports cards several times over the last decade.

    Beckett does suck, for more reasons than you or other bloggers have posted. Let's start talking about their shitty website. You know, the one you pay $25 a month for (what a joke) and have to play hell to look up cards. The one that puts giant ads above and in front of content you paid for. The one that won't allow you to easily print prices for a full set. Yeah that one.

    I just wanted to say that I am working on a new price guide, t New Testament in sports card prices if you will. Hopefully it will be something collector's will enjoy and support as it's a lot of work at first.

    Cheers

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  11. The tag 'general douchebaggery' makes me laugh.

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