JKK

8 hours ago, KarenHolcomb said:

Better be careful JKK, they might want you to become a moderator, or worse-AN ADMIN. Lol! I have always tried to do it correctly but spoonfuls I hate not getting any response at all. Even a Karen you have lost your mind is better than nothing.

Fortunately I've done nothing to deserve such board punishment.

See it from the other point of view. Someone posts a coin and wants to know something about it. This particular coin not only does not interest me in the slightest, I know zero about it. Anything I might say would speak from great ignorance and apathy. What on earth could I possibly say? "Hi, I know nothing about this and don't even collect those, but I'm such a Mary Worth that I have to have a post in every thread so this is yours. Good luck!" That's what it would come down to. How idiotic would that be on my part? Many boards have That Person. I believe we should not be That Person.

If people do not respond, it's because they don't know or don't care (which may sound cold but is not an unacceptable outlook provided it is not rudely voiced), and anyone posting a question has to make peace with that because it's the only realistic reaction to expect from anyone who can't help.

When you post a question about a coin or coins, it's worth remembering that the people giving you answers--unless it is specifically about an NGC policy matter or submission--are volunteer hobbyists who do this for fun. They are not speaking for NGC; they speak only for themselves, and they want to help people. When you do a good job of posting your inquiry, you increase your chances of helpful replies, because you show respect for the volunteers' time.

Please do:

• Ask a question, or multiple questions. We need to know what to focus on. Authenticity? Grade? Identification? Value? All of these?
• Think about your questions. "What would this grade at NGC?" and "What grade would you give this coin?" are two very different questions. If you ask the first one, only people who know a lot about NGC's ways have much to offer you. "How much is this worth?" is another nebulous question. Better: "What would a dealer pay me for this?" Or: "What would a dealer sell this for?"
• Post clear photos of the entire obverse, reverse, and if necessary the edge. If need be, add zoomed photos of specific features, but always clear shots of both full sides.
• Post all pictures of a given coin in the same thread.
• Accept that if you have photographic limitations, and you keep posting badly photographed coins, you'll keep being told they're not good enough to use to answer your question. You can't expect everyone to read all your threads and know your circumstances, be they poverty or Parkinson's or can'tbebothereditis. It's not their fault your photos can't or won't get better, even if it is also not always your own fault.
• Use a thread title that describes the coin(s), so that people who know the subject matter are likelier to read the thread. If you just inherited Bampaw's silver dollar collection which you can see spans the period 1850-1921, you could title it "Evaluating silver dollar collection 1850-1921." People who know a lot about those silver dollars will see it and be likely to help you. "Grading advice" is bad; everyone wants grading advice. "Morgan dollar grading advice" is good. "Is this fake?" is bad. "Is this Chinese silver coin fake?" is good.
• Post only once per coin. (If you have received a huge collection, and you want to start with a picture of the whole hoard with zoomed shots of parts, that's no problem. This guideline is intended to keep people from slamming multiple fully photographed coins into a single thread, making it difficult to figure out which one the answers are talking about. So if it's a hoard, and you single out some for close scrutiny, go with new threads for each of those.)
• If the picture files are too large in terms of data, learn to make them smaller without losing necessary information. Paint.net is a free image editor for Windows. Open your pictures in it, crop them, and save them as .jpgs. Look at what sizes they are now. This is too easy.
• If there is any question of identification or authentication, include weight in grams and diameter in millimeters. If you don't know the metric system, use an online converter. Weight is one of the key diagnostics of authenticity and unless the coin is too obviously bogus to bother, you will be asked for it. Just include it with your first post.
• Tell us what you know, or what you believe to be the case, about the coin. It's okay to be incorrect.
• Understand that the term "melt" does not automatically mean someone plans to melt the coin down, nor is anyone suggesting you should. It refers simply to the value of the metal for its own sake. Do not freak out when someone says "melt" about Bampaw's Morgan dollars. We really do not want or expect you to throw it in a blast furnace, all right?
• Use punctuation. Being easy to read works to your benefit. When you write a twelve-line paragraph with no periods or commas, people tune you out. For those who need reminders, this , is a comma. You use it to separate phrases, more or less. This . is a period. You use it to end most sentences. Hitting Enter will insert a paragraph break. You use this between series of thoughts. Live them. Love them. Use them. because ill tell u what really suxors is when some1 posts sententses like this 1 4 about half a page its impossibel 2 read and some people including me will prob not finish readin it which means u arent gettin as many respontses think about it ur only hurtin ur own cozz notice how stooped this reads ur in affect makin urself ten times harder 2 help and frankly its disrespectfull 2 assume entellegent people should do all that extra work 4 ur sake now kinely clean up ur act and rite like u at least got thru 6ixth grade im glad we had this little talk
• Come prepared to accept responsive answers.
• Brace yourself to learn that Bampaw or Opa, always considered the family's Great Numismatist, may not have been so great at this. No one seeks to offend your relative's legacy, but the coin must be called what it is.
• Be patient. No one who doesn't know the answer is going to post "I don't know." It can take days to a week for someone to notice.
• Remember that some inquiries may require research, for which volunteers are not being paid, and are doing as they have time.
• Expect that opinions may vary, even among experienced numismatists.
• Realize that if you're rude and/or difficult, your problem is not the people who take time to fight with you. Your problem is the people who, without a word, mark you down as someone not to bother with in the future--because you have no idea who or how many they are, and thus have no power to alleviate that diagnosis.

Kindly do not:

• Just post pictures without giving any indication of what you want to learn.
• Post glare-obscured, blurry, or otherwise poor photos.
• Post only partial pictures of errors or damage.
• Complain that your pics are too big to post. Use an image editor to crop and save them as .jpgs.
• Get defensive when told your pics are not good. Maybe you're bad at photography; maybe you don't have a good camera; maybe the photography gods just don't like you. If you can do better, do so. If you cannot do better, than just accept that this limits how much we can help you.
• Post a new thread for every photo of the same coin.
• Post new threads in the same forum, or other forums, with reference to the same coin. Once suffices. The shotgun approach makes one look impatient and immature.
• Use a meaningless thread title like "looking for advice" or "no idea what 2 do" or "plz help." Those tell people nothing about the discussion except that it was begun by someone who picks meaningless thread titles.
• Omit weight and diameter, unless they are completely irrelevant to your question.
• Get annoyed if you don't like the answers. If you disagree with them, fine; act on your views.
• Ask us to tell you how we know it's a counterfeit. While that's a legit question on its face, the problem is that even if you didn't mint the fake, those who make them are always looking for ways to improve. We frown upon supplying helpful feedback to criminals, and so should you. So no, don't ask us that. And if we tell you politely that we aren't going into detail, don't get annoyed because you don't like that answer.
• Grouse about not getting any replies. No one knows everything; no one has unlimited time; sometimes no one knows the answer.
• Come in telling how many Youtube videos you have watched about coins. This will lower your credibility.
• Use Photobucket links. If you do, don't anticipate that people will use them. Photobucket has been connected with numerous malware and virus infections.
• Spell 'nickel' as 'nickle.' Whether referring to the element or the five-cent coin, this misspelling is a very bad look.

If you take the time to do this correctly, you can learn a lot more here than if you skip important steps.

If you do not take the time to do this correctly, some posters may decide that their time is better spent helping other people.

Lastly, here is a Cliff's Notes version that would take care of 95% of the most common disappointed inquiries. If you want to post yours anyway, fine, but just please kindly do not engage in a protracted and dullard debate when you are told that:

• Your 1804 silver dollar is a bad counterfeit. Look up authentic examples and compare closely.
• Your 1776 Continental dollar is a bad counterfeit or a souvenir replica. Many were churned out.
• What you think is a double die is almost surely mechanical doubling, which carries no premium.
• What you think is a mint error is likely post-mint damage, and your coin is worth face value.
• Your "silver" non-1943 penny is plated, replated, has had the plating come off, is altered, or somesuch.
• Your "bronze" 1943 penny is altered somehow, and is worth very little.
• Your Greek "silver" coin with flanges sticking out of its edges is a bad cast counterfeit.
• Your cheesy-looking brass token is not gold, and is not a coin. Any clown can mint brass tokens with bad designs.
• Cleaning your coins is a stupid idea. Yes, even for you. You, too. If you ask how, listen to the people who tell you not to do so.
• If you cite Etsy as an authority, people will laugh their heads off with good reason. This is horrible for your cred.
• If you cite a Youtube video as an authority, people will laugh with good reason. This is bad for your cred.
• If you have more than three supposed error coins you found in change, and plan to post them all, the odds are overwhelming that none of them are mint errors worthy of note. If you keep posting these without seeming to learn, people might conclude that learning is not your thing.

There, that rounds up the usual suspects. I'm not saying those answers are automatically always right. However, as the strongest probabilities, they should be presumed correct unless they can be proven wrong. If you have one child and something is broken in the house, not by you or your spouse, typically the child did it. If you can prove the kid innocent, fair enough; but you know the kid almost surely did it. If you argue about a "double die" at fatuous length when it's clear you don't know what one really is, you will look like the kid with soot all over him insisting he didn't really dig around in the fireplace.

Don't be that kid.

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