Is Bear on this forum?

[TomB]

At this time Realone is not banned at PCGS, though Bear is, but we do not know what happened behind the scenes and do not know the length of the ban on Bear. Lots of folks appear to like very much Bear's ramblings while others found one or more aspects of his participation troubling for one reason or another. It would be my expectation that PCGS would allow Bear to participate again shortly.

[Buffalo Head]

How does NO sound?

[drwstr123]

Don't ya love it when the meds kick in???

[delta]

Did Realone vanish via the rapture

 

Apparently the pertinent divinities provided us a reprieve. The rapture had been scheduled for 6:00 PM, but because post-time of the Preakness isn't until 6:18, they changed horses in mid-stream, and reversed the final judgement. Because Animal Kingdom has a real one chance at the Triple-Crown*, we've been spared from becoming Planet of the Apes.

 

(*a Triple-Crown would have been equivalent to 15 shillings if any were ever minted, but closest I know about was the British Double-Crown)

 

 

[gmarguli]

I know Bear to have a very high post count made up of posts of very little substance at best and complete drivel at worst. Post count does not equal knowledge or information.

 

He does not post here. He is a PCGS-only snob. That should tell you about his level of knowledge. Same for all PCGS-only (or NGC-only) snobs.

 

Also, this should be on the Numismatic General forum.

 

Wow you are so off its not even funny! He has been collecting longer than most and offers his wisdom. And when he does, people listen! Seriously, know what your talking about before opening your mouth.

 

Length of time collecting does not mean anything. It's like post count. Just because the number is high doesn't mean you've learned anything.

 

The "wisdom" that Bear shares - that 2% of the time it is related to coin and not OT - is frequently wrong and will end up hurting people. The fact that people listen is disturbing. Far too often ATS people listen to so-called wisdom that is completely wrong, but they listen because the poster has a high post count or has been there a long time. Lots of very knowledgeable people no longer participate on those forums because their truth is ignored due to fools listening to people based on post count alone.

 

But it really doesn't matter since the world is going to end in a few hours. I know this is true, because this old man who has been preaching longer than most is offering his "wisdom" and saying the rapture is coming.

[jom]

But it really doesn't matter since the world is going to end in a few hours. I know this is true, because this old man who has been preaching longer than most is offering his "wisdom" and saying the rapture is coming.

 

He was right because I have already been raptured. Luckily, my computer was also raptured with me so I can make this post and continue to do so in the future.

 

jom (reporting from heaven)

[FishyOne]

Well the world did NOT end at 6:00p.m. ET on 05/21/2011!

 

I'll see ya'll around here often I hope! I plan to spend more time here and enjoy the NGC boards. Who knows? I might even buy an NGC coin someday.

[SkyMan]

Hmmm, it doesn't feel like I'm raptured. Maybe I'm ruptured.

 

 

I agree with Greg on this one. From what I've seen, Bear is a nice guy, but his (few and far between) coin commentaries that I saw tended to be banal and non-informative to anyone with a modicum of numismatic education. Bear was making posts about some coins that he recently bought (or was going to buy) that he was going to leave to his offspring and that should be sold in ten years time. I only saw a couple of them (a SLQ and a Walker from what I can remember), and I wasn't particularly impressed as a financial investment. (Even as a keepsake for his kids I would have thought that one coin, specially bought for each kid, would make more sense). So as a coin "expert" I wouldn't put much stock in his expertise.

 

OTOH, as a contributor to the PCGS boards he was a cheerleader, which can be a nice thing to have. I strongly suspect his awareness of "The End" was kicking in and he just posted whatever was on his mind. I don't see why this posting of OT junk (for the most part) got him placed in "time out", it just seems mean spirited to me on PCGS's point given they had to know that he was dealing with a serious illness. Of course they may have pm'ed him before that to cool it and he just didn't take the hint... and even if they didn't, it is their boards and they have been pretty specific about OT stuff and that is what Bear was predominantly posting just before he got put in time out.

[Pafarmer-migration]

Thats a shame , maybe its something in the water over there that makes people post clearly off topic threads ? Over here there is a section for OT threads , why it gets posted under US coins is a good question.

[BillJones]

There is no place over there to post comments about tokens and medals, and it's officially against their rules to mention them in the U.S. coin section. I've never understood that since there are frequently overlaps between coins and tokens that can stimulate collector interest which could lead to increased sales of PCGS products.

[shirohniichan]

There is no place over there to post comments about tokens and medals, and it's officially against their rules to mention them in the U.S. coin section. I've never understood that since there are frequently overlaps between coins and tokens that can stimulate collector interest which could lead to increased sales of PCGS products.

 

Yeah, verily.

 

"The First Steam Coinage" restrike medal I bought from the MInt catalog back in the late '70s fired my numismatic imagination. It led me to want to learn more about the steam press, to buy an example of the Mexican 8 reales with Liberty cap, and other interests.

[michael]

There is no place over there to post comments about tokens and medals, and it's officially against their rules to mention them in the U.S. coin section. I've never understood that since there are frequently overlaps between coins and tokens that can stimulate collector interest which could lead to increased sales of PCGS products.

 

there are more sleezebay posts on the coin forums than coin posts and they let that slide from what i have been told

 

tokens and medals have more to do with coins and coin collecting than pop tops and sleezebay

 

 

hypocrites

[Frank Provasek]

Posts ATS are way down with recent bamming and people too scared to post. Bear, who has only a few months to live, noticed the decline in posts and started a number of "things I have observed" and "things I wish I had learned earlier in life" type posts that were conversation starters, but offended some as off topic. I found them generally more useful than some of the long long long hypothetical posts others make about the guilt levels of identical coins stored in identical conditions, and identical toning, but one toned accidentally and one toned because the owner wanted it tone, and the incessant complaints about ebay coins, ebay sellers, ebay policies, ebay buyers, ebay block lists, etc.

[BillJones]

but offended some as off topic.

 

Oh man, what a bunch prigs!

 

I’ve read posts that offend or bored me, but the moderator – censor would be last person to whom I’d lodge a complaint. I learned in elementary school not to be a tattle-tale. I might boil for a while, but then you learn to shut up and not open certain strings again.

 

Here’s an old gentlemen who is terminally ill. Sure, it seemed like he often posted just to increase his post totals, but he never took any skin off my nose nor anyone else’s nose from what I could see. So why treat him like this? How were his posts hurting PCGS? As my late mother used to say, “A person has got to be mighty small to act like that.”

 

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

Prig joined with prim would certainly clearly identify the position stated, and would allow me to agree with that position.

 

So, maybe it is an example of being a Prim Prig.

 

Of course, one could drop the "r" in Prig only, and arrive at an alternative description that may have merit.

 

Someones' Mother was very wise, indeed.

 

As to Bear, the impending physical departure of a very courteous gentleman from our Planet is cause for sadness for all of us.

 

Would that it be our great fortune that he is re-incarnated as the new Owner of PCGS.

 

Respectfully,

John Curlis

[Prethen]

My only wish with Bear's posts is that he properly format them.

 

I hate reading

 

a post that

 

is like this

 

where the wrap-around

 

is unknown to the poster!

[delta]

The psychology of the situation ATS seems to me that it's controlled by a couple of guys taking a perverse pleasure in banning people. It gives them a cheap thrill when they exercise their petty power. Isn't it akin to the behavior of certain corporate executives who are notorious for unfairly firing people? You are subject to their whims, and they want you to be aware of them every moment. They're devoid of such positive human qualities as compassion, empathy, kindness, and humility.

 

It's just by unlucky chance that this behavior has prominently appeared in numismatics, and unfortunately it is to the detriment of numismatics as a whole.

 

But let's look on the bright side. We're not under their thumbs over here.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

For some reason, I do not think any wish involving a Format method would be satisfied.

 

Some things are done because we are different from others.

 

Sometimes it is done because we enjoy being different.

 

As an example, I like Cristmas Tree Formatting. It has a certain elegance to me.

That does not mean it is appealing to someone else.

 

I do not think it is cause to hate something (although I am certain that the word is usually used in a generic as opposed to actual intent).

 

As an example, sometimes words spelled incorrectly convey an entirely different meaning in Posts. I enjoy that, and sometimes I wonder if it is intentional or not, such as the use of the word "there". It adds flavor to the posted thought (yes, I know-I am somewhat unstable, I admit this).

 

Compassion, Empathy, Kindness and Humility. Four of the Great words in our language. Add Courtesy, and the template for our responses to Posts is complete.

 

Respectfully,

John Curlis

[Kurtdog]

Posts ATS are way down with recent bamming and people too scared to post.

Interestingly as early as 1939 there were a number of German people who for fear of recrimination stopped speaking their minds, too. The rest of them just got the hell out of there.

[braddick]

Posts ATS are way down with recent bamming and people too scared to post.

Interestingly as early as 1939 there were a number of German people who for fear of recrimination stopped speaking their minds, too. The rest of them just got the hell out of there.

That didn't take long. To begin a thread with the inquiry asking if a forum member over at a coin chat website is also a member here and ending with a Nazi Germany reference is bizarre.

 

There is a term for that outcome, but the word escapes me.

[braddick]

Ah, found it!

[truthteller]

Bear is the kind of collector who makes the forum fun and funny. Unlike others who make coins a money venture, he makes it a hobby. He will be back.

 

 

 

 

TRUTH

[FishyOne]

On another note - I like it over here and feel this could be a good place to hang out.

 

In just the last week I found the "Ask NGC" and "Ask NCS" forums and all kinds of other stuff in "Numismatic General" that I hadn't even seen before.

 

Yes, I believe I can hang out with you fellas for awhile and hope to learn and contribute here often. (thumbs u

 

 

 

[ElmerFusterpuck]

Figured this thread would get some legs. I don't know Bear personally, but he seemed like an OK guy based on his posts. True, many were very fluffy and were barely on topic, but people have a choice whether or not to read them. If the PCGS forum banned or put him in timeout over those posts, then the so-called moderation on the CU forum has gone nuts.

 

As for those saying he didn't know about coins, he sold a mighty nice stash to Legend some time back. I also own the 1818 capped Bust half he once had and it is the pride of my collection. I'm not sure what he paid for them, but it seemed like he had an eye for nice coins.

 

Like him or not, the forecast from the CU forum is a wind chill of -20, with more chill to follow. My post count there has been stopped at 999 for months, and I'm debating what my 1000th post there should be about.

[Kurtdog]

Posts ATS are way down with recent bamming and people too scared to post.

Interestingly as early as 1939 there were a number of German people who for fear of recrimination stopped speaking their minds, too. The rest of them just got the hell out of there.

That didn't take long. To begin a thread with the inquiry asking if a forum member over at a coin chat website is also a member here and ending with a Nazi Germany reference is bizarre.

 

There is a term for that outcome, but the word escapes me.

Well, then, permit me to help you out. I wasn't intending to suggest that they're going to end up burning books over there, or, worse still, people. I was intending to suggest that a consistent policy of purging a coin forum of some of the brightest and freest-thinking minds in the business is going to end up with closed minds and a captive forum.

[Kurtdog]

Ah, found it!

Oh, I didn't see this. Braddick, take a look out your window. Do you see that 9-year-old out there going by on his bicycle with that iPod stuck in his ear? Five minutes ago he posted the start-up instructions for a Boeing 747 on Wikipedia. Give me a break!

[chinook]

Drama on the NGC boards??!!

 

Say it aint so.

 

 

[Kurtdog]

It ain't so as far as I'm concerned. Misunderstandings happen. That's all this was, a misunderstanding.

[braddick]

I should have placed a smilie after my two posts above. That's on me.

Kurtdog, you're one of the best on this forum. My posts were not meant to harm or be caustic. I apologize for my part in any misunderstanding.

 

(Admittedly, I don't get the iPod nine year old riding a bike reference though. . .)

[WoodenJefferson]

I have nothing to add or subtract, I am merely here.