Just a quick post today to reiterate a point that was recently made on the blog. Recently we blogged in relation to five things that the Facebook groups could learn from the vintage collecting forums. Well there was a discussion yesterday on a similar topic on Rebelscum and one of the most knowledgeable and popular collectors mentioned that he was removing himself from several Facebook groups. Other collectors also raised their distaste for the Facebook groups. This is just one example of the current sentiment that is prevalent among the community of veteran collectors and which was clearly evident in this Rebelscum thread.

This attitude towards the Facebook groups is a real shame because these old school collectors have a great deal they could contribute to discussions on Facebook but are being pushed away by poor behaviour and people who are unwilling to listen to educated opinions. I know this doesn’t bother a lot of users, but I know on the other hand that there are a lot of serious up and coming collectors on Facebook who are missing out. While it may be easy to simply label some veteran collectors as snobs and say good riddance, we need to take responsibility for our own behaviour in these groups. Let’s do our best to encourage collectors across the whole spectrum of experience to contribute.

Here is the article that relates to this discussion:

http://vintagestarwarscollectors.com/five-things-facebook-star-wars-groups-can-learn-from-the-forums/

While I’m on my rant (they don’t happen often so stay with me!), I also made a new resolution today. I often engage one post wonders or other individuals who simply use Facebook to suck the blood out of us and give back nada. So rather than be bothered by it, I will simply scroll past posts such as ‘How much is this worth?’ or ‘What is this figure?’ I have no problem with these posts but I do have a problem with people making no effort to greet the group before they ask for help or to thank people who take their time to respond. Getting help either on the groups or the forums is a privilege not a right so a little bit of manners would be fantastic. Please join me in ignoring these posts!

And another past blog article relevant to the above:

Ten tips for dealing with other collectors on social networking sites