Originally Posted by Darklord1967 View Post
Greetings everyone.
I'm new to these boards, with an area of interest primarily in STAR WARS fandom and toy collecting.
I'm starting this thread to draw attention to a very sad state of affairs that seems to be creeping into our hobby and is killing a lot of the enjoyment for some of us.
I'm talking about an alarming general lack of courtesy and respect for other collectors and fans.
Recently, I discovered an entire thread on this message board (from about a year and a half ago) that was actually dedicated to trashing my STAR WARS toy collection and attacking me personally.
I've been the target of this type of thing before, so I really wasn't too surprised.
However, I did find some of these attacks to be particularly vicious. A few folks defended me. But for the most part, posters were adamant that I was "showing off", or that my collection was "quantity over quality", or even that there was something "...psychologically wrong..." with me for choosing to collect the way I do. One poster at the end of the thread even went so far as to suggest that someone should break into my home and "heist" my collection.
I won't get into a long diatribe about the fact that I don't have the desire, space, or time to set up (and maintain) a huge sprawling diorama display of my collection. I won't explain about my facination with STAR WARS squadrons (and therefore my style of collecting). I'm not going to explain at length (for like the 20th time) that virtually every item in my STAR WARS toy collection has been thoroughly enjoyed out of its package at some point or other.
I've explained all of these things before ad-nauseum, and in the end, it is pointless. All it serves to do is build the notion that I somehow have to defend, justify and legitimize why my collection has the configuration that it does.
I realize that people are going to say whatever they want on these message boards. After all, anonymity makes some people pretty brave (and rude) when they do not have to answer to anyone personally.
However, it does trouble me that some choose to label my efforts at sharing my collection with the rest of the collecting community as "showing off" or "bragging".
I don't recall ever posting that my collection was bigger or better than anyone else's, that it was the best or only way to collect, that other people are wrong for not collecting the way I do, or that other people should have their homes broken into and their collections stolen.
Yet these things have been said against me by the very people labeling me a braggart. I never once suggested (on ANY message board) that my collection was of a size and /or variety configuration of a Steve Sansweet or Philip Wise.
Am I proud of my collection? You bet. But then who isn't? And because I'm proud of the collection that I've built, does that automatically make me a "show-off" or a "braggart"? The whole purpose of the "Collections" sections of these message boards is for collectors to... well... show their collections. Are all of them "showing off" too? Most of these collectors interested in sharing and showcasing their collections post photos on various sites... not just one or two.
I guess to some degree, the old mantra of "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all" escapes a lot of people these days.
That's fine.
But speaking for myself, I've seen a lot of STAR WARS collections showcased on these message boards that are of a size and a configuration that are completely different from my own. Yet I would never dream of attacking someone's collection (or them personally) simply for being different from me.
That, when it looks like it, smells like it, and sounds like it, you call it what it is. Bigotry. Envy. Jealousy. Pure and simple.
As I said, I've dealt with this type of flaming before. But this thread somehow labeled me as the anti-social paranoid nutcase who sees everything as an attack when I forcefully and articulately defended myself against a rude poster on another site.
But I now calmly and rationally ask any of you: How would you interpret comments like you probably have no friends, there's something "...psychologically wrong..." with you, or that your home should be broken into and your collection stolen?
Would you consider that a form of personal attack?
How would you feel if these conclusions about you were posted by strangers who did not know you personally, and who were drawing their conclusions from something as inocuous and insignificant as how many Tie Fighters you own, or the fact that you have them stored in their original packaging?
How would you feel reading vicious comments by people who have never spoken to you, or have never even heard your viewpoint, that label you as an "idiot"?
In the end, I know that this is all very trivial and unimportant. The vast majority of respondents to the photos of my collection have been very nice and have had wonderful things to say. For those people, and their sentiments, I am most grateful.
And I know that one cannot please everyone.
However, I've always believed that the whole purpose of collecting anything (other than personal enjoyment), is to share and commune with others of similar interest.
It is my sincere hope to do that with all of you here on this site.
And in the final analysis, it is that type of communal comeraderie that these countless online message boards and chat rooms are intended for.
To that end, my wife and I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting many online friends face to face in our area, and we've invited them into our home. I've spent hours enjoying obscure objects in my collection in the company of fine friends and neighbors from all over the country.
I've routinely given away parts of my collection to children and to other collectors for nothing more than the sheer enjoyment of seeing the smile on their faces. To me, these are the only reasons to collect STAR WARS toys.
To me, that is the very sprirt of what STAR WARS stands for.
Thanks for listening.
This thread is hilarious. Thanks for the laugh, guys. Darklord, if you really take all the comment this seriously, then you should take on a different hobby.
