Why Do Some People Have To Be Negative?

I belong to a facebook group dedicated, I thought, to serious philately and sharing what we have in our collections.

In the last week I've posted a few stamps I'm rather proud of having as part of my collection.

One individual, who I won't name, has taken it upon himself to try to point out every flaw on stamps which are certified by The Philatelic Foundation, of all places.

What is the point of this. I'm so irritated that it's actually kept me from working on my collection the last day or so.

I'm sorry. If you feel the only justification of your existence requires that you denigrate what someone else is sharing, in a sense of pride of ownership, they you've got some serious issues.

What this does to others, perhaps not has knowledgeable, is to drive them away from the hobby.

This does not help anyone in any way, shape or fashion. It just makes people more wary of joining a hobby where certificates are challenged in an open forum with no more justification than the writer's supposed experience.

If anyone thinks there's a problem with a stamp posted, the way to let them know is privately and apart from the posting. Then, the owner can justify the validity of their holdings without disparaging comments from the supposed "expert."

Here's are the stamps posted to that Facebook thread which the responder took exception to:

The first stamp shown here, the poster wanted to insist that the second perf from the top was added, despite the PF certificate which did not mention anything to that. I've dipped the stamp and there is absolutely nothing showing. If this is a repaired perf tip added, it's the best job I've ever seen in my over 50 years of collecting.





The second stamp, Scott 500, he wanted to insist it was a 499, despite the certificate.






Even after providing the 1200 dpi image which clearly shows the correct attributes for a Type 1a stamp, which is supported by the certificate, this individual insisted there was "something about the right perfs he didn't like..."

Really? I'm so irritated by this "expertizer" that I'm about ready to drop from the Facebook group.

Am I missing something here?

I'm very sorry that you've been upset by this person's actions. Unfortunately in the age of the internet people who are like this have a much wider reach than in the old days, and they can spread their nastiness far and wide.

In the old days all they could do was gossip at the grocery store or school gate or wherever, and if you didn't want to listen to them you just avoided them. Now they are everywhere and their tentacles reach through the ether into your room or your private places where you'd thought you were safe and happy.

I notice that these people often comment on newspaper articles that I read too, far more nasty comments are posted than anything else, as if the posters can only get pleasure from being unpleasant to people. I suspect that often they haven't got anything to be pleased about in their lives so they get their pleasure from belittling your successes.

Years ago somebody said to me that if I was nervous going into an interview, just imagine that you were being interviewed by someone who was naked or was just a totally inappropriate being that you'd be unimpressed by in that situation - Shrek? Mickey Mouse? By doing something similar in this case, maybe you could avoid letting this bitter commenter get into your head.

And of course above all feel sorry for them, they must be very unhappy.

He's jealous of what you have - as simple as that.

I've learned some people are like that - some people see others as above or better than themselves, which they don't like, so instead of trying to raise themselves up, they try to pull the other person down. Like the kid in the playground who stamps on someone's new shoes.

Just thank him for his views and proceed to ignore.

Hi Stampman2002,
I have found that I typically cannot control the things around me, I only have full control over what I am thinking. As such, I work on not 'renting head space' to those who act as you describe. Frankly I think that some folks seek online arguments and are willing to hide behind the anonymous nature of the internet. They are often referred to as 'trolls' and the best way to deal with this kind of behavior is to 'do not feed the trolls'. You're a great guy and I hope you can forget the negativity and not let this influence your enjoyment of our hobby.
Don

Hi Stampman2002

There is always a village idiot in every village. I have come across armchair experts who will argue that they know more than certified experts. I learn't to ignore them and never gave them the accord they expect. You know what you have, and obviously you are a dedicated philatelist and you show your love of stamp collecting by sharing them to other philatelists on-line.

I am a specialised collector and like to show my collection on-line, I get positive comments and the rare negative troll who would like to create dissension in the group. Obviously you have very interesting US stamps, and would like to see more (though I am not a US collector), I find all early US stamps quite interesting.

Do not let such troublemakers get the better of you, you are a stamp collector, we are a stamp community, such troublemakers are extremely rare on these sites - just ignore that person, he is probably jealous of what you have.

on the 30-cent: Does the second perforation from left at top not appear distressed where it joins the body of the stamp? This is not as visible from the back.

on the 2-cent: Why are the two perforation holes at right bottom small in diameter but all others at bottom are noticeably wider in diameter?

Was it standard procedure back in 1992 and 1998 for the PF to call out faults on its certificates?

I think the old adage "If you cant say anything nice, Don't say anything at all" is the best advice for people.
I agree with the people here don't give this person a second thought or the time of day, why waste your precious time on him. some people are happy in their misery, Just my two cents worth.


Ray

When you feel them reaching out and touching you through your computer then know this is what they want. Consider them attackers and very bad people and dismiss them as this. Disrespect them and know they are not worth a second thought. And, I love those stamps, ps., How would you add ( on 2 cent) too small perfs without magically hiding another larger one. It is not anything to worry about. Good collecting.

You know the stamps you have and you're happy with them is the most important thing for you. If some people are arguing that there are imperfections with your stamps then I would really love to see their collections to see if they are that fussy with the stamps they have in their collections.

Some people would argue that Picasso is not a real painter because the portraits he made of his wife do not correspond to the way they could see that lady.

Hi Stampman,

I agree with most of the comments above. Don't let someone's comments get to you. You have some great stamps.

You're basically dealing with a "the glass is half empty" vs. "the glass is half full" type of thing.

I try to be a half full type of guy, and just look at the positives.

There are many posts here about the stamps or lots that collectors DIDN'T win when they bid on them. Some collectors seem to get quite heated and despondent about these loses.

Personally, I get a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment from the stamps that I DO own. I can't own every stamp that exists, nor do I have the room to store them or the energy to maintain them, even if I did so. Be happy with what you've got.

I've written 10 catalogs about various weird stamps over the last decade. Most buyers of the books don't say much of anything about them, one way or the other.

But of those that do, the comments are either one of these two:

Criticisms about what wasn't included, or pointing out minor typographical errors, or questioning a particular stamp's value being too high or too low, or suggesting publishing the book electronically or online instead of on paper, or pointing out other, similar inadequacies in the books, as they see them.

-or-

Compliments for a job well done, you've done much better than anything that I could have done, this is the pre-eminent work on the subject, congratulations!!

Sadly, the majority of comments are from the first group. This is just the way people are, I'm afraid.

My suggestion: don't let words that you read from, well, strangers affect your obvious enthusiasm with this great hobby.

I don't.

Jim

stampman: meh, screw the naysayer. Unfortunately, such unsolicited negativity is not unknown on this forum either.

I collect stamps for fun.
When an aspect of it ceases to be fun, I back away from there, and focus on what I enjoy.

Pfft, I was offering to help.

So there is another one, people who refuse an offer to help and then make you out to be the bad guy.

Don

I think it's worthwhile to offer a balance to the thread.

Posting on SCF, on Facebook, show-and-telling at a stamp club etc. is a shared activity, and by participating you have to accept that some people analyze with a critical eye. I find it curious here how quick people were to attack the "contrary opinion" - their response was far more negative than the original critic!

I doubt the critic in question meant anything personal. Perhaps he / she is seeking to share their knowledge, and just needs some thanks and encouragement too. If there is something to gain from their insight, you will be forever better from the learning of it.

While it is gratifying to have people praise you for your nice stamps, sometimes these words are just empty sentiment. Criticism is of value. I am equally grateful when a critic forces me to sharpen my eye, and provides me an education I never had before. And - Sometimes you educate the critic!

I value the process of learning more than the stamps themselves now. I don't subscribe to that "Haters gonna hate", "If you can't say anything nice..." notion, sometimes the critic's opinion is a kindness too.

I greatly appreciate everyone's comments.

I think the only reason this was irritating is that these stamps have certs, and from one of the best places in the country.

If the stamps were not certified, I could see the poster's point of trying to evaluate the stamp, and would appreciate it.

Okay, I'm over it now. It's time to get back into stamps!

Again, thanks all.

I will tell everyone here that I was the one who pointed out the issue with this 30 cent. Part of the reason that the facebook page was created is to expand knowledge, something which has been stated numerous times by various people who visit. This is my original statement about this stamp:

"Here is an example of the problems with certs of this era. They did very little with condition, only with genuine or not genuine. If you look carefully at the top row of perfs, the second perf from the left appears to have been added. It's still a very nice example, but today that would be called as a fault and put on the cert."

There was nothing disparaging about this, just a desire to make other collectors aware of the potential problems of certs from certain eras. The fact remains that the stamp does have an issue which would be called today, regardless of the fact that they did not call it then. Despite what some here have stated, this was not jealousy, or trolling, or anything other then a desire to make people aware of a potential problem.
As for the 500, all I stated was that it was a poor scan and genuineness could not be proven from it.
A number of people here certainly felt comfortable coming up with supposed nasty reasons for my remarks, though. Without even reading the original facebook thread.