collectors vs. enthusiasts

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Wed Oct 13 20:35:45 1999

I wrote:
> <rant>
> That's because eBay is where "collectors" hang out. Not people like
> us, for whom collector is an insufficient/inaccurate term.

"George Currie" <g_at_kurico.com>
> Whereas I agree that there is a differentiation between the
> "collector" and the "enthusiast", I must take umbrage to the ,again,
> generalization of the person who pays "too much" on ebay
> automatically being "collector assholes, just because he had deep
> pockets".

I don't believe I said anything of the sort. I said that "collectors"
hang out on eBay, but I never said that enthusiasts don't.

> Are you implying that one must be of modest means to be an
> "enthusiast".

No, I didn't. I've seen enthusiasts pay enormous amounts of money
for certain items. I've done it myself. What I object to is having
to do it because some non-enthusiast asshole has more dollars than
sense. More about this later.

> If you saw a rare whatnot that you had always loved
> and wanted to tinker with, and had the financial means to acquire
> it, would you let it go to the scrap because you thought the asking
> price was too high?

No. But I still might complain about the price.

> Would you let it go to a "collector asshole"
> because you thought the asking price was too high?

Yes, if the "asking price" was "too high". "Too high" is a
subjective measure. I never buy ANYTHING that I think is priced
"too high". Of course, tommorow's value of "too high" may be
different from today's.

> Now of course, there are people who would purchase something
> simply for the "coolness" of having it.

Those are the people that buy perfectly good, working core memory
planes, and destroy them to make wall hangings. Those are the
people for whom I believe there should be a special place reserved
in hell. I don't think I'm alone in that opinion.

> I fully understand the frustration, but venting it by making
> generalizations of those who happen to be better financially
> equipped than you, or are just willing to pay more for something
> than you, is just immature.

If complaining about life's injustices is immature, then I'm
immature. But then, so's most everyone else I know.

In fact, aren't you complaining about me based on some generalization
you've made regarding me? Sounds immature to me. :-)

> Call the guy who purchased an Altair for $2K an
> asshole/loser collector/not worthy,

Depends on why he purchased it. Maybe he is, maybe not. But I've
had personal experiences with people who I *KNOW* were just
"collectors" and had no interest in machines other than because
they are "collectable". I.e., they had no experience with the
particular machine, and no real interest in learning about it.
If you don't think those people are assholes, fine. I do.

Others suggested distinguishing between people who view collecting
as an "investment", vs. people who collect for completeness. I
don't see that as being nearly as useful a distinction, because
there are two kinds of people who collect for completeness. Using
the Atari 8-bit example:

1) People who want every last Atari model and peripheral because
    they actually like and care about Ataris. That still maps to
    my "enthusiast" category.

2) People who want every last Atari model and peripheral because they
    happen to think they are collectable, even though they have no real
    personal interest in Atari stuff. And they don't really care
    whether the machine is in working order, or about keeping it that
    way if it is. They may or may not think it is an investment. Yes,
    I've met people like that. And that's who I was referring to as a
    "collector". Yes, I consider those people to be assholes. That's
    my opinion, and I'm not trying to force it on anyone else.

Obviously I should be more precise in my terminology: I divide people
buying old computers into "enthusiasts" (who might be collectors) and
"non-enthusiast collectors" (who may or may not be "investors"). The
fact that some collectors are also enthusiasts does not make me like the
"non-enthusiast collectors".

Eric
Received on Wed Oct 13 1999 - 20:35:45 BST