Observations on the current state of the hobby from a show this weekend

[solt0131]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

Chantilly in 2.5 weeks

Will the crowd be light?

Not around the Showtime Sports quad. That is by far the busiest section of the show, hands down. They do a great job with pricing and organization and bulk deals.

[premium1981]

Originally Posted by ScooterD

^^^All this

Can’t imagine why people wouldn’t want to spend their free time being called stupid, a moron, a loser, a degenerate, and being told that their opinions don’t matter on a hobby message board.

Plenty more to add to that list.

Boi
Pumper
Fanatics Boot Licker
Sheep

I limit my posting on product pages because you can't get excited about anything without people climbing all over you. There are some products I enjoy opening, some I enjoy holding sealed to sell sealed, some I like to just track prices on with no intention of buying (its the math brain). There just isn't a lot of reason to post in them because you know what responses you get.

And I get it, products are expensive and don't have the value they once did within them. But as I've always said, if every single product sucks in your mind maybe you should find another hobby. Or just stop posting at the very least. We all get it. This product sucks, the last product sucks, and the next product will suck. People shouldn't feel the need to refresh their same posts over and over with no variation to it. I'm fine with people voicing their problems with a product because we all have issues with some releases. I can respect those view points if it comes from a poster who has something constructive to add from time to time in threads. But the ones we are talking about don't. All negative, all the time, everything sucks, please don't blame me for how bad the boards are, its all Fanatics fault. It gets so tiring. And again, it comes back to lack of self-awareness. They don't understand how everyone views them and they think they are an asset to the site when they are the cancer that has caused the site to become sickly.

[Crosby 87]

Originally Posted by premium1981

This is just not true. I know for a fact that posters have left because of the boards toxicity. In other spaces these boards are mentioned with words like "cesspool". I even go through spells myself where I stay away because it gets so irritating when every thread has the same posters taking dumps in them.

If the half top dozen negative trollers on here left and were replaced by quality posters things would quickly change. You may think products suck, but our hobby is massively popular right now. It isn't the cards. Its the vibe here. About the only people who think otherwise are the ones doing the dumping in every thread. Its no different than being in a work/office environment with a toxic employee or two. It ruins it for everyone. And that toxic person always thinks its something or someone else. That whole lack of self-awareness thing.

With some hard work you should be able to get rid of the half top dozen negative trollers on here.

[bub838]

Going to a show that's primarily Pokemon this weekend. It's Saturday only, but it's grown in size from 70ish tables five months ago to close to 200. Pokemon boom going strong.

My four year old decided that Bulbasaur is his favorite so I'll check it out and see if I can find some cool cards for him. I'll check out any sports that may have wandered in there as well. Looking forward to it.

[premium1981]

Originally Posted by Crosby 87

With some hard work you should be able to get rid of the half top dozen negative trollers on here.

Not completely sure which method you are hinting at. Only the mods can get rid of them. Blowout has a good set of board policies and they allow people to post freely which I respect as long as it doesn't cross any lines. The troll gang here know how far they can push the line, and they don't technically break the rules with their posts. Which is why they are still here I would assume.

If you are talking about the ignore button, that doesn't fix the boards. I can ignore them and you can ignore them, but the site can never improve if they are still here and still doing the same thing because anyone who joins and reads the nonsense over and over will just leave. And also, negative breeds negative while positive breeds positive. So on a board that has a cynical view of everything, it will be more likely to attract and keep other cynical viewers and the positive ones will leave.

[Big35Hurt]

Originally Posted by bub838

Going to a show that's primarily Pokemon this weekend. It's Saturday only, but it's grown in size from 70ish tables five months ago to close to 200. Pokemon boom going strong.

My four year old decided that Bulbasaur is his favorite so I'll check it out and see if I can find some cool cards for him. I'll check out any sports that may have wandered in there as well. Looking forward to it.

I went to a new show over the weekend. It was probably 80% TCG but I am happy to say I was able to find a few baseball cards for my PC. You never know unless you check or ask. Good luck!

[bblair_2002]

Card shows these days for me are hit or miss.

Although I'm well aware how big TCGs are these days,it does aggravate me when 30-40% of the tables are dedicated to them. I also understand that while the kids are looking for them the dads,for the most part,will be looking for sportscards.

On the sportscard front,I pretty much pass over any table that's all graded cards because they're not my thing. It's also difficult finding tables with baseball compared to other sports. I'm also a bargain bin nut and love digging through them and sometimes they are plenty,sometimes not. Also,finding set needs and Pujols PC needs have proven difficult as of late.

[PLB9eight]

Originally Posted by Twalk1975

Have you done your bubble check today?

Zero chance of that happening. It’s a shame that some of the most knowledgeable on here have to constantly tear everything down.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by Twalk1975

Have you done your bubble check today?

I’ll make a deal with you. As long as you don’t cry that this place can’t be turned around because everyone already left, I’ll leave for a year so you can rehabilitate the boards into what they used to be.

[auctionjmm]

Originally Posted by premium1981

Plenty more to add to that list.

Boi
Pumper
Fanatics Boot Licker
Sheep

I limit my posting on product pages because you can't get excited about anything without people climbing all over you. There are some products I enjoy opening, some I enjoy holding sealed to sell sealed, some I like to just track prices on with no intention of buying (its the math brain). There just isn't a lot of reason to post in them because you know what responses you get.

And I get it, products are expensive and don't have the value they once did within them. But as I've always said, if every single product sucks in your mind maybe you should find another hobby. Or just stop posting at the very least. We all get it. This product sucks, the last product sucks, and the next product will suck. People shouldn't feel the need to refresh their same posts over and over with no variation to it. I'm fine with people voicing their problems with a product because we all have issues with some releases. I can respect those view points if it comes from a poster who has something constructive to add from time to time in threads. But the ones we are talking about don't. All negative, all the time, everything sucks, please don't blame me for how bad the boards are, its all Fanatics fault. It gets so tiring. And again, it comes back to lack of self-awareness. They don't understand how everyone views them and they think they are an asset to the site when they are the cancer that has caused the site to become sickly.

Not only that, but their opinions aren't even reflective of the hobby at large. One of the things I love about setting up at shows is the passion and positivity of everyone who attends. I rarely have someone come up to my booth to complain about the hobby. Whether they are building their PC or just looking for a good bargain to flip, they are there because they want to be and they love it. If this thread existed literally anywhere else, it would be filled with good people, good stories, and positive energy.

All of that is vilified here. A 12 year old holding a Zion case is treated like a problem on BO. A YouTuber with a camera is treated like a problem on BO. If you like the products, you are a sheep. Anyone who makes decent money in the hobby is assumed to be a crook or a fraud who is riddled in debt that they are hiding.

I'm at the point where I consider "Boi" to be a term of endearment. It means you're doing something right. I wish more of them would call me "boi". I just need to work harder to earn it I guess.

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by auctionjmm

Not only that, but their opinions aren't even reflective of the hobby at large. One of the things I love about setting up at shows is the passion and positivity of everyone who attends. I rarely have someone come up to my booth to complain about the hobby. Whether they are building their PC or just looking for a good bargain to flip, they are there because they want to be and they love it. If this thread existed literally anywhere else, it would be filled with good people, good stories, and positive energy.

All of that is vilified here. A 12 year old holding a Zion case is treated like a problem on BO. A YouTuber with a camera is treated like a problem on BO. If you like the products, you are a sheep. Anyone who makes decent money in the hobby is assumed to be a crook or a fraud who is riddled in debt that they are hiding.

I'm at the point where I consider "Boi" to be a term of endearment. It means you're doing something right. I wish more of them would call me "boi". I just need to work harder to earn it I guess.

Yeah, boi!

[mc1]

Originally Posted by premium1981

This is just not true. I know for a fact that posters have left because of the boards toxicity. In other spaces these boards are mentioned with words like "cesspool". I even go through spells myself where I stay away because it gets so irritating when every thread has the same posters taking dumps in them.

This is just sad. I wonder how some people function out in the “real” world. It is full of liars, snakes, trolls, back-stabbers, and two-faced people! These boards are a breeze compared to some, heck MOST of the places out there!

[Twalk1975]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

I’ll make a deal with you. As long as you don’t cry that this place can’t be turned around because everyone already left, I’ll leave for a year so you can rehabilitate the boards into what they used to be.

Sounds good. Let's do it.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Ship has sailed. When he made that comment yesterday, there were three card product threads threads on page 1.

Panini Impeccable
Dynamic Duals
2025 Bowman

Bowman has been out for a month and it’s still only a 12 page thread. Five years ago you would have had 20 pages before release. The primary driver of Blowout traffic is now gone because the products suck. Some like to blame certain posters for driving everyone away. It’s a convenient excuse. If the products were worth talking about, people would be here talking about them.

Although it doesn't happen often, this is a rare case where Khal and I agree....Heritage released about a month ago and isn't even on the front page any more....most of the threads on the front page are player threads focused on that players' investment potential.

Products are generally overpriced and stale.....and the general lack of pre-release info means that there isn't much to talk about anyway.

For example, the only upcoming product (in any sport) that I'm remotely excited about is Chrome Platinum Anniversary.....and we have no idea when it's going to be released, what the cards are going to look like (1955 design is presumed) or at what price point. So for a collector like me, there isn't all that much to talk about, on BO or anywhere else.

[oldgoldy97]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Although it doesn't happen often, this is a rare case where Khal and I agree....Heritage released about a month ago and isn't even on the front page any more....most of the threads on the front page are player threads focused on that players' investment potential.

Products are generally overpriced and stale.....and the general lack of pre-release info means that there isn't much to talk about anyway.

For example, the only upcoming product (in any sport) that I'm remotely excited about is Chrome Platinum Anniversary.....and we have no idea when it's going to be released, what the cards are going to look like (1955 design is presumed) or at what price point. So for a collector like me, there isn't all that much to talk about, on BO or anywhere else.

Remember when a product would release and there would be 50 posts about the case/box breaks people had?

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by oldgoldy97

Remember when a product would release and there would be 50 posts about the case/box breaks people had?

I'm trying to remember when a product released and I said to myself "hey, that's a cool product and the boxes are reasonably priced....I'll buy a few."

Been a while since that happened.....I think the last non-Heritage box I opened was 2019 or 2020 Archives.

I built last year's Chrome Platinum Anniversary by buying cheap lots on EBay, and have been collecting the True Black Chromes #/10, and I've bought complete sets and some singles of both Topps Black and Cosmic Chrome....but the boxes for all three of those products are/were way overpriced.

[bub838]

Originally Posted by mc1

This is just sad. I wonder how some people function out in the “real” world. It is full of liars, snakes, trolls, back-stabbers, and two-faced people! These boards are a breeze compared to some, heck MOST of the places out there!

I think most people just want to enjoy their hobby with other people. Doesn't have anything to do with how they "function in the real world"

[theshowandme]

Most of us need to accept that people have different priorities when it comes to cards

$ is very high on the list for many people

[shawnkrebs]

https://csashows.com/guests/

click on the player and it should give prices on what the autographer will sign

[NickyCards]

What's wrong with Chantilly? Everyone says it's one of the best.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by NickyCards

What's wrong with Chantilly? Everyone says it's one of the best.

Heavy folks, evidently

[theshowandme]

Originally Posted by NickyCards

What's wrong with Chantilly? Everyone says it's one of the best.

It is one of the best

[shawnkrebs]

Nothing is wrong with Chantilly.

Its as busy a show as its ever been.

[kipgen]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

Most of us need to accept that people have different priorities when it comes to cards

$ is very high on the list for many people

I also don't see how that's unreasonable

The cooler a card is (the nicer looking, lower numbered, shinier, better patch, better auto) generally the more expensive it is

It makes sense that as a fan of a player you like watching play that you'd also be concerned with the value of a nice card you're thinking of buying

Unless money is not a concern to you at all I'd be very doubtful that anyone is willing to spend one, five, or ten thousand dollars on a card and be totally fine with it becoming worthless (at least within a realistic timespan)

[PuddleMonkey]

Originally Posted by Big35Hurt

I went to a new show over the weekend. It was probably 80% TCG but I am happy to say I was able to find a few baseball cards for my PC. You never know unless you check or ask. Good luck!

No pics?