• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

CGC v CBCS v PGX
1 1

Started by theCapraAegagrus,

129 posts in this topic

Buzzetta

Buzzetta

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

So, those granny panties could have been a little less...er...granny....but look at that face, those eyes, that hair.

Was there ANYONE more perfect for this role...?

:luhv:

 

Yes,

I know I am about to be slapped for this but...  GG > LC

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Buzzetta

Buzzetta

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

There may still be some misunderstanding. "Suspension" at the CBCS board means the same thing as a "strike" used to here: a set period of time during which a person is not allowed to post, but after which, such restrictions are removed. For clarity's sake.

The administration and moderation of the CBCS board is such that they've taken an aggressive stance towards banning those who criticize them...justly or not...which has resulted in many people being banned, some of which were vociferously protested by the denizens of the CBCS forum, which, likewise, resulted in further draconian action. I was not the first person banned at the CBCS board, and I certainly won't be the last.

One of the worst problems of the board was the toxic culture that was tolerated (and even encouraged) by their moderation, whereby anyone who voiced an opinion that disagreed with the loud "clique" would be pounced upon en masse. I warned moderation not to tolerate this behavior, because the alligator doesn't care who he eats...and sure enough, when CBCS failed to do something in the manner that group wanted...they turned on CBCS just as fiercely...for example, when user "Darth Lego" was banned.

And when Darth Lego was banned, his avatar was replaced by moderation with the one of Allison Hannigan, holding Thor's hammer (and I believe wearing a shirt with a CBCS logo on it), which stated "One time...at banned camp"...essentially official mockery of the now-banned person. 

That's grossly unprofessional, incredibly petty, and completely beneath what is supposedly trying to be a respected grading company. I warned them about this, the optics of such a move, and that, too, was ignored. You cannot moderate based on your personal opinions about ANYONE, or you fail. You cannot help but fail.

Of course, by making myself a critic, it was only a matter of time before I had to go, too. 

I just went through their suspension / moderation thread.  SMH... some of their suspensions seem pretty ridiculous, other are of the same people that have been permanently banned here for the same reasons.  I am not going to give anyone a public shout out in either category.  Let a couple of people wonder if I am talking about them and maybe they will correct themselves.  I stopped going there when I became fed up with the way their forums are arranged.  

 

I was curious as to who they suspended preemptively because they figured out who he was. 

Edited by Buzzetta
Link to comment
Share on other sites
woowoo

woowoo

Posted
Posted
On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 7:07 AM, 1Cool said:

CGC = Lexus (Great product - Great re-sale - Great Customer Service)

CBCS - Hyundai (Just Fine product -  Ok Resale - Good Customer Service)

PGX - Ford Pinto - Not a good idea to buy

:whatthe: I had a ford pinto and it was a great car so please don't compare PGX with a Ford Pinto that I could drive all day for 50 cents (thumbsu.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

I just went through their suspension / moderation thread.  SMH... some of their suspensions seem pretty ridiculous, other are of the same people that have been permanently banned here for the same reasons.  I am not going to give anyone a public shout out in either category.  Let a couple of people wonder if I am talking about them and maybe they will correct themselves.  I stopped going there when I became fed up with the way their forums are arranged.  

 

I was curious as to who they suspended preemptively because they figured out who he was. 

One of the "several suspensions" that the "Tim Bildhauser" person cited as a reason for my ban was because I made a post in one of the stickied threads asking if they would please not lock threads without a moderation comment at the very least, because locking threads on a particular poster's post gives the impression of agreeing with that position, no matter who it was...or, if that wasn't acceptable, to just delete the thread entirely. It was just a polite request. That request was met with a suspension for "questioning the decisions of moderation."

Apparently, another user who sparred with me was so upset about my ban, he posted some critical comments regarding censorship...which resulted in a one month suspension for him.

After I was banned, I had to check out the board through a VPN...because they don't notify you that you've been banned, you just get a page that says "connection error"...and discovered that one of their moderators had "liked" the post banning me, thus giving up even the pretense of impartiality. 

These are signs of deep cultural rot, and indicative of far, far more serious problems with the culture of the company. These are behaviors you'd expect on a private blog...not a company which has to have an immense amount of trust, dealing with valuable and delicate collectibles. They must be thoroughly above reproach, in every regard, if they were to hope to compete with the established leader. It's axiomatic: if you can't be trusted with the little things, you can't be trusted with the big things.

I supported CBCS, I encouraged CBCS, I wanted them to succeed, because competition makes everyone better. And they were in a position to legitimately do so. But they were simply unprepared and unequipped. And that's a genuine, real shame. :(

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, woowoo said:

:whatthe: I had a ford pinto and it was a great car so please don't compare PGX with a Ford Pinto that I could drive all day for 50 cents (thumbsu.

 

My first car was a 1976 Mercury Bobcat....aka "Ford Pinto with a different name." I loved that dumpy little car.

:cloud9:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DanCooper

DanCooper

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, woowoo said:
On 8/31/2018 at 10:07 AM, 1Cool said:

PGX - Ford Pinto - Not a good idea to buy

:whatthe: I had a ford pinto and it was a great car so please don't compare PGX with a Ford Pinto that I could drive all day for 50 cents (thumbsu.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lazyboy

Lazyboy

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

I just went through their suspension / moderation thread.  SMH... some of their suspensions seem pretty ridiculous, other are of the same people that have been permanently banned here for the same reasons.  I am not going to give anyone a public shout out in either category.  Let a couple of people wonder if I am talking about them and maybe they will correct themselves.  I stopped going there when I became fed up with the way their forums are arranged.  

 

I was curious as to who they suspended preemptively because they figured out who he was. 

3JJr? I'm wondering who he really is, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sqeggs

Sqeggs

Posted
Posted (edited)

A couple of stray observations in a thread that may not survive the weekend:

I've been burned a number of times with PGX books coming back from CGC with significantly lower grades and woes that PGX had not caught.  That said, if you are going to roll the dice buying some of their slabs, stick with books graded pre-2010.  They give the grading date on the label -- something I wish CGC would do.  There's no guarantee that grades will hold up even with books from that period, but your chances are better in my experience. I would not submit raw books to them for grading because their reputation is such that you will not receive anything close to FMV should you sell the books, even if the grades are accurate.

I've probably resubmitted about 50 CBCS books to CGC over the past few years.  I don't have the records in front of me, but I think about 60% to 70% have come back with a lower grade (somewhat fewer -- maybe 40% -- have come back with worse pq).  The rest have come back with the same grade (sometimes after a press).  None came back with a higher grade and I don't remember any coming back with better pq.  One came back with a purple label.  The problem there was that CBCS gave a pass to a bit of glue on the spine that CGC considered resto.

Edited by Sqeggs
Typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cozmo-One

Cozmo-One

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

One of the "several suspensions" that the "Tim Bildhauser" person cited as a reason for my ban was because I made a post in one of the stickied threads asking if they would please not lock threads without a moderation comment at the very least, because locking threads on a particular poster's post gives the impression of agreeing with that position, no matter who it was...or, if that wasn't acceptable, to just delete the thread entirely. It was just a polite request. That request was met with a suspension for "questioning the decisions of moderation."

Apparently, another user who sparred with me was so upset about my ban, he posted some critical comments regarding censorship...which resulted in a one month suspension for him.

After I was banned, I had to check out the board through a VPN...because they don't notify you that you've been banned, you just get a page that says "connection error"...and discovered that one of their moderators had "liked" the post banning me, thus giving up even the pretense of impartiality. 

These are signs of deep cultural rot, and indicative of far, far more serious problems with the culture of the company. These are behaviors you'd expect on a private blog...not a company which has to have an immense amount of trust, dealing with valuable and delicate collectibles. They must be thoroughly above reproach, in every regard, if they were to hope to compete with the established leader. It's axiomatic: if you can't be trusted with the little things, you can't be trusted with the big things.

I supported CBCS, I encouraged CBCS, I wanted them to succeed, because competition makes everyone better. And they were in a position to legitimately do so. But they were simply unprepared and unequipped. And that's a genuine, real shame. :(

 

I don't have an account on their forums, but I decided to read a bit of them yesterday.  I saw one where they mentioned you by name yesterday (assuming you are RMA?) and they thought you were trolling them or something...I didn't quite follow it, but the moderator also agreed.  So, congrats I guess (and sorry if I'm misreading it)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted (edited)
45 minutes ago, Cozmo-One said:

I don't have an account on their forums, but I decided to read a bit of them yesterday.  I saw one where they mentioned you by name yesterday (assuming you are RMA?) and they thought you were trolling them or something...I didn't quite follow it, but the moderator also agreed.  So, congrats I guess (and sorry if I'm misreading it)

Congrats...?

If a member of the public complains about or criticizes a company, generally, the best course of action is to either address the issue(s) directly and impersonally, or ignore them. The very worst thing any company could possibly do is take those complaints or that criticism personally, and respond "tit for tat", especially when there's an obvious and overwhelming "power gap": I don't own a company, and do not own and control a forum from which I can say anything I want about CBCS. I'm just one person, expressing his views, to the extent I am allowed, on a competitor's forum. I'm nobody, so why would anything I have to say be given any weight by acknowledging it in any way...unless what I say is true?

Keep in mind: I'm not allowed to post on their forum, so I cannot respond there to anything said about me. To my knowledge, none of them is prevented from posting here, and I couldn't prevent them if I wanted to (and I don't.) Who holds the cards, here...?

I haven't gone over to check, but if what you've said is true...and I have no reason to doubt it....such actions give weight to the things I've been saying: there's a toxic, rotted culture at CBCS that will destroy them from the inside out if drastic measures aren't taken, soon. 

Far from supporting and encouraging that, they should be taking a long, hard look at themselves and do some serious house cleaning, before it's too late...if, indeed, it isn't already. I'm not CBCS' problem: CBCS is.

Edited by RockMyAmadeus
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
1 1
Go to topic listing