Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION - A Must Watch! 18 18

[MatterEaterLad]

[blazingbob]

On 8/26/2021 at 11:33 AM, valiantman said:

I got 99 problems but a ditch ain't one.

The world needs ditch diggers to

[valiantman]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:40 AM, blazingbob said:

The world needs ditch diggers to

 ... buy comics? 

The world needs ditch diggers to dig ditches?

Where is this sentence going? 

[Bird]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:32 AM, Transplant said:

Has anyone yet mentioned the suspicion (knowledge) that Heritage owns/owned a piece of CGC?  

I came in a few years after it started but I was under the impression that cgc was started essentially to maximize comic revenue for heritage

[WolverineX]

On 8/26/2021 at 12:03 PM, Bird said:

I came in a few years after it started but I was under the impression that cgc was started essentially to maximize comic revenue for heritage

With everything going on now, it may not be far from the truth.

[Domo Arigato]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:38 AM, MatterEaterLad said:

Please post a list of the WATA shills and their position within the company.

Thanks.

 

[wombat]

On 8/26/2021 at 11:40 AM, blazingbob said:

The world needs ditch diggers to

Its true. A very important judge told me that. 

[COI]

On 8/26/2021 at 6:43 AM, comicwiz said:

AK, first thing I want to say is it's awesome seeing you back here posting. Now I read through the issues you presented about the way the author of the video makes his arguments, good or bad, it's effective for anyone who is just now getting into the collectibles market. Most of us knew the moment we saw Halperin was involved, and that Heirtage were getting into a relationship so quickly with an unproven grader, that this was going to be the outcome. And therein lies the problem. How many times have we seen people simply throw up an article about Halperin's NCI days (Forbes was a good one, but that one's gone or behind a paywall). Or the issues with NP Greshem - those too are conveniently slowly, and surely disappearing too. I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but these boards are too slowly going through some major purging of old threads, and whether or not they are being archived, moving that data is making it near impossible to search on it anymore using Google, because of the native search function of these boards being too rigid and time limited. As it stands, someone like myself, who understands a lot of the pre-history of the players involved might have a hard time trying to pull together all the chain of evidence to back the assertion or claim, even if it's just to warn people of how their involvement in any company is bad news for the hobby. For these reasons, I do believe the video author pieced together a lot of this from what was already being discussed on chat boards (I saw a forum site talking about the issue with Jeff Meyer from 2019). I have the corporate filing information for WATA in front of me on my screen, and he's definitely right about the people involved. In sum, I believe the video author got all the main issues teased out well enough for anyone to understand the market, and well enough that when people see what's really been going on (even if it's people with no pre-history on the people involved, or may not understand all the dynamics of the market itself), it makes a lot more sense to them now what was behind the price manipulation. And that's what essential about it's effectiveness here.

Joseph, essentially what I hear you saying is that the ends justify the means, as in, he's asking the right questions and getting some important information out there, which justifies the flawed arguments, serious accusations levied, and the expose-first-understand-later modus operandi; I don't agree with that at all.

What you find beneficial about the video and what the author claims his intentions are, simply aren't appropriate for the subject matter being discussed. He's focused on Heritage Auctions and record prices on six or seven figure collectibles. One of the main questions asked in the video is 'who are these buyers?' That's a great question, and I'd love to know that as well. The answer that Karl gives, or at least alludes to, is that the buyers aren't "real" and that Halperin and a small crew are setting these records and recirculating the games in an attempt to rev up the rest of the high end market. Putting aside for a second that he can't prove that, because again, who are the buyers, let's assume he's correct. If the buyers aren't real, who is this video trying to protect? 

This is not an attack on Karl, but there's something absurd about a guy outside of the collector market, making videos about six and seven figure sales and claiming that he's trying to protect the hobby and the people involved. You mean, the people spending five, six and even seven figures on collectibles can't do the fact-finding he did? People spending 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars can't put their big-boy pants on and take responsibility for their purchases? These buyers are so unsophisticated - an assumption which belies their ability to spend 10s of thousands on games - that they're going to be taken by the WATA founder puffing his chest on Pawn Stars? Karl spends the end of the video trying to demonstrate the harm this does to the everyday collector trying to get a Mario 64 cart because PASSION!, but we're all seasoned collectors here, and we understand that there's going to be virtually no long-term trickle-down from the sale of the top graded Mario 64 to the loose carts. You said it yourself, the long-term collector isn't really the target of this video, but the targets of this video also aren't the ones who are going to be impacted by the alleged manipulation, so again, swiss cheese.

So no, I don't think the ends justify the means, and this mentality to EXPOSE that has become rampant on the internet flies in the face of what I THOUGHT were foundational ethics, like the right to due process, innocent before proven guilty, and an established methodology for determining what constitutes evidence and a sound argument. It's funny how these righteously indignant content creators, screaming about ethics and FRAUD and DECEIT, aren't too concerned with the ethics of their own content, and don't seem to understand the impact that their mere accusations - given the size of their audience - might have on those being accused. 

[valiantman]

On 8/26/2021 at 11:03 AM, Bird said:

On 8/26/2021 at 9:32 AM, Transplant said:

Has anyone yet mentioned the suspicion (knowledge) that Heritage owns/owned a piece of CGC?  

I came in a few years after it started but I was under the impression that cgc was started essentially to maximize comic revenue for heritage

Maximizing comic revenue for legit comics, more specifically.  25% of all CGC graded copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 and over 40% of CGC graded Action Comics #1 are restored. 

How many were changing hands as "100% original" before CGC?

Edited August 26, 2021 by valiantman

[alexgross.com]

On 8/26/2021 at 9:03 AM, Bird said:

I came in a few years after it started but I was under the impression that cgc was started essentially to maximize comic revenue for heritage

is halperin also part owner of cgc? i seriously have no idea, but certainly would not even be surprised. 

[Transplant]

On 8/26/2021 at 1:29 PM, alexgross.com said:

is halperin also part owner of cgc? i seriously have no idea, but certainly would not even be surprised. 

Yes.  My post was somewhat tongue in cheek.  It's well known that Heritage owns/owned a piece of NGC/CGC. 

[GACollectibles]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:36 PM, Transplant said:

Yes.  My post was somewhat tongue in cheek.  It's well known that Heritage owns/owned a piece of NGC/CGC. 

I think Unfunny Ryan is in jeopardy of losing his title.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 8/26/2021 at 12:59 PM, wombat said:

On 8/26/2021 at 10:40 AM, blazingbob said:

The world needs ditch diggers to

Its true. A very important judge told me that. 

Was this at a work release hearing?

[wombat]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:56 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

On 8/26/2021 at 1:59 PM, wombat said:

On 8/26/2021 at 11:40 AM, blazingbob said:

The world needs ditch diggers to

Its true. A very important judge told me that. 

Was this at a work release hearing?

I was golfing. 

[mattn792]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:01 PM, wombat said:

I was golfing. 

Bushwood Country Club, no?

[kav]

On 8/26/2021 at 12:06 PM, mattn792 said:

Bushwood Country Club, no?

apparently he was there to buy the place.

[wombat]

On 8/26/2021 at 3:06 PM, mattn792 said:

Bushwood Country Club, no?

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:01 PM, wombat said:

On 8/26/2021 at 1:56 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

On 8/26/2021 at 12:59 PM, wombat said:

On 8/26/2021 at 10:40 AM, blazingbob said:

The world needs ditch diggers to

Its true. A very important judge told me that. 

Was this at a work release hearing?

I was golfing. 

[valiantman]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:32 AM, blazingbob said:

Everyone cannot be an expert in everything.

Not expert, but it doesn't take much to be "better than average" at something.  As long as you're better than average, you're doing fine on any particular subject. 

Expert takes 10,000 hours of experience, but "better than average" only requires reading more than one article on a topic.  Average reads one article.  Below average hates all those wordy-words.

[COI]

On 8/26/2021 at 3:14 PM, valiantman said:

"better than average" only requires reading more than one article on a topic.  Average reads one article headline.  Below average hates all those wordy-words.

Fixed that for you.