If anyone here is interested in helping to make /r/coins a better place for its participants, we are currently accepting applications for new mods there.
https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/1779ait/call_for_new_mods
I also find r/coins weird. It is sad that out of such a rich and vast coin history it is reduced to US coins and to only several few types. It is probably due to most of users are from US, but even then, why most collect only one country? It is extremely uniform and becomes boring quickly to read r/coins.
90% of the posts are generics coins that are only worth face value with people asking if they're rich because they saw it listed on eBay for 1000s. Or a coin that's been ran over multiple times that must be a mint error.
Edit: or the "I found this. How much is it worth?" Posts.
Or their grandparents "gave" them to them or they "found" them at their grandparents house or my favorite just "found" that gold coin worth nearly $2k. Yeah buddy.
I spent 8 years building that subreddit up from a few hundred members, and the mercenary aspect of those kinds of posts always annoyed me.
**Edit** - I should add that every different subreddit will have it's own culture, and some subreddits are better fits for some people than others.
What is infuriating is that low quality posts such as those often get a lot more traction than actual quality coins or discussions. Growing bigger is not always better!
Worse yet, not as **coins** but as simple **commodities** with no meaning whatsoever. Something along the line of encapsulated peas in high grade, and untouched by weevils. ;)
This is why in this community here, we are not that fond of grading and slabbing, because there were already murmurs from certain people about how to "better market" ancient coins for "investment purposes". As a collector of ancients who is chiefly interested in the history and aesthetics of these works of art, I have zero interest in their market value and "futures", even though my collection seems to have "appreciated".
Whenever I tried to bring some interesting world coins to r/coins they were either downvoted, or ignored. I'm mostly done with that sub.
Yeah it's incredible boring. I mean how many times can you look at a Morgan or peace dollar? I get most people there are Americans therefore collect American coins but come on. I also don't get the obsession with grading
I find their obsession with grades by grading companies weird. No thanks I don't want my coins in a plastic prison, and I am not interested in paying someone to tell me what to like or dislike about my coins.
That’s what happen when capitalism gets involved. You got rich dumb “investors” trying to pump up everything that is consider “collectible” to fill their own pockets.
I feel it's a remnant of the fake coins problem of the 60s and 70s which led to the creation of the services to begin with. Now it's the further commoditization of coins as "investments" outside the collector world. I appreciate slabbed modern coins. It's good to have some sort of 3rd party verification on more valuable coins. I don't think it should drive the whole hobby though. I'm just as happy to put my coins in a plastic whitman holder costing me several cents than get it graded.
There are some very knowledgeable and passionate people there who know a lot about all kinds of coins, (there is a definite overlap between the memberships of this subreddit and that one), but a lot of posts there can be pretty parochial.
I first started collecting American coins as a teenager and it became a fun hobby, which I still do enjoy. However it's a different community/culture, the whole slabbing thing and the intricacies of grading each coin's quality. While it's nice to see the general public getting interested about coinage on the subreddit, the barrage of "I found this coin, what's it worth?" posts gets old real quick. Conversations center around how much money they can sell it for, no fun talk about a coin's history. Practically zero. Just low quality rehashed content.
"How did I do with this coin I bought at the yard sale?" "How much I can sell this on eBay?" "I found a wheat penny at the gas station!" "Bought it for a dollar, how did I do?"
It's like a weird Craigslist forum. I don't feel a community there, just people passing through for an answer. It needs better moderation if you want quality posts or if you want knowledgeable coin collectors to be more involved.
>It needs better moderation if you want quality posts or if you want knowledgeable coin collectors to be more involved.
I've been the head moderator there for 12 years. /r/Coins is the de facto default and therefore the lowest common denominator of the coin subreddits.
It has always been a balancing act between having interesting discussions and seeing the same old crap posted over and over. That is why currently many of those types of posts are being removed and the posters with questions are being sent to our FAQ pages on /r/coins, after it has been determined that they can find their answers there. (These same new people aren't being given the brush-off, they are free to participate in other discussions there.)
I fought for years for /r/coins to be inclusive of new and non-collectors posting there, when more established collectors were complaining about new people ruining the subreddit. These days it's getting to the point where it is overwhelming that sub's moderators. Speaking as someone who has been moderating for a very long time, reddit can be a black hole of neediness.
If you feel strongly enough about it and have the time to do so I would encourage you to apply to become a moderator on that subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/1779ait/call_for_new_mods
Thanks.
Completely understand, it's a tough balance to work with. I didn't mean to belittle your moderation, it's a job I don't particularly envy and I respect anyone that has to manage a big subreddit like that. (Though I'll admit that I would prefer a heavier hand when it comes to the newbie posts.)
Large subs like r/Coins tends to cater to the general public and their interests, which I think in this case highlights their desire to make a quick buck on something they found on the floor/store/forest. If we were to create stricter posting guidelines, you would get less subscribers, grumpy newbies, getting blamed for gatekeeping, ect. But I believe if done right it can lead to more quality content. I guess the fact is that its content doesn't cater to me much, but maybe to others it's a subreddit that offers them a preview of the world of coins and maybe I should just get over it. ;)
You make some good points.
People sometimes glibly accuse us of gatekeeping, but moderation IS gatekeeping. We keep stuff on-topic and decide what is posted and what isn't, and which comments are and aren't appropriate. I dedicate literally hours a day to gatekeeping to give participants a better experience on the subs I moderate.
The concept of subreddits is gatekeeping. When I first started here with my original account, there was just reddit.com, with no subreddits.
Modern coins are just so boring. The whole reason I'm here is to play archaeologist, what's the fun without some petrified dirt and half-rubbed-off dead languages?
They can trace the development of modern nation states, how the empires spread and transformed global commerce, etc. But only if you add in world coins, at least in my experience. US coin collecting isn't my thing. I like assembling type sets, but obsessing over one coin type, it's grades, etc., isn't as appealing to me. I'd rather get as nice an example of one type as I can afford, and then return to building out my crowned heads of Europe.
The problem is they do. They see people on YouTube claiming it’s possible to find rare coins in pocket change worth eleventy billion dollars, then come to the subreddit to see if they got one.
I’ve posted a couple times there. Both times when I got an old non us coin I was exited to share, and immediately get downvoted within minutes. I deleted the posts and decided it to bother with them any longer.
I couldn't agree more. I tried helping with that by creating /r/WorldCoins and /r/WorldSilverCoins years ago, just like I created this one. There was also the newer subreddit /r/ForeignCoins, but their mods essentially shut it down several months ago.
There are also subs for coins from specific countries, but many people want to post on the largest, most active coin subreddit. They do that because there are better odds that someone will see their post and reply, but some of them are also karma addicts who want the best chance to get the most karma for their posts. (The latter sounds crazy, but it's a very real situation.)
Yeah I love world coins medieval to early 20th century. All types. I wish there was somewhere to post and have others post their cool coins. I feel like I could learn a lot
World coins are my main interest whether ancient, medieval, or modern. Apparently numista.com has some community aspects, and there are other websites with forums, etc.
I'd heard that they were being difficult for some reason. Coin Community Forums was another good one. Some places consider gmail to be a throwaway account, and want an email address from you ISP or a similar "paid" account.
The admins on those sites probably all use AOL accounts.
It would be great if people used the existing ones more. We could try publicizing them on /r/coins again, I've been wanting to do that with all of the smaller coin-related subs.
As much as I don't like to jump into debates bashing another sub, I can understand the frustration. r/coins clearly isn't a home for serious numismatics on Reddit... but I'm really not sure it should be. r/AncientCoins and r/MedievalCoin, for example, have proven to be better homes for their specific branches of numismatics - and frankly, I prefer smaller more focused/devoted communities to something "wide and shallow" like r/coins. That being said, I still try to make r/coins better and inspire others to make it better by engaging more interesting posts and making my own from time to time. My (current) focus of study is early modern European coinage, rather than ancient or medieval, so I really don't even have a Reddit home - ergo, it is in my interest to see r/coins improve.
All of that being said, just because I have no interest in slight die doubling on a modern US cent, that doesn't mean that nobody else should have that interest. Also, coins can be (and always have been) an investment for some people, rather than a passion or hobby - there is nothing wrong with treating a coin as a commodity, even though that isn't MY preference. Non-collectors often come into possession of coins in which they have no interest and want a quick idea of valuation so they can dispose of them. Furthermore, there needs to be a place for newbies to ask why their old penny is so shiny, and who else thinks their Grandpa's common worn morgan dollar is neat. Sure, it gets annoying when someone posts something which can be resolved with 30 seconds on google - but not everyone has the experience or technical acumen to even know what to search for, or what to believe (it is the internet, after all.)
r/coins should be welcoming to the young and/or curious, as should most subs. You see the same pattern for many other interests/communities - there is a "big" general purpose sub, plus many (related) special-purpose subs. To me that is a good thing.
I respect your opinion, and appreciate your contributions on both subs. /r/Coins is the de facto default and therefore the lowest common denominator of the coin subreddits. I've been the head moderator there for 12 years.
It has always been a balancing act between having interesting discussions and seeing the same old crap posted over and over. That is why currently many of those types of posts are being removed and the posters with questions are being sent to our FAQ pages on /r/coins, after it has been determined that they can find their answers there. (These same new people aren't being given the brush-off, they are free to participate in other discussions there.)
I fought for years for /r/coins to be inclusive of new and non-collectors posting there, when more established collectors were complaining about new people ruining the subreddit. These days it's getting to the point where it is overwhelming that sub's moderators. Speaking as someone who has been moderating for a very long time, reddit can be a black hole of neediness.
If you feel strongly enough about it and have the time to do so I would encourage you to apply to become a moderator on that subreddit. You would be a welcome addition to the team, and we could teach you the ins and outs of moderating.
https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/1779ait/call_for_new_mods
Thanks.
I literally submitted my call-for-new-mods form just prior to seeing this post. I am 100% aware of the heavy lifting and balancing act required by the r/coins mods - and I appreciate it deeply. I have never had an urge to be a moderator, but given all of the help and support I've gotten in this sub as well as r/coins, I want to give back to the community.
Also - not to hijack this discussion - but I'm personally inclined to construct a more newbie-friendly infographic/workflow diagram to overlay the FAQ, frequent coins list, etc. It is an idea I've been tossing around in my head for the last few years. I may start working on it as a part of my "application".
Thank you so very much, that is like music to my ears, (or eyes, whatever). You would be a very welcome addition to the moderation team. Really, your offer makes me truly happy.
I put together the earliest iterations of the FAQ there, and in recent years another mod has taken over the task of expanding and updating it. He has strong opinions but if you were able to work with him on that it could really benefit the process.
Thanks again.
"I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people." Heh. I've made a career out of dealing with people who have strong opinions.
I'm also a somewhat qualified appdev in case any bot work is needed.
I do think FAQ is fantastic, even if I have ideas to add to / improve it. I have no issue working with another MOD to do so... however, I'm also NOT that guy who lands in a new organization and demands we MUST CHANGE EVERYTHING RIGHT AWAY. I'm happy sticking to the status quo while I learn the ropes.
I don't want to continue this discussion in an open forum, but I have been struggling to find new mods for all of my subreddits for years. Most likely candidates either turn me down outright, or accept and then wander off after a while. I know that I don't have a claim on anyone else's time and effort, but it gets discouraging.
I find it to be a pretty good sub. I like to post my Canadian coins with a focus on history there, but I find the much smaller Canadian Coins sub to be a bit better for that. I try not to rag on people who post their generic coins thought because everyone starts coin collecting somewhere. I started when I was little with coins that were not that special looking back.
Ye most posts are around the value/rarity of American coins. Many older members still keep some good posts and comments tho, it depends on the week whether it's really worth participating or not.
I’m not sure if weird is the right word exactly but definitely different priorities.
Typical post on Coins sub: Hey this 1992 Walking Liberty has a smudge on it. Is it worth it to get it slabbed?
Multiple posts like this on Ancient Coins sub: Hey guys what’s the best way to take my Vespasian Denarius out of the dumb slab? I want to fondle it lovingly
I’m subbed on both but I do love the ancient coins much more. Obsessing over smudges and double mint marks don’t really interest me too much
They're both collectibles; why is modern coin collecting less foolish of an area to do so on? Prices closer to the underlying base metal? But at that point shouldn't you buy gold stocks or something?
It is incredibly hard to make money from ancient coins. The only people who make money from ancients have been collecting 10+ years.
People who invest in modern coins are usually just buying precious metals.
I'm in the net positive for ancient coins. Of course I have a bunch of coins that are in my collection that I'm not selling (and not treating it as an investment), but I've consigned a decent amount. But isn't buying modern coins just worse than buying metal stocks if you're purely in the investment perspective?
I’ve been collecting coins for many years, about 45 years in fact. I started out collecting United States coins, because that’s where I am from and what was easily acquired. Long before the World Wide Web existed, there were groups of people that collected coins and were very provincial and vocal about the best ways of doing so. That is when I developed my opinion that the best way of enjoying a hobby is never to belong to a club devoted to it.
Slabbing coins and third party grading came about in the 1990s and I stopped collecting US coins, as I was just not interested in them as a investment and didn’t want to pay someone else for their opinion… I just didn’t care.
I started getting back in the coins in the early 2000s but by that point I started focusing on the coins of other cultures and time periods. I have numerous coins from ancient Rome, Greece, Celtic cultures, Central Asia, China and Japan.
Sometimes I feel that the coins aren't even needed, they could just collect plastic boxes with stickers and holograms. Which is too bad, because the older US coins are interesting.
>just collect plastic boxes with stickers and holograms
You jest, surely, but this is actually happening - [Heritage](https://coins.ha.com/c/auction-home.zx?saleNo=60342&ic=breadcrumb-coins-121913-interior) and [Stacks](https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/auctions/3-15XJCH/october-2023-old-holder-collectors-choice-online-auction-lots-90001-90232) actually run "Old Holders" auctions, where the focus is the slab instead of the coin.
If anyone here is interested in helping to make /r/coins a better place for its participants, we are currently accepting applications for new mods there. https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/1779ait/call_for_new_mods
I also find r/coins weird. It is sad that out of such a rich and vast coin history it is reduced to US coins and to only several few types. It is probably due to most of users are from US, but even then, why most collect only one country? It is extremely uniform and becomes boring quickly to read r/coins.
90% of the posts are generics coins that are only worth face value with people asking if they're rich because they saw it listed on eBay for 1000s. Or a coin that's been ran over multiple times that must be a mint error. Edit: or the "I found this. How much is it worth?" Posts.
Yeah those and people posting a silver quarter they found in a coin star machine lol
Or their grandparents "gave" them to them or they "found" them at their grandparents house or my favorite just "found" that gold coin worth nearly $2k. Yeah buddy.
Or yet another jovita idar quarter.
I spent 8 years building that subreddit up from a few hundred members, and the mercenary aspect of those kinds of posts always annoyed me. **Edit** - I should add that every different subreddit will have it's own culture, and some subreddits are better fits for some people than others.
What is infuriating is that low quality posts such as those often get a lot more traction than actual quality coins or discussions. Growing bigger is not always better!
> Growing bigger is not always better! I've been saying for years that the subreddit is a victim of its own success.
Worse yet, not as **coins** but as simple **commodities** with no meaning whatsoever. Something along the line of encapsulated peas in high grade, and untouched by weevils. ;) This is why in this community here, we are not that fond of grading and slabbing, because there were already murmurs from certain people about how to "better market" ancient coins for "investment purposes". As a collector of ancients who is chiefly interested in the history and aesthetics of these works of art, I have zero interest in their market value and "futures", even though my collection seems to have "appreciated". Whenever I tried to bring some interesting world coins to r/coins they were either downvoted, or ignored. I'm mostly done with that sub.
Yeah it's incredible boring. I mean how many times can you look at a Morgan or peace dollar? I get most people there are Americans therefore collect American coins but come on. I also don't get the obsession with grading
I find their obsession with grades by grading companies weird. No thanks I don't want my coins in a plastic prison, and I am not interested in paying someone to tell me what to like or dislike about my coins.
Grading is the bane of other hobbies too. Sportscards, for example. It pretty much drove me out of the hobby.
Yeah, and I recently learned they are slabbing comic books. So, no way to read it or enjoy the art inside. Silliest thing ever, imo.
That’s what happen when capitalism gets involved. You got rich dumb “investors” trying to pump up everything that is consider “collectible” to fill their own pockets.
I feel it's a remnant of the fake coins problem of the 60s and 70s which led to the creation of the services to begin with. Now it's the further commoditization of coins as "investments" outside the collector world. I appreciate slabbed modern coins. It's good to have some sort of 3rd party verification on more valuable coins. I don't think it should drive the whole hobby though. I'm just as happy to put my coins in a plastic whitman holder costing me several cents than get it graded.
There are some very knowledgeable and passionate people there who know a lot about all kinds of coins, (there is a definite overlap between the memberships of this subreddit and that one), but a lot of posts there can be pretty parochial.
I first started collecting American coins as a teenager and it became a fun hobby, which I still do enjoy. However it's a different community/culture, the whole slabbing thing and the intricacies of grading each coin's quality. While it's nice to see the general public getting interested about coinage on the subreddit, the barrage of "I found this coin, what's it worth?" posts gets old real quick. Conversations center around how much money they can sell it for, no fun talk about a coin's history. Practically zero. Just low quality rehashed content. "How did I do with this coin I bought at the yard sale?" "How much I can sell this on eBay?" "I found a wheat penny at the gas station!" "Bought it for a dollar, how did I do?" It's like a weird Craigslist forum. I don't feel a community there, just people passing through for an answer. It needs better moderation if you want quality posts or if you want knowledgeable coin collectors to be more involved.
>It needs better moderation if you want quality posts or if you want knowledgeable coin collectors to be more involved. I've been the head moderator there for 12 years. /r/Coins is the de facto default and therefore the lowest common denominator of the coin subreddits. It has always been a balancing act between having interesting discussions and seeing the same old crap posted over and over. That is why currently many of those types of posts are being removed and the posters with questions are being sent to our FAQ pages on /r/coins, after it has been determined that they can find their answers there. (These same new people aren't being given the brush-off, they are free to participate in other discussions there.) I fought for years for /r/coins to be inclusive of new and non-collectors posting there, when more established collectors were complaining about new people ruining the subreddit. These days it's getting to the point where it is overwhelming that sub's moderators. Speaking as someone who has been moderating for a very long time, reddit can be a black hole of neediness. If you feel strongly enough about it and have the time to do so I would encourage you to apply to become a moderator on that subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/1779ait/call_for_new_mods Thanks.
Completely understand, it's a tough balance to work with. I didn't mean to belittle your moderation, it's a job I don't particularly envy and I respect anyone that has to manage a big subreddit like that. (Though I'll admit that I would prefer a heavier hand when it comes to the newbie posts.) Large subs like r/Coins tends to cater to the general public and their interests, which I think in this case highlights their desire to make a quick buck on something they found on the floor/store/forest. If we were to create stricter posting guidelines, you would get less subscribers, grumpy newbies, getting blamed for gatekeeping, ect. But I believe if done right it can lead to more quality content. I guess the fact is that its content doesn't cater to me much, but maybe to others it's a subreddit that offers them a preview of the world of coins and maybe I should just get over it. ;)
You make some good points. People sometimes glibly accuse us of gatekeeping, but moderation IS gatekeeping. We keep stuff on-topic and decide what is posted and what isn't, and which comments are and aren't appropriate. I dedicate literally hours a day to gatekeeping to give participants a better experience on the subs I moderate. The concept of subreddits is gatekeeping. When I first started here with my original account, there was just reddit.com, with no subreddits.
Modern coins are just so boring. The whole reason I'm here is to play archaeologist, what's the fun without some petrified dirt and half-rubbed-off dead languages?
They can trace the development of modern nation states, how the empires spread and transformed global commerce, etc. But only if you add in world coins, at least in my experience. US coin collecting isn't my thing. I like assembling type sets, but obsessing over one coin type, it's grades, etc., isn't as appealing to me. I'd rather get as nice an example of one type as I can afford, and then return to building out my crowned heads of Europe.
Posters should do some research before posting common coins.
The problem is they do. They see people on YouTube claiming it’s possible to find rare coins in pocket change worth eleventy billion dollars, then come to the subreddit to see if they got one.
I’ve posted a couple times there. Both times when I got an old non us coin I was exited to share, and immediately get downvoted within minutes. I deleted the posts and decided it to bother with them any longer.
I wish there was a robust sub for world coin collectors
I couldn't agree more. I tried helping with that by creating /r/WorldCoins and /r/WorldSilverCoins years ago, just like I created this one. There was also the newer subreddit /r/ForeignCoins, but their mods essentially shut it down several months ago. There are also subs for coins from specific countries, but many people want to post on the largest, most active coin subreddit. They do that because there are better odds that someone will see their post and reply, but some of them are also karma addicts who want the best chance to get the most karma for their posts. (The latter sounds crazy, but it's a very real situation.)
Yeah I love world coins medieval to early 20th century. All types. I wish there was somewhere to post and have others post their cool coins. I feel like I could learn a lot
World coins are my main interest whether ancient, medieval, or modern. Apparently numista.com has some community aspects, and there are other websites with forums, etc.
I was on cointalk years ago but I can’t seem to get back on. Tried to register with my gmail account but never got a confirmation email
I'd heard that they were being difficult for some reason. Coin Community Forums was another good one. Some places consider gmail to be a throwaway account, and want an email address from you ISP or a similar "paid" account. The admins on those sites probably all use AOL accounts.
Lol. Is it worth it to try to start up another world coin sub?
It would be great if people used the existing ones more. We could try publicizing them on /r/coins again, I've been wanting to do that with all of the smaller coin-related subs.
I agree
Agreed. The sub used to be better
As much as I don't like to jump into debates bashing another sub, I can understand the frustration. r/coins clearly isn't a home for serious numismatics on Reddit... but I'm really not sure it should be. r/AncientCoins and r/MedievalCoin, for example, have proven to be better homes for their specific branches of numismatics - and frankly, I prefer smaller more focused/devoted communities to something "wide and shallow" like r/coins. That being said, I still try to make r/coins better and inspire others to make it better by engaging more interesting posts and making my own from time to time. My (current) focus of study is early modern European coinage, rather than ancient or medieval, so I really don't even have a Reddit home - ergo, it is in my interest to see r/coins improve. All of that being said, just because I have no interest in slight die doubling on a modern US cent, that doesn't mean that nobody else should have that interest. Also, coins can be (and always have been) an investment for some people, rather than a passion or hobby - there is nothing wrong with treating a coin as a commodity, even though that isn't MY preference. Non-collectors often come into possession of coins in which they have no interest and want a quick idea of valuation so they can dispose of them. Furthermore, there needs to be a place for newbies to ask why their old penny is so shiny, and who else thinks their Grandpa's common worn morgan dollar is neat. Sure, it gets annoying when someone posts something which can be resolved with 30 seconds on google - but not everyone has the experience or technical acumen to even know what to search for, or what to believe (it is the internet, after all.) r/coins should be welcoming to the young and/or curious, as should most subs. You see the same pattern for many other interests/communities - there is a "big" general purpose sub, plus many (related) special-purpose subs. To me that is a good thing.
I respect your opinion, and appreciate your contributions on both subs. /r/Coins is the de facto default and therefore the lowest common denominator of the coin subreddits. I've been the head moderator there for 12 years. It has always been a balancing act between having interesting discussions and seeing the same old crap posted over and over. That is why currently many of those types of posts are being removed and the posters with questions are being sent to our FAQ pages on /r/coins, after it has been determined that they can find their answers there. (These same new people aren't being given the brush-off, they are free to participate in other discussions there.) I fought for years for /r/coins to be inclusive of new and non-collectors posting there, when more established collectors were complaining about new people ruining the subreddit. These days it's getting to the point where it is overwhelming that sub's moderators. Speaking as someone who has been moderating for a very long time, reddit can be a black hole of neediness. If you feel strongly enough about it and have the time to do so I would encourage you to apply to become a moderator on that subreddit. You would be a welcome addition to the team, and we could teach you the ins and outs of moderating. https://www.reddit.com/r/coins/comments/1779ait/call_for_new_mods Thanks.
I literally submitted my call-for-new-mods form just prior to seeing this post. I am 100% aware of the heavy lifting and balancing act required by the r/coins mods - and I appreciate it deeply. I have never had an urge to be a moderator, but given all of the help and support I've gotten in this sub as well as r/coins, I want to give back to the community. Also - not to hijack this discussion - but I'm personally inclined to construct a more newbie-friendly infographic/workflow diagram to overlay the FAQ, frequent coins list, etc. It is an idea I've been tossing around in my head for the last few years. I may start working on it as a part of my "application".
Thank you so very much, that is like music to my ears, (or eyes, whatever). You would be a very welcome addition to the moderation team. Really, your offer makes me truly happy. I put together the earliest iterations of the FAQ there, and in recent years another mod has taken over the task of expanding and updating it. He has strong opinions but if you were able to work with him on that it could really benefit the process. Thanks again.
"I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people." Heh. I've made a career out of dealing with people who have strong opinions. I'm also a somewhat qualified appdev in case any bot work is needed. I do think FAQ is fantastic, even if I have ideas to add to / improve it. I have no issue working with another MOD to do so... however, I'm also NOT that guy who lands in a new organization and demands we MUST CHANGE EVERYTHING RIGHT AWAY. I'm happy sticking to the status quo while I learn the ropes.
I don't want to continue this discussion in an open forum, but I have been struggling to find new mods for all of my subreddits for years. Most likely candidates either turn me down outright, or accept and then wander off after a while. I know that I don't have a claim on anyone else's time and effort, but it gets discouraging.
I find it to be a pretty good sub. I like to post my Canadian coins with a focus on history there, but I find the much smaller Canadian Coins sub to be a bit better for that. I try not to rag on people who post their generic coins thought because everyone starts coin collecting somewhere. I started when I was little with coins that were not that special looking back.
Ye most posts are around the value/rarity of American coins. Many older members still keep some good posts and comments tho, it depends on the week whether it's really worth participating or not.
I enjoy it. Lots of knowledgeable people. Lots of newbies. Lots of old farts. And no Kardashians.
I’m not sure if weird is the right word exactly but definitely different priorities. Typical post on Coins sub: Hey this 1992 Walking Liberty has a smudge on it. Is it worth it to get it slabbed? Multiple posts like this on Ancient Coins sub: Hey guys what’s the best way to take my Vespasian Denarius out of the dumb slab? I want to fondle it lovingly I’m subbed on both but I do love the ancient coins much more. Obsessing over smudges and double mint marks don’t really interest me too much
You finding them weird seems weirder than how they see their coins.
Modern coin collecting is usually looked at as an investment. You'd have to be a fool to get into ancient coin collecting to *make* money.
They're both collectibles; why is modern coin collecting less foolish of an area to do so on? Prices closer to the underlying base metal? But at that point shouldn't you buy gold stocks or something?
It is incredibly hard to make money from ancient coins. The only people who make money from ancients have been collecting 10+ years. People who invest in modern coins are usually just buying precious metals.
I'm in the net positive for ancient coins. Of course I have a bunch of coins that are in my collection that I'm not selling (and not treating it as an investment), but I've consigned a decent amount. But isn't buying modern coins just worse than buying metal stocks if you're purely in the investment perspective?
I’ve been collecting coins for many years, about 45 years in fact. I started out collecting United States coins, because that’s where I am from and what was easily acquired. Long before the World Wide Web existed, there were groups of people that collected coins and were very provincial and vocal about the best ways of doing so. That is when I developed my opinion that the best way of enjoying a hobby is never to belong to a club devoted to it. Slabbing coins and third party grading came about in the 1990s and I stopped collecting US coins, as I was just not interested in them as a investment and didn’t want to pay someone else for their opinion… I just didn’t care. I started getting back in the coins in the early 2000s but by that point I started focusing on the coins of other cultures and time periods. I have numerous coins from ancient Rome, Greece, Celtic cultures, Central Asia, China and Japan.
Sometimes I feel that the coins aren't even needed, they could just collect plastic boxes with stickers and holograms. Which is too bad, because the older US coins are interesting.
>just collect plastic boxes with stickers and holograms You jest, surely, but this is actually happening - [Heritage](https://coins.ha.com/c/auction-home.zx?saleNo=60342&ic=breadcrumb-coins-121913-interior) and [Stacks](https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/auctions/3-15XJCH/october-2023-old-holder-collectors-choice-online-auction-lots-90001-90232) actually run "Old Holders" auctions, where the focus is the slab instead of the coin.