Post by Ghezzi_TCG on Dec 11, 2020 11:30:09 GMT -5
As a general rule of thumb argumentative prose is intended to do two things, (A) carry a message and (B) defend it. Generally, the venue in which this "PSA did it" argument is presented is one where buyer is mad that PSA is not living up to his/her expectation. First things first, it isn't inherently wrong to expect a lot from the world, in the sense that the world can do better and should try to (at least). My problem is thus, the "PSA did it" argument infers that PSA did know and then decided it did not want to be better. I think that if you dug deep you would find that employees of PSA (contractors included - me) do actually care and do actually do what we can with what we are given.
Yes, decisions have to be made. Yes, they are not always the way the collector would like them to be made. No, PSA does not hate the collector for wanting those things.
Some of this is because of finite resources, time included. Do I write an article or update the price guide. Do I move to get attribution for Gold Letter errors or Dark Paladin. How much time do I invest in this venture based on my finite amount of time. And of course, the thing we really need to talk about - when do I start working on a reprint guide, how do I build it, most importantly - can I build something that a non-yugioh player can use and if so, how much time will it take to do it. Better put for things that are critical, how can I do this effectively and in an enduring way?
These are the questions that rack my small brain when I am up at 2am wondering how I can (A) show a non-yugioh grader which things are from 2010 and which ones from 2003 and (B) not spend 1000 hours doing it. The first question I asked was the most important one, can it even be done?
Well let me dig a bit deeper for all of you. Yes, you and I know that it is possible for me to sit and look at any card and tell you from when and where it came. We all know that subjective things like color and emboss on the name are great indicators when you are looking at a card in person. How reflective the surface is, factory damage, tone and font. All of these things are readily available for seasoned experts like me and you, who pour countless hours into this hobby. None of us work on the grading line, and I would venture that most people on the grading line haven't spent one tenth of one percent as much time on yugioh as the reader here. So how do you show that grader what is what.
The answer is science. Let me explain. There is an art and science to everything. So which is which, and where is the science? Science is measurable. It's controlled and quantified. These are things that are true empirically and can be explained at length with objective terms. So where do all of the things like color and surface features fall when you look at that? Can any of that be measured at all? The answer is, at best maybe. Here is the problem - control. Color schemes, tone, font, texture of the cardstock & etc... all change over the years and sometimes change intra to prints. E.g. Glossy cards are objectively lighter than wavy cards (typically), and even here the "(typically)" needs to be said just because I can't quantify the color of every yugioh card made within that glossy print run. Since printers regularly run out of color, these things are less than ideal for a controlled environment. Emboss and foil texture are equally problematic. Although emboss is a great technique it is difficult to capture in an image and even more problematic to measure. Likewise, foil textures change within LC01 printings making using such a technique problematic at best.
With all this down the drain for me, I chose to focus on text, which, with errata and other changes, has yielded me the best results so far. So back to the original question, when did PSA know about it and what did they decide to do with that knowledge. Really, the question is when did I tell them. The answer is as soon as I felt I had a concrete way to show them what I already knew. Could I teach Napoleon's Private? - an old euphemism.
With text, it was tedious and challenging but yes, I could do it. So I began the Magnum Opus that will eventually culminate in a concise (400 slide) powerpoint presentation on caparative analysis between four or five printings across 20 years of yugioh releases.
Let me explain my hesitation a bit. There is nothing worse than gearing up a company that grades millions of cards by giving them problematic data to use while grading and attributing multiple thousands of reprinted (or not!) cards. My concern was first and foremost, would PSA be able to take what I gave them and get it right 95% of the time? If not, was there a better way. I felt there would be nothing worse than giving PSA information that would lead to a 25% or greater failure, and truly my tolerance for failure is about 0% when rounded up.
With all of this in mind, I decided last week to finally begin this work knowing that I had an answer for PSA that would not only inform them, but also give them the absolute best opportunity to provide my hobby and you, the reader, the best shot of getting your grade and card back in the right holder.
All of this said, now back to the why I hate the 'PSA did it' argument. PSA is but one of many grading services, and I believe does at least an honest job of trying to get it right. They really do care, I personally feel. That said, there is another entire half of this equation we aren't talking about - you the collector. The "PSA's did it" argument incorrectly infers that the buyer has no responsibility to research or understand the yugioh market, and I mean none. So this is the argument "I paid a premium for PSA because PSA is supposed to get it right". Yes, there is some truth to this, however you the buyer have an obligation to at least yourself to verify everything and anything you buy. This includes doing SOME homework. I mean, you don't have to but it is ill advised. Even I do my homework, a guy who spends nearly 40 hours a week just talking to people on IG. I want to make sure that I am doing the right thing for me.
Trusting PSA because they put something in plastic is not a great big brain move in my humble opinion. It begs the question, do you trust anything that has a fancy label and is in plastic? If the answer is no then why is PSA's case any different. This isn't an argument against PSA, this is an argument for reason. You, the buyer, need to know what you are spending your $10,000 on, or that 10% of your income on. If you take 10% of what you make each month and 'invest' then make sure you know what you are buying. Make sure you ask someone who knows. Its far better than coming to PSA and asking for compensation when it could have been avoided completely with research and digging.
So yes, I do feel that grading services owe the tertiary market some integrity but you also owe yourself (and the world) a bit more than a google search on yugioh. Sometimes things change quickly and if you don't do your homework you may end up with a bad purchase rather than a woke investor story to tell your kids when you're 75.
Yes, decisions have to be made. Yes, they are not always the way the collector would like them to be made. No, PSA does not hate the collector for wanting those things.
Some of this is because of finite resources, time included. Do I write an article or update the price guide. Do I move to get attribution for Gold Letter errors or Dark Paladin. How much time do I invest in this venture based on my finite amount of time. And of course, the thing we really need to talk about - when do I start working on a reprint guide, how do I build it, most importantly - can I build something that a non-yugioh player can use and if so, how much time will it take to do it. Better put for things that are critical, how can I do this effectively and in an enduring way?
These are the questions that rack my small brain when I am up at 2am wondering how I can (A) show a non-yugioh grader which things are from 2010 and which ones from 2003 and (B) not spend 1000 hours doing it. The first question I asked was the most important one, can it even be done?
Well let me dig a bit deeper for all of you. Yes, you and I know that it is possible for me to sit and look at any card and tell you from when and where it came. We all know that subjective things like color and emboss on the name are great indicators when you are looking at a card in person. How reflective the surface is, factory damage, tone and font. All of these things are readily available for seasoned experts like me and you, who pour countless hours into this hobby. None of us work on the grading line, and I would venture that most people on the grading line haven't spent one tenth of one percent as much time on yugioh as the reader here. So how do you show that grader what is what.
The answer is science. Let me explain. There is an art and science to everything. So which is which, and where is the science? Science is measurable. It's controlled and quantified. These are things that are true empirically and can be explained at length with objective terms. So where do all of the things like color and surface features fall when you look at that? Can any of that be measured at all? The answer is, at best maybe. Here is the problem - control. Color schemes, tone, font, texture of the cardstock & etc... all change over the years and sometimes change intra to prints. E.g. Glossy cards are objectively lighter than wavy cards (typically), and even here the "(typically)" needs to be said just because I can't quantify the color of every yugioh card made within that glossy print run. Since printers regularly run out of color, these things are less than ideal for a controlled environment. Emboss and foil texture are equally problematic. Although emboss is a great technique it is difficult to capture in an image and even more problematic to measure. Likewise, foil textures change within LC01 printings making using such a technique problematic at best.
With all this down the drain for me, I chose to focus on text, which, with errata and other changes, has yielded me the best results so far. So back to the original question, when did PSA know about it and what did they decide to do with that knowledge. Really, the question is when did I tell them. The answer is as soon as I felt I had a concrete way to show them what I already knew. Could I teach Napoleon's Private? - an old euphemism.
With text, it was tedious and challenging but yes, I could do it. So I began the Magnum Opus that will eventually culminate in a concise (400 slide) powerpoint presentation on caparative analysis between four or five printings across 20 years of yugioh releases.
Let me explain my hesitation a bit. There is nothing worse than gearing up a company that grades millions of cards by giving them problematic data to use while grading and attributing multiple thousands of reprinted (or not!) cards. My concern was first and foremost, would PSA be able to take what I gave them and get it right 95% of the time? If not, was there a better way. I felt there would be nothing worse than giving PSA information that would lead to a 25% or greater failure, and truly my tolerance for failure is about 0% when rounded up.
With all of this in mind, I decided last week to finally begin this work knowing that I had an answer for PSA that would not only inform them, but also give them the absolute best opportunity to provide my hobby and you, the reader, the best shot of getting your grade and card back in the right holder.
All of this said, now back to the why I hate the 'PSA did it' argument. PSA is but one of many grading services, and I believe does at least an honest job of trying to get it right. They really do care, I personally feel. That said, there is another entire half of this equation we aren't talking about - you the collector. The "PSA's did it" argument incorrectly infers that the buyer has no responsibility to research or understand the yugioh market, and I mean none. So this is the argument "I paid a premium for PSA because PSA is supposed to get it right". Yes, there is some truth to this, however you the buyer have an obligation to at least yourself to verify everything and anything you buy. This includes doing SOME homework. I mean, you don't have to but it is ill advised. Even I do my homework, a guy who spends nearly 40 hours a week just talking to people on IG. I want to make sure that I am doing the right thing for me.
Trusting PSA because they put something in plastic is not a great big brain move in my humble opinion. It begs the question, do you trust anything that has a fancy label and is in plastic? If the answer is no then why is PSA's case any different. This isn't an argument against PSA, this is an argument for reason. You, the buyer, need to know what you are spending your $10,000 on, or that 10% of your income on. If you take 10% of what you make each month and 'invest' then make sure you know what you are buying. Make sure you ask someone who knows. Its far better than coming to PSA and asking for compensation when it could have been avoided completely with research and digging.
So yes, I do feel that grading services owe the tertiary market some integrity but you also owe yourself (and the world) a bit more than a google search on yugioh. Sometimes things change quickly and if you don't do your homework you may end up with a bad purchase rather than a woke investor story to tell your kids when you're 75.