There are tons of collection threads, most recent purchases, articles, etc on e4.
But with every bubble (Pokémon Go, pandemic, and now Pocket) new people pop in that don’t quite understand this is a collecting fourum. It’s always about the hype, prices, money, and investing, instead of collecting. The worst in people are brought out when it’s about the money. The Surging Sparks thread has plenty of hateful comments that don’t add any value to the discussion. Save that for Reddit and Facebook, people love that stuff there.
I don’t think it’s useful to pigeonhole this forum. Yes, it’s built and sustained by collectors, but we are nuanced enough to discuss various topics as they come up. The best part about e4 is that you can engage with or mute threads at your discretion.
I do agree with this and think we live in very stressful times financially, and that there is a lot of uncertainty about the future, politics, prospects and identity.
I think the internet, for all the good it does bring, has also opened the gates of hell to the perpetual misery machine and for most people, comparison is not only the thief of joy now but simply the only way to live.
If people are stonking, more people will feel like they have to stonk in order to keep up.
It’s not really about goofy little creature dudes for these people anymore, but I like to believe that it still is for the majority. And here on this fourum the love for the Pokémon World is stronger than anywhere else and that includes all aspects of collecting.
I thought it was for anyone? Sometimes the investors come off a bit strong and it gets to me a little but the people that end up sticking around make it worth it.
I just don’t engage with content that I’m not interested in. While the market conversations can be interesting and helpful in a broad context, they can also devolve into strong emotions quickly. Instead of “buy what you like” you can also go with “consume what you like” in regards to content
Thanks for all the comments reeling me back in. It’s hard to not engage or read all the market discussion but I will continue working on zoning that out.
Whilst I agree with others that there’s space for all types on this forum, I do agree with you somewhat. We can talk about the market without devolving into reddit-esque insulting and bashing of opinion
No where does it say that efour is exclusively for collecting discussion only. Market discussion is kind of a necessary evil because in order to efficiently collect, you have to have a decent understanding of the market.
There will always be a small segment of strongly opinionated takes on the market or prices. If that’s not for you just scroll past it. If you really can’t take it, you can fully mute the Market category altogether. I don’t curate where every single thread ends up for no reason!
I understand @eeveeteam sentiment, but the responses are correct, E4 accepts everyone. I created “where are the collectors at?” when no one was talking about collecting at all. Today you can start a thread with pretty much any topic and have a response in real time.
E4, and the hobby as a whole is too large to have a general conscious. There are people here who collect things I don’t, and vice versa. With that said, if majority of new threads are modern speculation, as they were in 2020, we can potentially consolidate into a mega thread. Also, as others mentioned, you have the ability to just mute a topic or category.
I joined E4 in 2022 and was part of the modern hype wave crowd and have since stuck around and expanded my collectable interests. I think it’s fine to have this type of traffic since it does introduce both new and old people back into the hobby.
There are already megathreads like Modern/JP Market for people to get redirected to so it’s fine. I’m also frequently in the discord and new people join all the time asking “How much is this worth?” and “What should I buy?” and some stay and learn to seek out their own niches over time. People can change over time.
People often become atrocities when money is involved, because our 20,000 year old genetics didn’t evolve to handle money. I think eeveeteam brings up a good point: the V3 (Vitriol, and Verbal Venom) can turn people off of these topics that tend to get more heated.
Yessir! Heck! Keep it to yourself everywhere, and don’t hate on people.
I also think we should welcome debate, uncomfortable topics, and controversial threads. So long as we avoid V3. We could use a little more uncomfortable topics, sometimes. The unpopular ops thread occasionally spawns something significant.
But this IS one of the few overall positive and civilized forums that exists today, and we should try to foster that while expanding into less comfy territory.
I wish I could agree with this, I really do. But I don’t, because I don’t agree with this:
E4 is one of the most restricted forums that exists today. When I suggested an off-topic section the reaction was that people didn’t want to get a reason to hate other members. And during my time on the old forum, the off-topic was tame compared to the rest.
You mean off topic as in non-PkMn related? Or adjacent topic as in literally what we’re talking about (needing more brainstorm)?
Also, I don’t think positive and free (un-restricted) should be equated, which is how I’m understanding you… correct me if I’m wrong. I think it is both positive and restricted. The walled garden, if you will.
Yep. More so for the sake of highlighting the response than to advocate for an off-topic section that apparently no-one wants. Off-topic and Pokemon are not islands (especially not on a platform where Pokemon can be as contentious if not more than any off-topic subject,) people are either capable of respect or they’re not.
It’s not about having to talk about everything under the sun (unrestricted as you say) it’s about not having to tiptoe around users, subjects and words to avoid middle-school worthy meltdowns, hence the brainstorm that we could use, as so many subjects have proven to be problematic.
This is kind of a wild take. The only topics that are expressly against the rules are 1) selling/advertising 2) pornography and 3) explicitly political posts (discouraged)
I don’t know if I’ve ever binned or locked a thread simply for being too off-topic. There is no restriction to off-topic discussion, there just seems to be little baseline interest in it.
Off the top of my head, I can think of several threads that are super tenuously related to Pokemon cards, like the what car do you drive thread, the non Pokemon pickups thread which ranges from other collectibles, to things like literal groceries and daily goods/appliances, to various non Pokemon collecting threads. I’ve gone on rambles about non Pokemon video games in my own collection thread and no one’s batted an eye.
I do agree there just seems to be a general lack of non collecting based off topic threads. I tend to browse latest, which has all the threads clumped together without the category distinctions, so maybe that gives the idea only collecting threads are allowed? There’s also a lot you can talk about just within the collecting sphere, like actual collections, market talk, and other things like that V cards getting messed up by sleeves thread, not to mention more in the general Pokemon sphere like the games and non TCG merch.
I think eeveeteam brings up a good point: the V3 (Vitriol, and Verbal Venom) can turn people off of these topics that tend to get more heated.
I think it is both positive and restricted. The walled garden, if you will.