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Re: Legally Powerless trade Organizations


<< who is going to carry the liability insurance 
 >when the members get sued for slander for falsely accusing a seller?  >>
 
It seems to me that this phrasing compellingly illustrates the
basic misunderstanding of what these volunteers are doing.
NO ONE is <<falsely accusing>>  anyone of anything.  To ask a 
seller if any analysis has been done on a specimen (or to inquire
about the provenance of ANY collectible, for that matter) is
hardly grounds for a libel (not slander) suit, even in these litigation-happy
days.  If a seller displayed a photo of a highly questionable coin
for sale on the 'net, with highly questionable claims about it, would
members of the coin community really react with a unified, massive
silence?  If so, that's not much of a compliment to the coin community.
As to the idea about the:

<< statement made by Joel yesterday also -
about people having to do their own work in order to avoid being ripped of. >>

Obviously everybody agrees that people should assume responsibility for
what they buy and sell, who could argue with that?   But why must it be
an either-or situation?   Just because it's true that everyone should do
research, that doesn't mean that ALSO having a "self-help" watchdog
group is a bad idea.  Not everyone WILL do his/her homework.  So when
there are inevitable situations in which everyone would benefit from the
voluntary expertise of a group of knowledgeable enthusiasts, I'm baffled
by the vehement opposition.  It's a pretty cheap shot to falsely portray
them as being some kind of vigilante group, and then point out that vigilante
groups are bad.  I have yet to hear any compelling argument against what
they ACTUALLY DO.
Gregory

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