• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

What's the difference between "collecting" and 'hoarding"?

Spellbinder

Spellbinder

My Spine Is The Bassline
I love this hobby. But the "collecting" of dozens of items eludes me.

Doesn't is get to the point that If I have 40 turntables sitting around, I'm keeping some good stuff from being used by someone who'll get some real enjoyment out of it? After all, I can only listen to 1 or 2 turntables in a given system.

If I have a few turntables and several receivers and/or amps and several pairs of speakers, I get it. But 40 Turntables, 20 relievers and 20 pairs of speakers just sitting unused for years at a time seems like hoarding to me and denying someone some great gear.

Just my 2 cents.

What's your opinion?


.
 
Register to hide this ad
If you have one less piece of gear than me, you're a collector. If you have one more piece of gear than me, you're a hoarder.
 
Collecting implies some discrimination while hoarding implies grabbing willy nilly to unload at a propitious time.
 
Differences are in:

Available, dry storage space

Personal economics

WAF

End plan

If you can have a solution to all of the above, then you're a collector. If you answered no to one or more of these then you're a hoarder.
 
DougMac said:
If you have one less piece of gear than me, you're a collector. If you have one more piece of gear than me, you're a hoarder.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's quite that black and white, but I get your point. I'm talking more of the extremes cited above.
 
reggaenaut said:
Collecting implies some discrimination while hoarding implies grabbing willy nilly ... (to unload at a propitious time.)
Click to expand...

I think the first part of this is right on, but having suffered from a bit of this myself, I don't think that many hoarders have any plan or intention to unload what they are hoarding before they die. It's about lack of impulse control at the point of acquisition.

I think if you add the intention to turn it around at a profit, you're talking about a flipper or buyer/seller.

Not sure what constitutes collecting, but if someone find themselves (or their relationships with people or money) suffering in any way due to amassing or the desire to amass more gear, then it's out of control.

Just my $0.02. :)
 
I can only wear one pair of boxer shorts at a time, yet I have around 20 pairs....
Hoarding isn't about keeping other people from enjoying what I have, hoarding is having too many things that living a healthy/safe/productive life becomes impossible because one has too much stuff.

We've seen the collections of receivers and turntables well-organized and stacked on shelves in clean and tidy rooms. In that case, 40 turntables is not hoarding, it is collecting. If, on the other hand, you had turntables sitting in your sink and blocking the hall so you couldn't get to bed, that is hoarding - even if you had less than 40 of them (to use your number as an example) because your refusal to divest yourself of unused possessions, and the fact that owning these things is keeping you from leading a healthy life.

See the example of the guy in Ohio in the other thread started today. He owns a million albums, all in boxes stored in a warehouse. The fire dept says its a hazard. He faces legal consequences because of his inability to properly or lawfully store his stuff or get rid of it. This is hoarding.

A record store owner who has a million albums well displayed and safely stored and is constantly getting rid of things he no longer needs isn't hoarding, it's collecting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGDWY_MJwaM
 
If any items in your collection bear the brand names Yorx,Soundesign, or Lloyds, or if any of them have built-in 8 track players... you may be a hoarder.

(crud... there's a Panasonic downstairs with an 8-track player in it. The 8-track doesn't work, though, so maybe it doesn't count?)
 
You're not the first person here to mention people being denied the use of equipment cause it's in someone else's hands. THAT mentality eludes me. I see absolutely no shortage of equipment on ebay, craigslist, barter town, and other sources. So who, exactly, is being denied?

Frankly I think people should 'manage their own house' as they see fit. Let others manage theirs as they see fit. Anything else is attempting to dictate to others how they're supposed to live their lives.

That's my opinion.

Spellbinder said:
I love this hobby. But the "collecting" of dozens of items eludes me.

Doesn't is get to the point that If I have 40 turntables sitting around, I'm keeping some good stuff from being used by someone who'll get some real enjoyment out of it? After all, I can only listen to 1 or 2 turntables in a given system.

If I have a few turntables and several receivers and/or amps and several pairs of speakers, I get it. But 40 Turntables, 20 relievers and 20 pairs of speakers just sitting unused for years at a time seems like hoarding to me and denying someone some great gear.

Just my 2 cents.

What's your opinion?


.
Click to expand...
 
Spellbinder said:
I love this hobby. But the "collecting" of dozens of items eludes me.
Click to expand...

Then do not do it. Do not look down upon those who do collect (or hoard). They apparently have different values and have made different choices. They are not wrong, and neither are you.

Anything else implies that there is a 'correct' way to be. There isn't.

Doesn't is get to the point that If I have 40 turntables sitting around, I'm keeping some good stuff from being used by someone who'll get some real enjoyment out of it? After all, I can only listen to 1 or 2 turntables in a given system.
Click to expand...

The joy of ownership with occasional use is sometimes enough for some.

If I have a few turntables and several receivers and/or amps and several pairs of speakers, I get it. But 40 Turntables, 20 relievers and 20 pairs of speakers just sitting unused for years at a time seems like hoarding to me and denying someone some great gear.
Click to expand...

No one is being denied anything. There are plenty of examples of most vintage gear out there.

Just my 2 cents.

What's your opinion?
Click to expand...

My opinion is that people are different, and that's OK.

http://youtu.be/W0CYJNw9YJQ

What *I* have never understood is people who can't 'understand' why other people like things they do not, and therefore think they ought to not do it. I hear it all the time about various things. Guns, cameras, cars, you name it. Someone has a lot of X and someone else not only does not have a lot of X, but thinks that no one should have a lot of X.

How about mind your own business and live your life the way you want, letting others live their lives the way they want? Just a suggestion.

As to the difference between 'collector' and 'hoarder', those are just terms applied depending on whether you like or don't like what a person does. If you think it's OK, then they are a collector. If you don't think it is OK, then they are a hoarder.

For the record (no pun intended), I don't have 40 turntables. But I have (or had, I've been selling them) way over 40 cameras. And you know who's business it is? Nobody's but mine. Hoarder? OK, fine, whatever.
 
I think nearly all collecting is related to hoarding behavior. Collecting layers a certain order over the hoard, but the behavior is not all that different. I have counter obsessions to both collect, and to live in a minimal environment...so one of the first things I look at is storage space. My collection is barely managed and the fact that I keep stuff for no reason beyond just having it, suggests I've crossed the line.

My girlfriend anthropomorphizes things, which is also a sign of hoarding behavior. I mentioned it in a similar thread...she's name a lot of my stereo gear, and that stuff is now harder to get rid of since it has assumed an imaginary personality.
 
Collectors know how to clean their house and vacuum.
Hoarders not so much.

You can also tell by the smell...
 
reggaenaut said:
John, are you collecting words? :D
Click to expand...

More like hoarding them. I was pretty shocked that I spelled it right on the first try. But it was easier than saying that she gives inanimate objects names and layers upon them an almost human-like personality. But then I just went and typed that out anyway!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom