pull up the ladder behind you

one would think that really cool coffee people would be interested in sharing their craft with as many people--inside and outside the industry--as possible. or maybe not. i was reading the other day a post on a forum about a particularly cool lot of coffee that just went on auction and fetched a very hefty price. some of the comments centered around how a few prescient purveyors had been selling this exact coffee for a few years already. and then, a very interesting comment from another well-respected (by me) person in this industry. something to the effect that now that this coffee has won at auction everyone who buys it now is merely a hanger-oner, a johnny-come-lately.

i thought about this for a long while. i wondered at all its possible meanings. the only thing i could come up with was a comment that bordered on elitism. now granted, the contributors to this particular forum by and large are the elite of the industry. but why the seeming "we four and no more" attitude?

i'm sure the comment was not given half as much analysis when it was made as when it was read by me. so i'm definitely not interested in making a big deal out of it. nor, as a bona fide johnny-come-lately to this level of the industry, was i offended in the least. it just struck me as a very curious thing to say, is all, and i thought i'd comment on the comment here in my own personal opinion space.

is there room at the top for anyone with the money to get a top calibre coffee? do dollars trump all, even if you're a johnny-come-lately? will you/should you get the respect of those who have been working hard at this for years?

what do you think?