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I don't think there's anything wrong with collecting pins. I see them, first, as beautiful artworks, and second, as symbols of unity and friendship. You don't need need to know what the letters on someone else's pin stand for to appreciate the sentimental value embodied in the pin.
Of course they are of historical interest to the GLO -- but they are of historical interest to everyone. This isn't just XYZ history, it's American history, ABC University history, and often women's history/African-American history, too. The fact that a pin is owned by a collector rather than a GLO does not mean that its historical importance is not being appreciated, valued, and shared.
I think it's relevant here that most of the pins on ebay and the various dealer's sites are identical to thousands of others that were minted every year. I think the argument is a little different for founder's pins, etc., which are unique and which may communicate information the GLO could not obtain elsewhere. A pin may do more to remind people about brotherhood and create goodwill for a GLO in a collector's display than it would as the seven thousandth identical pin stored in the GLO's headquarters.
Wearing a pin is not under discussion as far as I'm aware; I've never known, or even known of, a collector who was buying pins in order to wear them as fake emblems of membership.
So I think responsible collection (by which I mean storing the pins with care, making any information from unique pins available to the GLO, etc.) is just fine. Just my two cents.
IvySpice
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